Conditional Prayer? Series

Let’s continue to worship our Lord by continuing to learn from the Book of Judges; open your Bibles to Judges 11……… I’ve asked Janet Hansen to read for us this morning…….. We will note today a very sad ending to a young girl…….

Let us summarize the story and highlight notes for us.

v1: Jephthah was already a gifted warrior but he was an illegitimate son of Gilead.

Gilead may sound familiar to us because there is a well-known place called Gilead; but Gilead the father of Jephthah is really not well known. The story we are learning from in Judges 11 is about Jepthah.

v2-3: Israel drove out Jephthah because he was illegitimate!

v4-6: But when the Ammonites made war against Israel, they pleaded to Jephthah to fight for them.

Now, right of the bat, even though he was an illegitimate son, we can note godly things about Jepthah:

v7-10: He could have been totally mad at the Israelites for even asking for his help but Jephthah did remind Israel of their hate for him then asked them to make a vow before God.

Jephthah went to God for the situation!

v11-22: He was able to tell the truth about the plight of the Israelites from Egypt; Jephthah knew his godly history.

v23-27: Jephthah challenged the Ammonites to depend on their god in dealing with the God of Israel! Those who know the true God understands the omnipotency of God!

v28: The King of Ammon was looking for war even with false pretense! It was really a spiritual battle!

A quick application here: Until Jesus Christ returns to earth, there will always be a spiritual battle and there will be people always looking for a fight against Christians! We can expect these fights to come to us! This is your assignment for the week: Looking at Jephthah as an example, how will you handle people fighting you with your Christianity today?? I would love to hear from you!

Now back to our passage, v29-31: we can note that Jephthah was full of God the Holy Spirit! But what did Jepthah do before going to battle??

Jepthah made a deal with God for victory in his prayer!

v32-33: God still gave the victory to Jepthah!

v34-35: Jephtah’s vow to God was to sacrifice whatever came out of his house first and it was his only child, likely a teenage daughter!

v36-39: The daughter godly accepted the reality of death for the victory of his father!

What did the daughter do before facing death??

She called on her friends to weep with the pain of facing death and not be able to marry!

v40: All Israel annually commemorated the sacrificial death of Jepthah’s daughter!

What biblical principles can we apply to our lives today from this passage?

First of all, like He did with Jepthah,

1. God can use anyone for His Glory! No matter who we are, where we came from, whatever our background, God can use you and me for His glory!

2. No one can ever win against God! We need to yield to God, not fight Him! What is the most serious fight against God people are doing today??

Not truly believing in Jesus Christ the Son of God leads to eternal hell with all the demons! All people without Jesus Christ will lose forever!!

But, can Christians actually still fight against God??

For victory in life, every person (including Christians) needs to always yield to Jesus Christ in everything! Losses for Christians as we fight against God will not be eternal but can negatively impact our lives and those around us!

Now, could God have stopped the daughter to be the first to come out of the house??

God could have had something else come out of the house first, but God didn’t stop her! What was Jepthah thinking, that a one of their animals or his wife would come out first? God did not stop the daughter because there are at least 2 major lessons we need to note!

Again, Jephthah made his prayer to God conditional!

3. Praying to God is always about His will; there is no need to make deals with God which can actually lead to disasters!

And finally, like Jepthah’s daughter….

4. We must face pain and even death with God and call on friends for encouragement!

Always walk with the Lord and have godly friends!

I consider all of you my godly friends. I know you prayed for me and my family seriously for the last 3 weeks. Thank you and I praise God for all of you. I hope you also know that You have a friend in me! Whether you’re going through some pain or even face the shadow of death, you can always call on me!