 |
| Illustration by Brook Lamberti instagram.com/brooke.lamberti |
In the previous episode, we talked about the 5 things to do to start walking in the blessings of God. The first on that list is knowing who you are as a child of God. If you do not know who you are in God, how will you know His blessings apply to you?
Having that knowledge is the key to renewing your thinking and the power to taking control of your life.
Many believers, children of the most-High God, go our entire lives not really grasping the depth of who we are and the power behind us. It’s like being a king or president and not grasping the extent of your power and the forces and troops at your command.
When that revelation, of your position in Christ, drops into your spirit gets grafted in your being, nothing will be unreachable, unstoppable and nothing will be impossible nor will anything be able to stand against you.
Gideon is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. Perhaps you might see yourself or a part of you in Gideon as we go through his story, which starts in chapter six of the book of Judges.
Gideon was a young man who lived after the time of the mighty miracles and wonders God performed when He delivered the Israelites and brought them out of Egypt.
When we first meet Gideon, he is not out in the open, doing business as usual. Instead, he’s having to hide in caves to perform simple daily chores.
When God’s angel appeared to Gideon, he greeted Gideon with one of the greatest compliments ever, even though the angel did not find him standing brave, chest puffed out, a cape draped over his shoulders ready to defend his people.
Judges 6: 12 reads: When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
What a compliment, and that from an angel, taking into consideration that angels know what it takes to be in warfare and what it takes to be a mighty warrior.
I imagine Gideon looked around that dark cave to see what other young man of valor was hiding there, for surely the angel was not referring to him, Gideon, as a “mighty warrior.”
Gideon did not consider himself, brave, let alone a might warrior—a brave person does not operate in fear or in hiding, neither does a warrior—a warrior faces whatever challenges and battles are ahead of them, knowing it may cost him/her their life.
A warrior is someone who is willing to protect, defend, and fight for his people and his country.
Yet, this angel, had walked into that cave, addressed Gideon not just as a warrior, but a mighty one at that.
So how does this mighty warrior respond? He asks, “Pardon me, my lord, but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all His wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’
Gideon takes it one step further as he justifies why his people are in hiding, and like most Christians, he dares to play the Blame it on God Game for the situations they find themselves in.
Gideon complains. “But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
Where did Gideon and his people get the notion that God had abandoned them? If God seems far away or absent, guess who moved or played the disappearing act?
Again the angel said to Gideon, “Go in the strength you have…”
Note the 3 things, that by this time, the angel referred to Gideon as:
1) “a mighty man of valor”
2) “God was with him,” and
3) “he possessed strength”
Really? Gideon was all that, he possessed valor and strength and God was with him?
Gideon didn’t think so though. That might warrior had responded just like so many of us, “if God is with me, then why, why, why? If God is so good, then where are the miracles, where are my blessings, my healings, the promotions, the more than enough, the above and beyond He promised?”
Gideon was focused on his situation, his position, and the suffering of his people. Gideon “existed” in the problem, the circumstance and his status. Gideon wasn’t expecting God to come and deliver them, no one else was, so why should he?
I don’t blame Gideon though—he was aware of the history of his people, but if he grew up hearing that God had abandoned His own people, how else was Gideon expected to rise above their current situation? His environment was not conducive for bravery or prosperity of any kind.
Gideon was at a place where I have been before, and I’m positive you may have been as well.
He declared with confidence, his thoughts about himself. He had already considered who he was and was certain of it; yet we see that Gideon’s thoughts were contrary to the “mighty man of valor” he was in God’s eyes; just like you and I do sometimes when instead of aligning our thoughts with God’s word, we think we are not strong enough for the battle, we’re not smart enough for the task or challenge ahead. Where is God we ask?
Sometimes I think we forget to ask God, we forget to include Him in the affairs of our lives.
Proverbs 23:7 tells us that a man is exactly what he thinks of himself.
I don’t have to quote the results of any scientific studies for you to know that this is the honest truth. You see this a lot with people who suffer from eating disorders. There’s nothing wrong in working at staying healthy, no matter what your size, but when you are say a size 0 or 4 or something like that and think you’re obese, then something is wrong.
So back to Gideon. Allow me to paraphrase how Gideon justifies why his people are no longer the great Israelites feared by many and how among the 12 tribes that make up the Israelite nation, Gideon’s tribe, the tribe of Manasseh, was at the bottom of the totem pole, and of that tribe, his family, the Abiezrites, was the weakest, and he, a nobody.
Amidst all the twelve tribes of Israel, Gideon mentioned that he came from the lowest tribe, lowest family, and he was the least.
Wowsers! Talk about a negative view of one’s self.
In essence, what Gideon conveyed to the angel was that he was of little or no importance or power at all. He had no clout—he was nothing.
