- Hey, this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu from PNEUMA Church in Houston, Texas.

Thank you for listening to the message today.

I hope that it blesses you and all those that you share it with.

God bless you.

I saw this the other day and I had to share it with you because I know we can, you can sit down.

We'll get up to read the word right now.

We can identify with this either as mom or as a kid.

Happy Mother's Day to my mama.

She's right there.

Happy Mother's Day, mom.

Happy Mother's Day to my spiritual mother, Pastor Annette.

On this side, there's, that's my spiritual mama.

Love you so much.

And happy Mother's Day to all the mamas.

Okay, so I found this the other day and I wanted to read it 'cause I thought it was funny.

It says, "My mother, what my mother taught me.

"My mother taught me religion.

"When I spilled grape juice on the carpet, "she instructed, you better pray that sting "will come out of the carpet.

"My mother taught me logic from her decisive words "because I said so, that's why.

"My mother taught me anticipation.

"Make sure you wear clean underwear "in case you're in an accident.

"My mother taught me irony.

"Keep laughing and I'll give you something to cry about.

"My mother taught me about stamina.

"You sit there till all the spinach is finished.

"My mother taught me about the weather.

"It looks as if a tornado swept through your room.

"My mother taught me the circle of life.

"I'll bribe you into this world and I can take you out.

"My mother taught me about behavior modification.

"Stop acting like your father.

"My mother taught me about envy.

"There are millions of less fortunate children "in this world who don't have a wonderful mom like you do.

"Thanks, mom."

So I just wanted to share that with you guys 'cause it made me laugh.

And that's true 'cause we've all said that, right, at some point.

Thank you, pastor, for giving me the opportunity to preach today.

I know you love to preach on Mother's Day.

And as I was standing there and I look back and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's a lot of people.

But I'm privileged to bring the word this morning.

Now, I'm sad to tell you that if you were expecting a feel-good message, a message that is gonna tell you keep going, mom, you're doing awesome, this is not it.

This is not the message.

This is a message from a mother to a mother encouraging you to wake up, to rise up, and pay attention to what the enemy's doing.

So this is not a feel-good message this morning.

This is a wake up, call, get up, and fight kind of message.

This is a message appealing to the mama bear that comes out when someone's messing with our children.

And the mama bear says, not my babies.

This message is for that mama.

Because we have an enemy that is after their soul, their identity, their mind, their heart, and ultimately their life.

An enemy who wants to kill and destroy our children.

And he's being very sneaky and deceiving about it.

I saw a reel a few days ago where there's a mama rabbit in her cave with her babies, and there's a hand feeding her a carrot, and she's so busy eating the carrot while the other hand is taking the bunnies out of the cave.

The enemy's keeping us moms busy while he's having a field day with our children.

That's what the enemy's doing right now.

Mothers, it's time to rise up, it's time to suit up, and it's time to fight.

I'm gonna ask you to stand so we can read the word of God this morning.

Let's go to Judges 4, and we're gonna read verses one through 10.

Judges 4, verses one through 10.

Okay, and it reads, and the people of Israel again did what was evil on the side of the Lord after Ehud died.

And the Lord sold them into the hand of Javin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.

The commander of his army was Sisera who lived in Harosheth Hagoyim.

Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron, and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for 20 years.

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Laphidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim.

And the people of Israel came up to her for judgment.

She sent and summoned Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kadesh Naphtali and said to him, "Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you?

"Go gather your men at Mount Tabor, "taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali "and the people of Stebulon, "and I will draw out Sisera, the general of Javin's army, "to meet you by the river Kishon "with his chariots and his troops, "and I will give him into your hand."

Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, I will go, "but if you will not go with me, I will not go."

She said, "I will surely go with you.

"Nevertheless, the road on which you are going "will not lead to your glory, "for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman."

Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kadesh, and Barak called out Stebulon and Naphtali to Kadesh, and 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.

Now I want you to go to Judges 5, verse 7.

Right next.

Judges 5, 7 says, "Villagers in Israel will not fight.

"They held back until I, Deborah, arose, "until I arose, a mother of Israel."

And that is the title of my message this morning, Until I Arose.

Let's go ahead and pray.

Thank you, Father God, for bringing us here this morning, God.

I thank you for each and every mother that is here, Lord.

I thank you for bringing them to listen to your word this morning.

I ask, my God, that you take control of this word, that it will not be not one word coming out of me, but it will be you, Father, speaking to your people this morning and to the mothers this morning.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

You may be seated.

