Deborah

“Judges 4: 3-5 says “And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he (Sisera) had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.”

What is interesting about Deborah is that she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah. This tree of Deborah was not the Deborah of the book of Judges tree, but another Deborah: Genesis 35: 6-8 says “So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is Beth-el, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. But Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Beth-el under an oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth.”

The Deborah of Genesis was Rebekah’s midwife. But she was buried under Beth-el, which name means the House of God. The foundation of every House of God should be those who help birth people out of the darkness into the light. The Deborah of the book of Judges understood that she was a midwife to help bring deliverance to Israel.

God appears to us in our Beth-el experiences. But if God is appearing to you he might be telling you that you are to bring deliverance! God appeared to Jacob as a ladder with angels ascending and descending on it. Jesus was that “Ladder” that Jacob saw: John 1: 51 says “And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

Jesus is not only the entrance into heaven; but he is the entrance into the prophetic: John 10: 1-3 says “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.” If you feel you are a prophet but haven’t met Jesus, you are a thief and a robber! You have climbed up some other way!”