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Judges 7:2 - The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’
Are we walking each day in faith so that no matter what enemy we encounter we can defeat it with God? What prideful enemy are you facing today? We have an enemy who is constantly trying to get us to believe that what we have accomplished we have done on our own. God wants us to trust Him and believe He is helping us daily.
Sin has conquered all people except Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve's sin in the garden, David's sin when he numbered Israel or Samson's sin of using his strength incorrectly, all three of these sins come under the Pride of Life. I am sure if we will look at the sin that has conquered us we will find that it falls under either the Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes, or the Pride of Life. Are you going to be able to defeat these temptations by yourself? The answer is "NO". We are going to need to trust the Lord to help us overcome the temptations the devil will use. Remember the devil is not omniscient (all-knowing). Only God is omniscient. So how does the devil always seem to know what temptations to confront us with that succeed? The devil is very observant. He knows that to defeat his opponent he has to know their behavior. He has studied the behavior of God's creation and he has discovered how to get us to sin. He has beaten everyone but ONE, Jesus Christ. We, humans, are not too hard to defeat. Simply use one of the three ways mentioned above and he succeeds every time. When tempting our Lord and Savior look at his plan. He said to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God turn these stones into bread." He tried to get Jesus to doubt Himself and because Jesus had been fasting he slips in a Lust of the Flesh temptation. Turn the bread into stones if You are the Son of God. You have to be hungry. Your flesh has to be craving something to eat. When that doesn't work he tries the Lust of the Eyes when he tells Him I will give you all these kingdoms if You will worship me. Lastly, he tries the Pride of Life temptation when he says, Go ahead and jump from the pinnacle of the temple angels will save You. God will send His Angelic Air Force to swoop in and make sure Your landing is a safe one.
Think on These: Pride hides a man's faults to himself, and magnifies them to everyone else. When success turns a man's head, it leaves him looking in the wrong direction. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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1 Samuel 29:6-9 - Then Achish called David and said to him, "As the LORD lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army are pleasing in my sight; for I have not found evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, you are not pleasing in the sight of the lords. "Now therefore return and go in peace, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines."
David said to Achish, "But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant from the day when I came before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?" But Achish replied to David, "I know that you are pleasing in my sight, like an angel of God; nevertheless the commanders of the Philistines have said, 'He must not go up with us to the battle.' NASU
The Philistines were about to go to war with King Saul and David was going with Achish, the King of Gath, but the Philistine lords didn't trust David as Achish did. Achish had no choice but to dismiss David. David wanted to go and fight with Achish against the Israelites, but he wasn't permitted to do so. Would David have actually fought against Saul and the Israelites? This question will never be answered because he was dismissed and sent back home.
Can you see what I see? If David and his men would have been allowed to stay and fight with Achish what a disastrous outcome this would have been for their families. The real blessing was David being told they could not fight with the Philistines and they must leave. When they arrive home they discover their families really need them to come and save them from the Amalekites. David and 400 of his men pursue the Amalekites, they overtake them and rescue all of their family members and everything that was taken was recovered.
When you and I don't get what we want the best thing we can do is give our LORD time to show us what He will give us is more important than what we want. David didn't get to fight with Achish, but he did get to fight with his men and during this fight, they saved all of their families. It is really easy to see which fight David and his men needed to be involved with at this time. You and I might want to be going in one direction but the LORD wants us to go another way. We must always remember God is the One who is omniscient and we are not. Think About This: Always remember that a man is not rewarded for having brains, but for using them. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word 2 Kings 20:4-6 - Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, " I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. "I will add fifteen years to your life,…" NASU
Isaiah had not even gotten out of the middle court when God says to go back and tell Hezekiah I have heard his prayer and seen his tears and here is my answer, "I will heal you. …I will add 15 years to your life…"
How would you manage your life if you knew you only had 15 years to live? Would you consider that knowledge a blessing or a curse? How would you manage your life with that knowledge? Hezekiah knows he only has 15 years. Would you break your time remaining down into segments? Would you have your life broken into five segments of 3 years each or 3 segments of 5 years each or would it be 15 segments of 1 year each?
