God’s Heart to Meet with Gideon..Craig Denison Ministries

 

God’s Heart to Meet with Gideon

Craig Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

Throughout Scripture we see countless examples of God meeting with man and countless lives being transformed as the result. These examples are in Scripture to stir our faith and fill us with a desire to meet with our Creator. When we read about the life of David, we should be filled with a longing to live as he did, centered around meeting with our heavenly Father. When we read about Gideon or Moses, we should long to know our God as they did. When we read about Jesus coming down to us or his heart for the woman caught in adultery, we should respond by pursuing encounters with our Savior. And when we read of Pentecost and Jesus’ second coming, we should seek out the fullness of God’s presence available to us on this earth in preparation for the age that is to come. May your heart be filled with a wholehearted desire to pursue meeting with God this week.

Scripture:“And the Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.’” Judges 6:16

Devotional:

The story of God meeting with Gideon ignites a fire of faith within me to be used by God to powerfully impact the earth. Gideon exemplifies the truth that God anoints all he appoints. He will perfectly equip and empower you to accomplish whatever task he has set before you.

In Judges 6, an angel of the Lord approaches Gideon, who at the time was beating out wheat in a winepress to hide it from the oppressive Midianites. Scripture says, “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor’” (Judges 6:12). Now, if an angel appeared to me and told me something, I’d like to think I would believe whatever he said. Not so with Gideon. Gideon immediately doubts the word of God. He responds to God’s call to save Israel by saying, “‘Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man’” (Judges 6:15-16).

So great was Gideon’s insecurity that he didn’t trust a direct word from God. But God still responded to Gideon’s doubt by meeting him at that place of insecurity and faithlessness and consistently speaking truth over him. Before Gideon even had a chance to doubt, God called him a “mighty man of valor.” God knew Gideon’s insecurities. He knew that his past and present works were anything but full of valor. But God called out the greatness he had placed in Gideon. In meeting with Gideon, he formed and fashioned him into a man full of faith and power.

In going into battle, the Lord took the vast number of men that were following Gideon, totaling thirty-two thousand, and stripped them down to three hundred. God took what might have been possible by the hands of Gideon and made it only possible by his great strength. And in response to God’s faithfulness to meet with him, Gideon obeyed the Lord and confidently went into battle with three hundred men. Judges 7:22-23 tells us, “When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.”

Gideon powerfully defeated an oppressive army vastly outnumbering his own because of the power of God working through him. God longs to fill you and empower you today. He longs to conquer the works of the enemy that oppress those he loves through you. Meet with God today. Allow him to call out the greatness he has placed within you. Allow him to guide you into battles only he could win that you might bring his kingdom to earth all around you. May you be filled with his love, grace, and power today as you open your heart and spend time communing with your heavenly Father.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the powerful effect of God’s heart to meet with Gideon. Allow the grace God had for Gideon to fill you with an understanding of God’s grace toward you. Allow Scripture to stir up your heart and faith to meet with God.

“‘Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.’” Judges 6:15-16

“Then Gideon said to God, ‘If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.’ And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, ‘Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.’ And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.” Judges 6:36-40

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

2. What are the Midianites in your life? What does God want to conquer in and through you today?

3. Open your heart to the Lord and meet with him. Meditate on his nearness. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal his presence to you.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

May Romans 8:35 and 37-39 encourage you and fill you with faith to conquer all that would stand in the way of you and the abundant life Jesus died to give you:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Extended Reading: Judges 6-7

You Are a Spiritual Being..John North

 You Are a Spiritual Being

By John North

BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY: “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” - John 3:6-8

When you were dead, He made you alive!

We were made by God as spiritual beings. Our spirit enables us to have a spiritual connection to God’s Spirit, through whom we experience the life of God flowing through us. But because of our sin and fallenness, that connection is broken. So we are left spiritually dead.

Still, at some point in your life, the Holy Spirit began stirring in your heart an awareness of God and His presence in the lives of some people around you. You came to desire a good relationship with Him.

But even that awareness and desire would not have been enough to bring you to God if Jesus had not “forgiven us all our transgressions.” All the ways that we have broken God’s laws stand against us, accusing us; they are “hostile to us”.

But Jesus “has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” It is a gift that we can never pay for, but can always show gratitude and love for. Take time to thank Him now.

Heavenly Father, we are all so much more than we believe. Help us to grow into true disciples for you, Amen. 

A Prayer to Never Give Up..Meg Bucher

 A Prayer to Never Give Up

By Meg Bucher

“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”  - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT

The day I am writing this piece marks one year since my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, a life-long autoimmune disease. In an instant, our lives changed. All the freedoms which existed before her condition vanished before we could properly say goodbye. It’s unfair her pancreas quit on her. There was nothing she could do. It’s a condition one is born with and lies dormant until triggered. “Never give up,” as Paul pleaded with the Corinthian church, has pulled our family through the last year. 

In life, we are promised to go through hard things, but nothing prepares us for the hard things the Lord knows are rolling down the pipeline. He, however, goes before us. When our lives are flipped upside down, He is not surprised, shaken, or unaware. He is prepared, and He picks us up and carries us through those seasons. Many days have felt exactly like all the army-crawling memes I jokingly send to my friends, laughing and crying at the same time. We tell ourselves this truth:

“God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 5:5 NLT

God went to great lengths to make sure we were never alone. Not only did He surround us with other human beings to do life with, but He also gave us His Holy Spirit through Christ, empowering us to live life on a completely accelerated level, beyond what we are humanly capable of.

We are not alone in this life. Not my daughter with her disease, our family picking up pieces and building new patterns of life. Not any of us. We all face hard things in life, even if they don’t have a title or a diagnosis. Life is hard. But, as my late father-in-law was so faithful to remind us, “Life is Good.” It’s both. Hard and good. And when the hard times threaten to eclipse the good running right alongside them, cling to the truth like these verses from Paul today, and study the extra passages listed below. 

