Tag Archives: Gideon

I invited God to my party…He didn’t even RSVP.

I “stole” part of this post from The Sweetheart! He taught last week when we were in Georgia and mentioned the fact that God didn’t show up to his party. Find out what kind of party we are talking about today!

I love parties.
  • Birthdays
  • Anniversaries
  • Graduations
  • Job promotions
  • Bon voyage parties
  • Super Bowl parties
  • Baby gender reveal parties!

The list could go on and on. We love to celebrate just about anything and hold nothing back when we get together to par-tay!

I had a party recently and invited everyone around me. I even invited God. It seemed all of my friends had plans; God didn’t show up either. He didn’t even send a “Respondez, s’il vous plait”!

I was hurt, disappointed and confused. Didn’t God want to join me?

Gideon also wanted to have God join him at his party. 

“And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!'” Judges 6:12.

A man of valor is one who has great courage in the face of danger, especially in battle. Gideon may not have thought he possessed this impressive trait but he was about to find out that with God he was unbeatable.

“Gideon said to Him, ‘O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this  happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.'”

Gideon was unsure of himself and his situation. His army was facing an attack from the Midianites and Gideon did not think they were able to conquer this enemy. He was so distressed about it that he even felt like everything he had heard his entire life was just a fairy tale. “Where are all the miracles I have heard about since I was a child? Have we now been forsaken?”

This lets us know that there are still going to be times that we may question: “Where is God?” Or more precisely, “Does He even realize where I am?!”

God, if You are with us…then why?

The reality is there are going to be some tough days ahead. There are going to be some struggles in our flesh. We are going to deal with afflictions and sickness. Our accounts are going to get pretty low, perhaps even red. There will be days that the heavens will seem locked up. We will mimic the cry of Gideon. “God, if it was really you, then why?”

Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

I can imagine the Lord was patient with Gideon. He knew his shortcomings, yet He was confident in Gideon’s ability…if he would go in the name of his God. The angel of the Lord didn’t feel sorry for Gideon. He didn’t join with him in his doubt or lack of confidence.

“So he said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the
weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.'”

The first pep talk wasn’t enough for Gideon. The angel of the Lord called him a mighty  man of valor, complimenting him on his bravery! But Gideon still wasn’t convinced. He mentions his shortcomings and his family’s pedigree. And like we do, he comes up with excuses.

  • I’m not a minister.
  • My father wasn’t a missionary or even a minister.
  • I don’t have a degree in theology.
  • How can you possibly mean me?

But instead of joining in with him, God refuses to come to Gideon’s Pity Party.

And He won’t come to mine either.

pity party

 

God simply reminds Gideon of the mission…and the fact that it isn’t about him…it is about HIM!

Just as Gideon was finding out through his interaction…we must be filled by God in order to accomplish what He desires to work through us! He would equip him, all Gideon had to do was Go.

It is the same for us today. Jesus will not leave us without the tools we need to accomplish His will. But self-pity is downright destructive and will leave us alone and frustrated. No one wants to be around someone who feels sorry for themselves and blames everyone around them for their troubles.

If you have compassion, or pity, for others you show them love or help them in their time  of need. But if you turn that pity on yourself, feeling “Woe is me” all of the time, then no one wants to be around you. You are not doing anything to help yourself or fix your problem!

He wants us to put our trust in Him, in His Word and go in the confidence of the Holy Spirit. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Roman 8:37 NIV.

Are you feeling sorry for yourself today? It is natural, friend. We are human.

Maybe you feel it is justified because LIFE is just overwhelming right now. Nothing is your fault; circumstances just keep piling up and it seems as if all of heaven is against you.

What can you do?

First. Put your confidence in the One who is in control. Let Him handle your worries, your fears; give Him your doubts!

Then Pour yourself into His Word…there are promises in there! Cling to them; make them your own.

Pray. Yes, pray and then pray some more. The more you talk to the Lord the more you will understand His ways, be able to hear His voice and become more like Him. “But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit…” Jude 1:10 NLT.

We aren’t in despair, we are a people blessed with Hope. A hope that never fades but keeps us every single day, no matter what comes our direction. He never leaves us comfortless…He sent the Holy Spirit for that reason. “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever…” John 14:16.

Before you know it, you will change that invitation from Pity Party to Praise Party…I promise Jesus will show up at that one.

Blessings, friends.

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Throw out that fleece!

Are you familiar with the story of Gideon in the Old Testament? I am fascinated by it; by Gideon’s boldness, if not outright nerve, and by God’s patience, tolerance and amusement with Gideon. In fact, I think I see some of ME in this guy…how about you?

Here is how the story sets up: In the Book of Judges, sixth chapter, God has told Gideon that He will lead him into battle against the Midianites and Amalekites. “And the angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!’

It seems as if there is great confidence put in Gideon from the start. The Lord called him a Mighty Man of Valor; quite a compliment from the Angel of the Lord.

But even then Gideon asks for a sign. “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about…”

The Lord is persistent, and patient and responds, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

That is not enough for Gideon. The promises of God straight from the Lord Himself…it isn’t enough. He wants to prepare an offering of a young goat and unleavened bread and he even asks the Angel of the Lord to wait while he does all of this! When he brings back the offering, he wants a sign that it is really God who is talking with him. So the Angel of the Lord takes the staff in His hand, touches the meat and bread, and then fire comes up out of the rock and consumes both.

 “So Gideon said to God, ‘If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said – look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.’”

Now it is time for the battle. He has a promise; He has a confirmation from God. Is it enough?

“…For we walk by faith, not by sight…” 2 Corinthians 5:7.

When he gets up the next morning and squeezes the fleece, he wrings out dew into a bowl and fills it. God was patient with Gideon, and answers his request.