Growing up as a young boy, I’m sure Gideon observed the severe persecutions of his the Israelites. Despite the many stories he heard of God’s deliverance; and we know from Judges 6:13 that Gideon knew of those victorious moments in God, he was persuaded to believe the worst because, instead of standing up to their enemies and trusting in the God of their great generals; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, instead of trusting in God’s defense, Gideon and his people chose to cower and hide.
The Israelites were a nation who trusted God for deliverance from slavery and actually saw, with their own eyes, God split the Red Sea, and then close it up again to swallow up their enemies.
So how did the Israelites come from such victorious people who were revered and feared by those around them to a people afraid and hiding in caves?
Their story, the reason for their demise, was the consequence of seven years of disobedience.
Was there not one among the twelve tribes of Israel who could stand up for God and defend His Name and His people? We have seen over and over again in the Bible that all God needs is one individual daring enough to trust Him and bold enough to go.
Where in the world did Gideon get the idea that God had deserted the Israelites?
When we do not meditate upon God’s word, we are soon forced to come to our own conclusions about things, about situations, and about ourselves. God instructed the Israelites to meditate on His word, to put His Word on their doorpost as a reminder (Deut. 6:6-9).
Do you feel God has abandoned you? Do you feel that God’s divine protection is no longer upon your life? Sadly enough, that is the thought many Christians have today.
This is so true of many believers who have already considered themselves, as did Gideon, to be far less than the person whom God would answer or willingly bless, let alone chose to save their family, their neighborhood, their workplace, or their nation.
We have considered that we are striving to get somewhere in our walk with God, that we have to fight for every step we take; and to get there we need to hide in the shadows, in caves, dig holes and go underground like moles.
We have ascertained in our minds that there are positions in God that are reserved for great preachers and evangelists, but not for us. We think so because, like Gideon, we have considered that, of all Christians, my state, my city, my county, my church is not known or on television, my family is the least in the church; and in my home, I am the black sheep.
We hide away in our little corners, trying to make it through life, praying when it’s all over, we would be happy if we could just slide into heaven just as the doors are closing.
Well, I don’t want to talk about Gideon and leave a bad impression of him. Here’s why I like him so much. Let’s see what happened to Gideon once he got his stinking thinking straightened out.
Verse 25 reads: 25 That same night the Lordsaid to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.[b] Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole[c] beside it. 26 Then build a proper kind of[d] altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second[e] bull as a burnt offering.”
God was in essence instructing Gideon what he needed to do to save himself and his people. And those instructions are exactly what you need to do to save yourself and take control of your life once again. You need to disconnect, disassociate, denounce all dealings with the enemy; tear down all altars, strongholds, anything that is not of God in your life.
Once you tear down those ties to the enemy, repent and rededicate yourself to God. Give those areas of your heart and life that were once sinful and evil to God. Superimpose the work of the cross over what the enemy used to control in your life.
In verse 27,27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
It may seem scary and frightening to take that first step. If you need to, get connected with people who are on fire for God and ask their support. I noticed that Gideon took ten of his servants and not friends, I’m speculating that is because he can tell his servants what to do and they will do it, while his friends may have tried to talk him out of what he was about to do. I bring this up because when you need support on something God has instructed you to do, you don’t ask people’s opinion, you don’t need naysayers, get folks who will get on board and lend their support.
There are so many things I can touch on in just this one chapter. But here’s is my final point in verses 33 to 35.
33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.
You might ask why did the Spirit of God only fall on Gideon now, why not earlier when he was in the winepress doing his chore?
What I see here is that once Gideon destroyed the door/channel of the enemy and repented, the Spirit of the Lord was able to come into Gideon and awaken the warrior in him. Just look at him in chapters 34 & 35 as he tells the Abiezrite family to follow him, sending messages to Manasseh and calling others to prepare for battle. This very Gideon whom we first met hiding in a cave.
Not only did Gideon’s opinion of himself change, so did the people. They started calling him Jeru-Baal, which means idol-slayer. That is what happens when you let those things of the world go and allow God’s Spirit to fall on you. It is no different today, it is the same thing that happened in Acts 1:8, when the Holy Spirit falls on you, you will receive the power of God in your life.
To wrap up this episode,
1. you need to get the revelation of your position in Christ,
2. know the mighty warrior that resides within,
3. know that God has already endowed and equipped you with strength to be victorious over every situation and, moreover,
4. know that God is always with you.
Then will you be able to tear down the idols in your life and pull down strongholds. When you get all these things out of your life, God’s Spirit will come upon you to do mighty things, to be victorious, be a conqueror and to live your most blessed life.
Be Blessed!
~Arama Christiana
~Arama Christiana
#aramaproducts
IG: @aramaproducts
Pinterest
IG: @aramaproducts
