Defenders

I created this photo with the idea of a certain type of warrior who is very strategic in the Body of Christ. I call them "Defenders," because they have a deep sense of intuition, compassion, and will fight tooth and nail for what they believe in. They carry an innate sense of justice and are highly sensitive to right and wrong issues. Often they see past a person's disguise and pretense and discern the motives of the heart, both good or bad. In the past, they have been overlooked or even downplayed as “oversensitive,” but I really sense that the Lord is wanting to raise up these type of people because of their special and crucial place in the Body of Christ.

The weakness of this gifting is their tendency to be Rescuers-- they rescue people who are not ready to embrace freedom when they are led by human compassion instead the Spirit of God. Not everyone is ready to walk in freedom, and sometimes these warriors invest their time and energy into people and situations that aren't really going to help. (If we're honest with ourselves, most of us have done this in the past!  I certainly have!) However, God brings balance and proper perspective when we ask Him, even to those of us who have been led by our own understanding. We learn from our mistakes, as long as we keep going.


The key to being a Defender instead of a Rescuer is this: it's crucial to ask God for wisdom when we see something that stirs us up. God has the full picture, and we don't, so if we spend time in prayer before running to the aid of a situation, we'll be led by His spirit rather than our own. The scripture I kept sensing with this photo is:


“If you return,
Then I will bring you back;
You shall stand before Me;
If you take out the precious from the vile,
You shall be as My mouth.”
Jeremiah 15:19ab


In Hebrew, the word for “precious” means valuable, costly, excellent.
“Vile” is interpreted: to shake as the wind, worthless, prodigal, blow down.
The phrase “stand before Me” is from two Hebrew words: stand and face.

All of us have access to “FaceTime” with God through prayer. When we seek His face, our discernment becomes clear and sharp because we've received His revelation and direction. When we have accurate discernment on situations and relationships, He will be empower us with fresh anointing to defend the precious things and people that are on His heart. I feel like God is about to release more “precious” things into the earth, and we need watchmen to guard the things that are close to His heart. It's time for the Defenders to arise!

Behind the Scenes: The sword in this photo is a Scottish claymore given to me from a ministry in Scotland. You'll be seeing this sword in more photos!  The bird is an immature bald eagle- it takes 3 years for the white feathers to appear on the head.  The eagle photo was taken by my friend Debbie Douglass in Juneau, AK and used with permission.