This is one of my favorite stories of the Bible because there was a woman who rose and fought.

Deborah arose as a mother of Israel, and God is calling you women today to rise up.

Judges 21, 25 says, "In those days, "there was no king in Israel.

"Every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

Does that sound familiar?

Does not that sound like the world we're living in right now?

Since when the idols were removed and they were commanded to worship Jehovah, they would obey, but then the restriction was removed and the people would obey their own desires.

The nation of Israel was like the man in the Jesus parable when he got rid of one demon, right, cleansed the house, and then he ended up with seven worse demons.

That story is in Matthew.

The empty heart is prey for evil.

Israel, as portrayed in the book of Judges, illustrates the difference between a religious transformation and a spiritual revival.

A religious transformation temporarily changes you on the outside, while revival will permanently change you on the inside.

To ask God to comfort us and cleanse us, it's like sowing seeds of selfishness that will eventually produce another bitter harvest.

Psalms 51 tells us, David says, "Create in me a clean heart, oh God, "and renew a bright spirit within me."

Deborah rose as a judge and a prophetess, but she saw herself as a mother for her people.

God revealed to Deborah that Barak was to assemble and lead the Israelite army and draw Caesar's troop into a trap near Mount Tabor, and there the Lord will defeat them.

See, when God wants to glorify himself through his people, he always has a perfect plan for us to follow.

God chose the leader of his army, the place for the battle, and the plan for his army to follow, and God also guaranteed them victory.

Now this message was birthed a couple of months ago while I was at home by myself.

I spend a lot of time at home now because now everybody works, so I spend home alone a lot.

And I was feeling heavy, not weight, not weight, okay?

I was just feeling, in my heart, spiritually heavy.

And I woke up that morning, and I prayed and I read my word, and I'm like, "God, why do I feel like this?

"I feel something's just not right.

"It's not that I was in sin or I was doing something, "it just felt like oppression."

And I start praying, and I just start walking around the house, and I'm like, "What is it, God?

"What is it?"

I feel kind of sad, and I just couldn't pinpoint it.

And as I start walking around the house, and I start praying, and I go to the living room, and I go to the kitchen, and I go to my kid's room, and as soon as I walk in the hallway towards the room, it hits me, boom.

I go inside my son's room, he doesn't even know this.

My daughter doesn't either.

And I walk in the room, and I felt it.

I'm like, "The enemy is coming after my son."

And I was like, "Oh, not today."

And I literally picked up my sleeves, and I'm like, "Let's go."

And I'm like, "You will not mess with my son.

"He has been chosen by God.

"He is called by God.

"Whatever scheme, whatever you have whispered in this room, "I cast it out in Jesus' name."

And I just started going to war with the enemy.

Then I go to my daughter's room, and I was like, "Oh, her too?

"Vamanos, let's go."

I'm like, "Not her.

"She is chosen, she has been called."

And I started to fight in the spiritual realm, because the Lord was, in that moment, telling me, "You're too concerned sometimes "with what's going on around you, "what's going on around in life, "and you need to pay attention "to what the enemy's whispering to your children "in your own household."

And I went to war.

And so when I was, after I finished praying, I go towards my door, my sister's house, this is across from my house, we live in the same land.

And I go and I point my hand towards, I don't know what this is doing, towards my sister's house, and I'm like, "And my nephews, and my niece."

And there I go from the window, just pointing.

Oh my gosh, I don't know what she's doing.

I pressed something.

Sorry, guys.

See?

And so I started praying for them as well.

And the Lord ministered to me in that moment and said, "There are many mothers like you "who are so concerned with life, "and they don't realize what the enemy's doing "to their children, even in their own house."

And I called Pastor Ryan, "Pastor Ryan."

So I know this is a lot, but can I please preach for Mother's Day?

And he's like, "For Mother's Day?"

Yes.

And I'm gonna tell you what he said.

He said, "That's a big ass, D."

I said, "I know."

He's like, "Did the Lord give you a word?"

"Yes, he did."

"Okay, go."

And so I knew I had to share this word with you moms, from mom to mom, to open your eyes.

And can I tell you that the enemy has been attacking me left and right for the past two weeks?

Left, when I tell you left and right, it's left and right.

My husband was passing a kidney stone for a whole week.

Finally, he passed it last Saturday.

But that Friday before he passed, just little side note, palo azul, that eliminates whatever, it dissolves them, okay, just for future reference.

You drink it.

Anyway, and so Friday, that Friday before he passed it, my sister was out of town, living her best life.