Paul told them to fix their eyes on things they could not yet see because those are the things that will last forever. Jesus said, in His most famous sermon, “Blessed are those who have not yet seen …but believe.” Like the Queen song bellows, “Don’t stop believing’” Yes, I went there. Whatever it takes, remember, our bodies are dying, but our spirits are being renewed every day. The trouble is temporary. The glory of eternity with Jesus is forever …

Let’s pray:

Father, 

Today I pray for everyone who feels lost and alone. To the person who feels broken beyond repair. For Your son or daughter enduring an unfair diagnosis. To the ones facing hardship, homelessness, and war. For the hungry bellies around the world, God. For those who don’t know who You are. Father, I plead their case in prayer today that You would meet them with the truth of these verses You have so eloquently inspired Paul to write. Let these truths sink down into the very core of who we are …Your children. Your precious creation. Glory to You, and You alone, God. 

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.

Faith, Suffering, and Identity..Amanda Idleman

 Faith, Suffering, and Identity

By Amanda Idleman

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
- Matthew 5:3-6

The story of Job is a popular one in the Bible. It is referenced to provoke discussion on many topics: how to comfort another through dreadful experiences, the ultimate sovereignty of God, and what to do when we are the ones going through a truly terrible time. In my college Old Testament course, our teacher alluded to the fact that some believe the story is just too awful and too dire to be real. Those theorists believe Job was a fable passed through the times to teach the listeners the aforementioned topics.

God is sovereign, and who are we to question His ways? Life can be very hard; in the end, God honors our faithfulness. I used to believe this as well. It didn’t make sense that a God could be that cruel. It’s easier to believe the story of Job when we soften it by saying it’s most likely not completely true. We could get into the sovereignty of God, the chaos of the world, and how sin can create similar terrible experiences in our lives, but the point of this article is to highlight one key fact. Life is hard.

It may not be hard now, but at some point, everyone experiences something that rocks them to their core, challenging beliefs and identity. I don’t think many Americans like the story of Job because it’s a bit…uncomfortable. Job had plenty of challenges and troubles that ailed him physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Perhaps the most challenging aspect of his dire story is that, in losing each of those things in his life, that meant a lot, he lost his identity. He lost everything that made him who he was. Or did he?

Job responded in two ways: by complaining a bit and by remaining faithful to God. After a reprimand, he was eventually honored for his faithfulness. Why? To us, it looked like Job lost all those factors that formulated his identity, but as we found out, his identity was held, not in vices, fame, money, or family, but in his eternal, provincial identity as a son of the one true God.

Job saw himself first as a citizen of Heaven before anything else. What will happen when you lose an integral part of who you are? If not your faith, what factor or factors make up who you are in the first place? These are the questions I want us to ponder. With answers, we can start preparing so we can respond like Job by eschewing the identities the world tells us to sow into and which will inevitably fail at some point.

I think our culture is having an identity crisis. We value comfort, quick relief from pain, and, some would say, even our less privileged citizens live better than the majority of third-world countries. Many of us are the sum of multiple factors that we consider crucial to who we are. Unfortunately, for many, these supplant our identity in Christ and include vices, addictions, fads and trends, pop culture, and hobbies. The moment we put more importance on something outside of God, we will be challenged. When we let our job or even our family consume us in idolic fashion, we will be disappointed because those things won’t be there forever.

We see booming numbers of believers in countries in which Christians are persecuted. How?! This is the crux. Those believers have no choice but to acknowledge the truth, something we all must reconcile with someday.

We are all broken. We all need a Savior. Our eternal needs are met by Christ alone.

The first four Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-6 teach us this.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

What do mourning, meekness, hunger, and thirst have in common? They are traits of broken people, those who have come to the end of themselves and must rely on God. They have no other choice. They’ve lost their house, job, family, health, and friends, as Job did, and they have nowhere else to go but God.

The following ideas are just a few ways we can try to find the end of ourselves and place our identity in Christ:

1. Stop trying to look like you have it all together.
The American way is one of resilience, self-help, looking tough, and getting it done. Those traits are why we are number one leaders in the world, some would say, but we have lost sight of the original example of what it means to be a leader. Jesus served. He broke tradition, turned the other cheek, and cleaned people’s dirty feet. We need to acknowledge and even accept our brokenness. Mourning is ok. Weeping is welcome. Letting go of all the other identities we hold onto is what God wants. Next time someone asks you how your day is going, actually think about it instead of responding with the ubiquitous, “I’m good.” If you’re not, be honest. We gain admirers when we have it all together; we gain friends when we show our weaknesses.

2. Look to the past

We learn from the past. That’s why we should study it. To prevent us from making the same mistakes, we should invest in reflection, in which we consider how God has helped us before, so we might strengthen our faith that He will help us again. David’s psalms are full of reflections in which he realizes that God was always there and always helped him. This can only happen if you actually stop and reflect, meditate and pray.

Ecclesiastes 7:2 reminds us that “Death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.” That is…..sobering. Yes, death awaits everyone, but it is not the final stop for everyone. As citizens of Heaven, we ultimately get to go home to be with God. This reassurance can assuage the fear of death that plagues us all. With too much stock in temporal things, we risk losing ourselves. Replacing all of that with the only identity that remains forever, being a child of God, can help us navigate the valleys all of us will inevitably experience.

Intersecting Faith and Life:
What is blocking you from claiming Christ as your true and only identity? What things do you put before your relationship with the Lord? How can you begin to sow into your relationship with the Lord so you will have access to his perfect peace when life’s struggles come your way?