MIGHTY WARRIOR
If the angel lord came to me and said "the Lord is with you mighty warrior"....I'd probably chuckle. Me?
I'd probably feel a little like Gideon did that day.
The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!” (Judges 6:12 NCV)
Mighty Warrior???? He was hiding out when the angel of the Lord came to see him! Hiding out from the Midianites! They were oppressing the Israelites.
Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other peoples from the east would come and attack them. They camped in the land and destroyed the crops that the Israelites had planted as far away as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, and no sheep, cattle, or donkeys. (Judges 6:3, 4 NCV)
Israel was hurting! God allowed this because they'd turned their back on Him!
They were not living for the Lord!
Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, (Judges 6:1 NKJV)
For seven years they'd been attacked, their crops destroyed, their animals killed, and they were hiding out in caves and dens!
Because the Midianites were very powerful and were cruel to Israel, the Israelites made hiding places in the mountains, in caves, and in safe places. (Judges 6:2, NCV)
But you know God loves His children, He hates to see them have to lie in the bed they made for themselves, and He is there when they cry out to Him!
Israel became very poor because of the Midianites, so they cried out to the Lord.
(Judges 6:6, NCV)
But God had a few things to say to them too! And He spoke through a prophet to do His speaking!
When the Israelites cried out to the Lord against the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to them. He said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you out of Egypt, the land of slavery. I saved you from the Egyptians and from all those who were against you. I forced the Canaanites out of their land and gave it to you. Then I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God. Live in the land of the Amorites, but do not worship their gods.’ But you did not obey me.” (Judges 6:7-10 NCV)
Ok, do you get it, you're suffering because of your disobedience!
But God is going to use Gideon to deliver them when they decide to repent, but Gibeon doesn't buy it!
The Lord turned to Gideon and said, “Go with your strength and save Israel from the Midianites. I am the one who is sending you.”
But Gideon answered, “Lord, how can I save Israel? My family group is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family.” (Judges 6:14, 15 NCV)
He comes from the weakest of the family groups, and within the weakest, he is the weakest of them! Come on! Why would you want to use Gideon?
Gideon wonders that too!
But God does stuff like that! He uses the most unlikely people. People who don't boast of THEIR GREAT STRENGTH!
He uses weak people, that no one would think God would give a second glance, people who must rely on HIM, because they have nothing much to offer themselves!
But Gideon isn't sure? Is this really the angel of the Lord or not? Let's see if this is real!
Then Gideon said to the Lord, “If you are pleased with me, give me proof that it is really you talking with me. Please wait here until I come back to you. Let me bring my offering and set it in front of you.”
And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”
So Gideon went in and cooked a young goat, and with twenty quarts of flour, made bread without yeast. Then he put the meat into a basket and the broth into a pot. He brought them out and gave them to the angel under the oak tree.
The angel of God said to Gideon, “Put the meat and the bread without yeast on that rock over there. Then pour the broth on them.”
And Gideon did as he was told. The angel of the Lord touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick that was in his hand. Then fire jumped up from the rock and completely burned up the meat and the bread! And the angel of the Lord disappeared! (Judges 6:17-21 NCV)
Oooooooooh k. It IS the angel of God! Is this God Himself? If it is he is afraid he will die if he has seen Him!
Then Gideon understood he had been talking to the angel of the Lord. So Gideon cried out, “Lord God! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
But the Lord said to Gideon, “Calm down! Don’t be afraid! You will not die!”
So Gideon built an altar there to worship the Lord and named it The Lord Is Peace. It still stands at Ophrah, where the Abiezrites live. (Judges 6:22-24 NCV)
God likes Gideon's alter, but he doesn't like his fathers alters, because they are to worship Baal. The first thing Gideon is to do is tear down his fathers alters that he's built for Baal.
He does it. But he does it at night because he's scared! Mighty warrior that he is...
So Gideon got ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him to do. But Gideon was afraid that his family and the men of the city might see him, so he did it at night, not in the daytime. (Judges 6:27 NCV)
But the thing is....he did it! And they wanted to kill him!
The men of the city asked each other, “Who did this?”
After they asked many questions, someone told them, “Gideon son of Joash did this.”
So they said to Joash, “Bring your son out. He has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah idol beside it. He must die!” (Judges 6:29, 30 NCV)
They want to kill him, but decide that if Baal is really a god he can defend himself and kill Gideon.
But Joash said to the angry crowd around him, “Are you going to take Baal’s side? Are you going to defend him? Anyone who takes Baal’s side will be killed by morning! If Baal is a god, let him fight for himself. It’s his altar that has been pulled down.” So on that day Gideon got the name Jerub-Baal, which means “let Baal fight against him,” because Gideon pulled down Baal’s altar. (Judges 6:31, 32 NCV)
So, Gideon is beginning to gain respect! He had the courage, even if he did it at night, to tear down the alters of Baal!
So when the Midianites came again to oppress Israel, they were ready for them!
All the Midianites, the Amalekites, and other peoples from the east joined together and came across the Jordan River and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.
But the Spirit of the Lord entered Gideon, and he blew a trumpet to call the Abiezrites to follow him. He sent messengers to all of Manasseh, calling them to follow him. He also sent messengers to the people of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. So they also went up to meet Gideon and his men. (Judges 6:33-35 NCV)
Gideon is calling for war! And the people are coming to join him! But then...he just wants to make sure God IS with him!
Then Gideon said to God, “You said you would help me save Israel. I will put some wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the wool but all of the ground is dry, then I will know that you will use me to save Israel, as you said.” And that is just what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning and squeezed the wool, he got a full bowl of water from it. (Judges 6:36-38 NCV)
Can you imagine asking such a thing? But God is patient with the mighty warrior Gideon, and humors him.
And Gideon has the nerve to ask just once more ....
Then Gideon said to God, “Don’t be angry with me if I ask just one more thing. Please let me make one more test. Let only the wool be dry while the ground around it gets wet with dew.” That night God did that very thing. Just the wool was dry, but the ground around it was wet with dew. (Judges 6:39, 40 NCV)
Ok Gideon, God is with you! You can do this thing! The spirit of God has come upon you! Why are you afraid? Quit stalling! Go...and fight...Mighty Warrior!
See, Gideon didn't feel like a mighty warrior, but God called him that!
God seen what Gideon was made to be!
Gideon seen what he felt like!
We do know that we don't go by feelings...don't we?
We know that we go by the Words of God, right?
And what does the Word say that WE are?
It says we are children of the Most High God and that with HIM nothing is impossible!
We are set free and we are saved from sin and death!
We are forgiven and are loved and can use His name to come against the powers of darkness!
We walk by faith and not by sight and we are born again, by the blood He shed!
We are heaven bound and grafted into Him so closely that we have Jewish blood flowing through our veins!
We are MORE THAN CONQUERORS!
Now, YOU believe it...mighty warrior!
Created 3 months ago
