We read in Judges 6:13-14, “Sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn't they say, 'The LORD brought us up out of Egypt'? But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites. Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!" (NLT)
The people of Israel were going through a period of distress and discouragement, and Gideon was also experiencing the mood of gloom and doom that seemed to hang over their heads. That is precisely the reason why Gideon questioned the Angel of God who appeared to him, as he could not understand how they could be in such a predicament, if the Lord was with them. Gideon’s mind was filled with questions for which he had no answer, and he felt the sense of being abandoned by God.
Many believers who have been in much prayer for our country too are deeply disappointed. The question in many a heart is, ‘why did Lord not answer our prayers in a way that we expected Him to?’ There are many others who in their personal lives also are disheartened and discouraged that their prayers are still unanswered, and their deliverance seem distant. If like Gideon, we too are in state of mind that is confused with many unanswered questions, faced with situations that seem overwhelming, we can be assured that we have a God who has answers for all our questions, clarity for all our confusion, and can deliver us from all our difficulties.
It was at this juncture that the word of God came to Gideon, encouraging him to go forward with all the strength he had, as the Lord promised Gideon that He would go with him, and would rescue the Israelites from the hand of Midianites.
The four aspects of God’s word to Gideon in Judges 6:14, were;
1. Go
2. With the strength you have
3. Rescue Israel
4. I am sending you
Jesus’ invitation to come
In Matthew 9:9 we read, “As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's desk and told him, "Follow me." So he got up and followed him. (ISV)
Matthew was a tax collector by profession, sitting at his work desk, but when Jesus beckoned him to come and follow him, he immediately left it all, and decided to follow Jesus.
In Mark 1:17, we read, “Jesus told them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishermen of people!" (ISV)
The above mentioned verse, describes the call that Jesus gave to Simon Peter, and his brother Andrew, to leave their nets and their fishing, and to follow Him, so He could make them fishers of men. Here again both of them left their all and followed after Jesus.
In Matthew 11:28, we read "Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest. (ISV)
Here the invitation from the Lord is for everyone who is wearied and burdened with worries and cares to come to Him, and He promises rest for all who comes to Him, a rest that He alone can give.
Most of us are jubilant when invited or welcomed by someone special, but the greatest invitation that should make us ecstatic, is the one we have received from the Lord who has called us to be His children, and be a part of His family. The reason God invites us is to grant us rest, lighten our burdens, heal us, and strengthen us, so that we can go out in His strength, to fulfil His purposes for our lives. Many of us are satisfied with the thought that the Lord has called and blessed us, but have forgotten the fact that the main objective for God’s calling, is to send us out as His ambassadors to bless others.
Jesus commands us to ‘Go’
As Gideon stood discouraged and dejected, the word of the Lord came to embolden Gideon to go out with the strength he had, to save and deliver the people of God.
God is calling His people to go out and share His love with those around. We do not need to fear governments that oppose us, or anyone who threatens, because there is no authority that is higher than the Almighty God who is the King of Kings.
When praying also we must remember to seek the will of God in everything, and not desire to have our prayers answered the way we think it fit. Even Jesus when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, prayed in total submission to the Father and His will, when He said ‘Father if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done.’ Luke 22:42. If we do not submit to the will of God, we will be depressed, for often His response to our prayers may not be in keeping with what we expect or think appropriate, but one thing we can be assured of, is that it will always be for our good.
We read in Mark 6:7, “He called the Twelve and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits.” (ISV)
Jesus called the twelve disciples and after He taught them all about the Kingdom of God, and its values, He sent them out to preach, serve, heal and teach.
We also read in Luke 10:1, “After this, the Lord appointed seventy other disciples and was about to send them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place that he intended to go.” (ISV)
Apart from the twelve, Jesus also chose and appointed seventy others whom He also equipped and sent out to be his witnesses.
The main purpose of the Lord calling and choosing us, is that we go out, and share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ with those around us. This should be the aspiration, vision and goal of every believer. Many have become content with only attending church on Sunday, and have failed to take the message of the Kingdom of God to those outside. We have also floundered and failed to maintain our testimony, and hence have made no impact on those around us.