She was in death's den, she was on vacation, and I was in charge of the animals.

And so I go to put the dogs up, and I'm walking out, and it was raining.

If you remember last Friday, it was raining really hard.

And as I'm walking out of the house, she has steps like this, and I put my, I don't know what happened, my foot didn't make it, and I just went, boom, and I landed on my tailbone.

And I sat there for a little bit, 'cause it was raining, and I couldn't get up.

I'm falling and I can't get up, that was me.

And so I finally get up, and I go, Missy and Brian, my husband, are in the house, and I'm like, I fell.

What, what do you mean?

I said, I fell.

And so I was in pain for a few, I'm still in pain.

So I was in pain for a few days, and then my husband passes a stone, so that's good.

And then I fall, and I'm like, okay, what else?

Then on Wednesday, I thought I had really bad allergies, and it turns, it wasn't really bad allergies, it was more like a cold, and I'm still getting over.

And then this week, I had a doctor's appointment, and as the doctor was taking the ultrasound, she measured something, and she's like, I'm gonna go talk to the doctor.

And I said, I rebuke breast cancer in the name of Jesus.

I rebuke it, 'cause they found something.

And I was like, no, I'm telling you, this week, last week and this week was tough.

And I said, if I crawl, if I crawl Sunday, I'm going to encourage the mothers to get up and fight.

And finally, when the doctor said, no, you're good, there's nothing to be worried about, we'll see you in three years, I said, thank you, Jesus.

And so even in those moments I was praising God, I'm like, God, you know what's going on, you know what's gonna happen, you already know what's gonna happen in my life, you know best, whatever it is.

And so I'm waiting for the doctor, I'm just praying in the room, and then finally they give me the good news.

So praise God, it wasn't concerning, what they found was not cancer, so I praise God for that.

And then I'm like, well, I'm gonna get there on Sunday.

But I wanted to let you guys know how it's been, 'cause the enemy has been trying to stop me from this word.

Why?

Because there is power when women rise up together, and when they say not today, not with my babies, not with my family, not with my nieces, not with my nephews, not with the kid that doesn't have a father and a mother to fight for them, there is power when as women we rise up and say not today.

A few weeks ago I attended a conference and they had this lady who is currently fighting the Texas school system to remove certain books from the school libraries.

This was a confirmation message when I went to this conference.

There is a list that is sent to the public school libraries every year that tells them your library is not complete without these books, and since every library wants to be complete, they buy them.

The sad part is that the worse the content, the cheaper the price.

A lot of those books have QR codes that take the people to sites or to our kids to sites that no one should have access to, much less kids.

She shared, and this was alarming, that there is a list of books that prisoners in Texas are not allowed to read because of their content.

The list consists of 10,800 books that are not permitted in prison.

Out of those 10,800, over 200 books are in high schools right now, and some of the worst ones are labeled for ages 12 and up.

You will think that the books that our children have access to in schools will have to be approved by a parent or by someone.

They're not, and that's what they're putting out there for your children to read, and sometimes the spirit, we can say, oh, my son or my daughter is a bookworm.

They love to read, yeah, but what content are they reading, and where are they getting their books from?

So this is pay attention 'cause yes, they can love to read, but what are they reading?

The saddest part is that some of the titles that she mentioned didn't even sounded like there was something wrong with them.

It was something like my twin sister, or it was innocent titles.

So see how the enemy's being sneaky?

Oh, let me see, what are you reading, mija?

Oh, it's two twin sisters.

Ay, que bonito, mija.

But then once she started reading what the book had, it was sickening to hear what the book was saying.

I will not go into detail, but God is sounding an alarm for us to open our eyes to the enemy's agenda to destroy our children.

He's sounding an alarm for us to open our eyes to the enemy's agenda to destroy our children.

If he gets to them young enough, they will grow up to be teens with issues.

They will take into adulthood, and if they take those teens into adulthood, that means they will take them into their marriage, and if they take them into their marriage, they will take them into their families, and then their families will be affected, and then that cycle keeps going from generation to generation.

And this morning, God wants you to be the mom that says, "Stop with this generation.

"It's not gonna continue.

"I'm fighting for my generation "so my future generations will not be affected "by the schemes of the enemy."

Ephesians 6:12 says, "For our struggle "is not against flesh and blood, "but against the rulers, against the authorities, "against the powers of this dark world, "and against the spiritual forces of evil "in the heavenly realms."

God is calling the Devorahs of this generation to rise up and fight.

I Googled this information, the crime rate, and it broke my heart in Texas, okay?