Luke 16:25 - But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here,...' Abraham's bosom was a place where your spirit went after you died during the Old Testament dispensation. We don't know a lot about this place but we know this much you would not suffer there. It was better to go there than to go to the lower part of Hades where the rich man went and was in torment. I would imagine as time runs on and Hezekiah grows ever closer to his 15th year he woke up every day like we do, is today going to be the day we die? My advice would be as you grow older and every day closer to departing and being with Christ just let it happen. Instead of praying for God to spare your life pray for God's Will to be done with you. If He gives you more years to live then make them count for Him and His Kingdom. If He doesn't give you more time and He calls your spirit home I really don't believe you will complain about being in heaven. Here is what the apostle Paul had to say about going to heaven: "But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. (Philippians 1:23-24) Your being here on earth may be beneficial for others but going to Heaven will surely be the greatest blessing you will ever receive. Think About This: What Heaven Is Going To Be Like: Revel. 22:5 - And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Judges 6:12-13 – The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” 13 Then 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 abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
Gideon was anything but valiant at this time. In fact, he was just the opposite. He is hiding from the Midianites as he is threshing the wheat. You wouldn't expect a valiant person to be hiding. The Lord tells him to tear down his father's idols and because he was afraid he does it at night so that he can't be seen. Does that sound like a valiant man to you?
When something has happened to you or is happening to you now that you don't understand be patient. Give God time to complete His plan. Gideon didn't understand why God had allowed the Midianites to conquer the Israelites and not just once but on numerous occasions. The Israelites were living in fear at this moment of the Midianites.
What is your Midianite? What keeps barging into your life and kicking down your strongholds? The angel of the Lord tells Gideon God has allowed this to happen so He can use Gideon in a mighty way. There is the answer to our question, "Why has all of this happened?" It has happened so God can use Gideon in a mighty way. Whatever you're being challenged with today and you're not sure why God is allowing it to happen to you try thinking this way. God is going to use you to conquer your situation in a mighty way.
Excuses are the first things to come out of Gideon's mouth as to why God is wrong. What excuses do you use when telling God you are not ready for your trial? Are you too old? Do you lack education? You are financially not able? Your spouse will kill you? Yes, too many times we are just like Gideon. God wants to use us and we want to give Him excuses. Whatever test God is allowing to happen to you right now know this: If God brings you to it, God will get you through it. Psalm 46:10 says, "Be Still and Know That I am God." In other words, He wants us to relax and trust Him no matter what situation challenges us.
Now what are you waiting for, stand up and tell God you are ready to be used by Him in a "mighty way". Let's go conquer our own modern-day Midianites. Think About This: When we let God guide He will provide. Whatever God wants us to do, He will help us do it. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word 1 Thes. 5:18 - "…in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." NASU
Tomorrow is the day that has been set aside for us to give thanks for all the blessings we have been given by God. I am sure we do not wait until this one day of the year to give thanks.
When people say to me they want the "Will of God" to be done in their lives I say to them be "thankful" and you will be doing the Will of God. They always got this strange look on their face and would say, "I am thankful, but you know, I really want to do the Will of God." I tell them, according to the Apostle Paul, if you are "thankful" in everything you will be doing the Will of God.
Instead of me answering that question since I have never had one of my children die I quote a man who was familiar with the death of a child. In fact, he lost 10 children in one disastrous day. Job's wife even wanted him to curse God for what had happened to their family. Job 2:9-10 - Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!" But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips. NASU Job had lost his 10 children, all his animals, his herds or in other words, his wealth, but Job's ATTITUDE guides his BEHAVIOR. He didn't sin by saying things that he would later regret. Job wasn't "thankful" for the death of his children or the loss of his wealth, but his attitude was he would accept good from God, and now that adversity had come into his life he would accept it as well. Many times in life we have to accept things that we don't like.
We must wait upon the Lord and in time once the pain has decreased some we will start to allow God to give us the answers to the trials we face. Job's attitude guided his behavior. The scripture says, "In all of this Job did not sin with his lips." In other words, he didn't curse God and ask to die.
If you do a little inspection of your life you will find you have more to give thanks for then you might realize. Develop an attitude of thankfulness and you will never regret it. Think About This: It isn't what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your heart. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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