He has a promise; He has a confirmation, and now a wet fleece from God. Is it enough?

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5.

“Then Gideon said to God, ‘Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.’”

Patience, patience, patience. “And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.”

He has a promise; He has a confirmation, a wet fleece, and now a dry fleece. Is it enough?

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Hebrews 11:1.

What are we looking for today? Do we fleece God and say, “If you will do this, show me this, work this out my way, then I will do thus and thus for You, Lord.”

A fleece seems a little, or a lot, presumptuous to tell Almighty God what to do and specifically how to do it. It is more than seeking a sign.

A fleece literally instructs God what to do and when!

We are just like Gideon. We already have the promises of God! Sixty six books filled to the brim with promises and yet, just like Gideon, we seek a sign.

How many signs does the Lord have to perform for us to believe?

Faith is trusting God even when we cannot see, when we take God at His Word and just do what He asks us to do. Continually asking God for another miracle, even testing God, is not the kind of faith He is looking for.

Gideon already had an answer. God had told Him that He was going to be with him in battle. It was a done deal. But Gideon lacked faith. He was so full of fear and doubt that he wanted more confirmation.

If we are always seeking a sign then we will never have enough, we will always need another prompt to get us going every time God wants us to do something for Him.

God will tolerate our fleeces but He cherishes our faith

But if we walk by faith, trusting that He knows what is best and continually relying on the promises in His written Word, then we will not need “signs. We know He is there and wants only the best for us and will work through us.

Putting a fleece out before the Lord may not be wrong, in the case of Gideon the Lord did answer his pleas. But we must be ever so careful because so many of our fleeces can come about by happenstance, or not come about at all, and leave the believer wondering and confused.

The Lord was undoubtedly trying to increase the faith of Gideon by answering his requests so deliberately. Perhaps even today God will answer the prayer of a young Christian that doesn’t understand the Word by granting his fleece request. It is also true that there are other examples in the Bible of people asking God for a sign (the servant seeking a sign when looking for a wife for Isaac, Genesis 24) and in the Old Testament they often cast lots to decide the outcome of a situation.

Jesus was asked for sign and what was His response?

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.Matthew 12:38-39.

He repeats it in the 16th chapter when asked again for a sign!

Today, we have the Holy Spirit within us. He is our guide, instructor, leader and the One who gives complete direction through His Spirit and Word! We pray, we ask for guidance and then we trust Him that He knows what is best and we are following His will. Continually asking for signs may only bring confusion into our Spirit-filled lives. If we make it a pattern in our spiritual walk to fleece God for every little matter that “comes down the pike” we are people of weak faith, just like Gideon was in the beginning.

Yes, he is listed in the Hall of Fame in the Faith chapter! Gideon did great exploits with the anointing of the Lord on his life and undoubtedly his faith grew, but his faith was weak in the beginning, as is evident in all of his need for confirmation.

Are you fleecing God or putting faith in His Word? Can you “throw out” that fleece today and just trust God?  It’s a lot less work to believe and doesn’t waste near as much time. Just ask Gideon. 

Kingdom2

 

Choose Wisely

I cannot remember the last time I wrote for #FiveMinuteFriday! Feels good to be back. No extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font, or punctuation. Today’s word prompt is “Choose”.

Go!

The Sweetheart says I couldn’t make a decision if my life depended on it.

He’s right.

I have the worst time making up my mind on anything. Ask me to pick where were we will go for dinner. I am given that decision often since we travel so much; we are with different ministering families almost every weekend. “Where would YOU like to go?” PLEASE! Don’t ask me, I cannot make up my mind and I also do not like to be the one making the selection.

Put me in a dressing room with two or three outfits that actually fit. (Okay, that may be an exaggeration; that NEVER happens!) Then ask me to pick only one. I will be in there until they close up shop and go home. I cannot do it.  It will not happen. All three of those babies are going home with me!

But when it matters, when it really matters, I can choose.

I chose The Sweetheart over 35 years ago and have never regretted that decision. We choose to stay together because we made a commitment and have learned to love, and forgive, regardless.

I chose to keep three baby boys, My Three Sons, thanking God every day for blessing us with new life and for the wonder of it all.

I chose to raise them in Truth, to teach them to walk with God and put Him first in everything they do.

I chose a wife for my eldest son…no, really, I did! They chose to fall in love, thankfully, but I did tell Kyle that I had found the perfect girl for him before he ever laid eyes on her. #littlegirlineverhad

I choose to follow Jesus. That was an easy one. As a very young teenager, when I first made that choice, it wasn’t all because I loved Him. It was because I was scared of NOT being with Him, afraid I would end up in that “other place”.

But I kept choosing, kept following, kept reading His Word that He left behind for me. Then I fell in love with Him because of what He had done for me. Because He loved me FIRST, He chose me!

I choose to share this Good News with others because time is short and there is nothing in this life that we can carry into the next…except those that we bring to Christ!

Choices. We make them every single day. Good ones, bad ones, easy ones, difficult ones, but we live with those choices, most of them for the rest of our lives…some for eternity.

Look at all of the heroes in the Faith Chapter, Hebrews 11. Their choices of bravery, heroism, courage and fearlessness granted them great reward!

“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:  who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again.

Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.  Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.  They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.” Hebrews 11:32-40 NKJV.

Their weakness was turned to strength! They became powerful in battle! They suffered…greatly, and the world was not worthy of them.

They made choices. Life-changing choices.

What are you going to choose today? Who are you going to choose?

“Choose you this day, whom you will serve…As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15.

Make choices that you won’t regret.

STOP.

Choose Wisely

 Kingdom2

 

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