Juvenile homicide rates in Harris County have risen by 76% since 2021.

Felony assaults by minors have increased by 25% from 2022 to 2024.

Across Texas, there's been a 33.6 rise in youth-committed felonies since 2022.

The Texas Juvenile Justice Department reports that a significant portion of youth admitted to the TJJD in 2024 committed violent crimes, including murder and offenses involving firearms.

ABC 13 Houston reported that juvenile murders and capital murder filings in Harris County have increased by 261% since 2019.

Firearm offenses committed by youth have seen a 50% increase.

A significant number of students have been involved in physical fights, with 31.3% reporting being in a physical fight in the last 12 months.

In 2020, more than, listen, 2,643 cases were registered against minors.

Is that not scary?

76%, that's ridiculous.

That's sad.

We live in a go-go world.

We're always running, we're always busy, but we cannot let the busyness of the world take us away from the ministry that we have at home, because you have a ministry at home.

You have a ministry with your children.

The cell phone cannot raise your children.

The iPad cannot raise your children.

It's your job to raise your children.

And yes, both parents have to work.

I'm not saying y'all shouldn't, but you need to have time aside to where you dedicate to your children, whether it is the dinner table and you say no cell phones allowed.

We're gonna have dinner as a family, we're gonna talk about our day.

How was your day, how did it go, what are you going through?

And right now, I know that it's easy.

I put, oh, you're in my room, you're in your room, you're in your room.

Oh, let's watch a movie while we eat.

And those little details we're not paying attention to.

But what is the enemy whispering to your children's ear when they're eating in the room?

When they're in the room with their door closed, what is he doing, what is he getting away with?

And we think, oh, it's because they're at home.

They're not out there in the streets, they're at home.

It doesn't matter.

It does not matter.

They have access to everything on their little cell phone.

If the only time that our kids study the word of God is when you bring them on Sunday and when you bring them on Wednesday, there's a problem with that.

And I'm not saying don't bring them, bring them.

Keep bringing them.

Even when they don't wanna come, make them.

You're gonna go to church.

But if that's the only time they're listening to the word of God, I'm sorry to tell you, there's something wrong with that.

You should be able to have Bible time at home.

Five minutes, 10 minutes, 'cause I know sometimes, you know, again, life, right?

We gotta wake up early, we gotta go to work in the morning.

Open Psalms.

Psalms are easy.

What does that Psalm say to you?

Oh, mom, or hey, mijo, mija, this is what this Psalm says to me.

There are tons of devotionals that you can order from Amazon that you can do as a family.

You don't know as your children's pastors and as your youth pastors, I promise they will have something to share with you that you can do with your family.

The family unit needs to get back to what the family unit was.

And it's time together and the word of God and not just when they come on Wednesday and when they come on Sunday.

Deborah's ear turned to the voice of God and that is why, that is when God gave her instructions.

She was able to tell Barack what needed to be done.

Mothers, our ears need to be tuned to the voice of God.

We must ask Him for discernment, that's a big word, discernment, to show us the schemes of the enemy, everything that He's plotting against our children and bring to light what is being done in secret.

I think I have a good relationship with my kids, with all three of them, although the one that's married, I think that he knows that he can still come to me and we can talk about anything.

But they know if you're doing something you shouldn't, God's gonna tell me, He's gonna show me because I pray for that.

God, mothers, if you don't pray that prayer, God, give me discernment and bring to light whatever it is that my kids may be doing in secret and I know the youth maybe and the kids are like, why are you telling my mama to pray that way?

Because you need it.

Because we need to know.

Pray for discernment and pray for God to show you and they know and sure enough, sometimes things happen and I'm like, what'd I tell you?

What'd I tell you?

Right, Missy?

And it's time for us to say not in my house.

Not in my house, not in my house.

It's time for mothers to arise.

Mothers, arise.

Mothers, arise.

In the Old Testament, we read of the things ordinary people like you and me did under the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Othoniel, this is in Zechariah, not by might nor by power but by my spirit, says the Lord Almighty.

And judges, the spirit of the Lord came on Gideon.

Then in judges, the spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah.

And then on judges again, the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands.

This is Samson.

Mothers, the Holy Spirit must be our source of power today.

Acts 1a says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Romans 1a tells us, and if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, that spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, Mom.

It's living in you, Mom.

Showing up to fight the enemy without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit is like showing up to battle with a plastic sword expecting the power of a steel blade. (congregation murmurs) Never underestimate the good that one person can do when filled with the spirit of God and with a mother obedient to the will of the Father.

