Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me begin my day grounded in Your Word and filled with Your Spirit. ...
“Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.’ Gideon answered him, ‘But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off and given us into the hand of Midian.’ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.’ He responded, ‘But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’ The Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them’” (Judges 6:11-16).
You saw something in Gideon he didn’t see in himself. And You knew answers to his questions he didn’t know.
What Gideon needed to see and to know was that You knew him better than he knew himself; and that You were with him wherever he was, wherever You would send him, despite whatever questions he had, however weary he had become, however lacking his faith had become.
The key words: “But I will be with you” (v. 16). And You were.
Gideon was able to “Go in this might of (his)” because You empowered him by Your Presence to “Go in this might of (Yours)” (v. 14).
Though he was full of fear and lack of faith at first, even questioning Your promises and purposes, he still chose to trust You and obey You (v. 27). By the power of Your grace, emboldened by Your Presence, Gideon was able to confront the sins of his generations and his nation, the spiritual sickness and idolatry of his culture and his clan (v. 25-32).
It wasn’t until after his first encounter that Gideon realized he had had a “face to face” encounter with the Living God. The “angel of the Lord” was none other than the Presence of the Lord -- a “Christophany” encounter with the pre-incarnate Christ, just has You also appeared in this way to Hagar, Abraham, Jacob, Manoah, and Joshua (Genesis 16:7; 22:15; 32:30; Judges 2:1; 13:13; Joshua 5:14).
“Then Gideon perceived that it was the Angel of the Lord, and Gideon said, ‘Help me, Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be to you; do not fear; you shall not die.’ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, ‘The Lord Is Peace’” (v. 22-24).
There’s peace in Your Presence because You are our Peace (Ephesians 2:14). There’s courage and confidence, security and faith in Your Presence because You are the Source of all we need, when we need it, whether we recognize it at first or not. You are the Lord God Almighty, our All Sufficient-God (Genesis 17:1-2). You are our “All in All” (Ephesians 1:23).
You see us in ways we don’t see ourselves and do things through our lives we could never do on our own. In You we find our identity and fulfill our destiny -- all for Your glory and all by Your grace. You give us eyes to see ourselves with God’s sight, in Jesus’ name.
My family,as you begin this new week it will include going to your job, people to meet and places to go. You will be seen by people who have a formed image of you in their mind. Before you do any of these things, I pray you may take time to form the image in your mind of who you are to God. I pray you mey see yourself as God sees you, empowered by His Holy Spirit, with the Spirit of Christ abiding in you, knowing your identity and fulfilling your destiny in Him, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
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My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You Thank You!