What would it look like if as mothers and spiritual mothers, we stood up and fight against the enemy?

What would it look like if us mothers and spiritual mothers, we go to battle on our knees?

What would it look like if us mothers and spiritual mothers, we do our corporate fast to take back those kids and youth who the enemy has entangled up until today?

He's the same one who deceived even the garden.

He presents temptation, he makes it look good.

He presents temptation as an exit to a problem.

He presents temptation as just do it this one time and then he traps you.

His essence hasn't changed, his tactics however have.

His goal remains the same.

John 10:10 tells us, "The thief comes only to steal, "kill and destroy."

His whole purpose is to steal, kill and destroy your children, what are you gonna do mom?

Steal, kill and destroy your children and your future generations, what are you gonna do?

Deborah makes her appearance when no one in Israel was fighting, she rose as a mother of Israel.

Perhaps you don't have kids but maybe you have nieces, you have nephews, maybe your kids are grown, well maybe you have grandbabies and even if you don't have kids, oh this, you don't fit in any of those categories.

Rise up and fight for those who have no one to fight for them.

Rise up as a spiritual mother for those who don't have a voice.

Rise up for those who are raising themselves because parents don't really care, they aren't around or they don't know God.

Today we rise as Deborah's for this generation.

Today we ask for the Holy Spirit to empower us to fight.

We rise as an army of women who will intercede as one for those strongholds to break.

How many woman in here can say, the enemy thought he could have them until I, Damaris, arose?

How many can say that?

I wanna see you this morning, literally.

How many can say the enemy thought he could have them until I, Heather, arose?

The enemy thought he could have them until I, Annette, arose.

The enemy thought he could have them until I, Melissa, arose.

The enemy thought he could have them, come on mom, I want you to put your name in there.

The enemy thought he could have them until I, what's your name, arose.

The enemy thought he could have them until I, my name, arose.

To fight for those generations to come.

You have no access, I want you to stay standing.

You have no access to my children.

You have no access to their mind.

You have no access to their life.

You have no access because they're covered by the blood of the lamb.

Covered by the blood of the lamb.

Can I ask the children and the youth to come and this is backwards, usually we pray for mamas.

But I wanna ask the warriors this morning to fight and pray for them.

Come up here, baby.

My daughter has a calling to be a missionary and the enemy will not have her, not as long as Demarest is alive.

The enemy will not have her mind and will not have her heart because I will fight on my knees for my daughter.

How many can say that this morning?

The youth, come on.

The youth, everybody get closer.

Get closer over here so we can all fit.

Mamas, get behind those children.

It doesn't necessarily have to be your kid, it's okay.

I just want the moms surrounding the children this morning as warriors, as warriors, as warriors, as warriors for this generation, as warriors for our children.

Come on, put your hand on a kid if you have a youth or a kid in front of you, I want you to put your hand.

I want you to begin to declare the promises of God over their life.

Whatever scheme of the enemy, whatever scheme he has plotted against our children, whatever scheme you have plotted to kill and end their lives is stopped today in the mighty name of Jesus.

Devil, you have no authority over their mind.

Devil, you have no authority over their lives.

Devil, you have no authority over their identity because they are sons and they are daughters of a living God.

And you take your filthy hands right off of them.

You get your filthy hands right off of them.

You have no business, no business messing with their mind, no business messing with their identity, no business messing with their life because they are loved, because they are chosen, because they are called.

And whatever the enemy has been whispering into your mind, I come against those thoughts of suicide in Jesus name.

I came against those thoughts of feeling not worthy in Jesus name.

I come against those thoughts of not knowing who you are in Jesus name because the Lord says that you are mine, because the Lord says that you are my son and you are my daughter and I died for you.

Any depression, any anxiety lives in the mighty name of Jesus because the devils of this generation are rising to fight because the devils of this generation will fight, will fight, will fight as one, united, as one.

We fight for these children, God.

And I ask Father that you encounter them right here where they are this morning, Lord, that they will have an encounter with your Holy Spirit, Lord, that they will get to know you as Abba, as a father.

For those who have no one to fight for them, Lord, we rise up this morning and we fight and we intercede for them because we are the tabernas that are rising up.

We are the mamas that are raising up.

We are the moms that are raising up for this generation.

In Jesus name. - Thanks for listening.

If you'd like some more information on PNEUMA Church, visit us on our website at mypneumachurch.org.

If you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe or share it with your friends on social media and tag us @mypneumachurch.

Thanks again and God bless. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) you