We read in John 20:21, “Jesus told them again, "Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you." (ISV)
When the Father sent His son Jesus into the world, Jesus came down to earth gladly, in total obedience to the Father’s will. He willingly laid down His life to redeem us, and transform us into His likeness. Jesus has now commissioned all of us who believe in Him to go out into the world, and to bring in those outside into His kingdom.
The Lord desires to use each one of us to bring about a revival to those around us, but for that to happen the revival must begin with us. Heaven rejoices when we one sinner repents, and enters the Kingdom of God. The Lord wants to use us as those instruments through whom this can be accomplished. Instead of complaining about the opposition and difficult circumstances that daunt us, let us do all that we can to share the love of Jesus with others, inviting them to join in the fellowship of the church.
Go with the strength you have – no excuses please
When God commissioned people to go, there were many who rationalized as to why they couldn’t or didn’t want to go.
Let’s look at Moses in Exodus 4:1, “Then Moses answered, "Look, they won't believe me and they won't listen to me. Instead, they'll say, 'The LORD didn't appear to you.'" (ISV)
When the Lord called Moses to go and deliver the people of Israel from the hands of Pharaoh, Moses’ excuse was that the people of Israel wouldn’t believe him or give heed to his words, and that they would never accept the fact that the Lord did appear to him. However, when Moses obeyed God and went, the Lord used him to stand before Pharaoh, to bring about a mighty deliverance to the people of Israel from the cruel oppression of Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
When God called Jeremiah this is what he said in Jeremiah 1:6, I replied, "Ah, LORD God! Look, I don't know how to speak, because I'm only a young man." (ISV)
Jeremiah was called to be a prophet of God, and there is an entire book of prophesies by Jeremiah, but when God first called him, the excuse Jeremiah gave to God was that he did not know how to speak, as he was just a young man.
We read about Gideon in Judges 6:15, “Then he said to him, “Me, my Lord? With what would I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”(TLV)
The excuse that Gideon gave was that his family was impoverished, and that he himself was insignificant in his family.
Though Moses, Jeremiah and Gideon made excuses initially, later they obeyed the Lord, and went forward to do what the Lord commanded them to do. By obeying the Lord, they were used by the Lord to bring great deliverances and be a great blessing to many.
Many of us don’t invite our friends, neighbors or co-workers to join us at church, because we assume that the ones we invite won’t come. There are many outside the church who are reluctant to come in, only because they don’t feel welcomed. It is our duty and responsibility to invite others to come, and hear the word of God. We may be ordinary people, but we are called by God to do extraordinary things for Him.
As the situation in our country changes, the call of God to his children is that they should no longer be unconcerned, and make alibis, but be willing to obey the Lord and His commission to us to ‘Go’ and if we do so the Lord will pour out His healing and blessings on our nation.
Here are some vital lessons we can learn from a farmer. He goes out to buy the best seeds, tills and ploughs his field, plants the seeds, waters it and then waits patiently. After all his labor has ended, it is God alone who can make it grow and flourish. The Lord has called us to be like a farmer, to go out and share our testimonies, sow the seed of the word of God in the lives of people, and bring them in. If we do so the Lord will bless our labors, and some day we too will experience the joy of being a part of the revival where many people will flock into the Kingdom of God.
There are lots of people who advertise lots of products these days. Those who are gullible get trapped into believing these wholesale, and also go around canvassing others to buy these products. When people are so enthusiastic to promote these worldly goods that perish with time, how much more zealous should we be to share the message of the gospel that can transform a person’s life for eternity.
Let us stop giving all kinds of reasons and excuses for not sharing the gospel, or not inviting others to come and be part of our church and fellowship. Let us not waste our time like Moses did, when he labored as a shepherd for forty years. Let us not procrastinate, for every minute that we waste, we are responsible for someone missing out on hearing the good news of the gospel and thereby heading towards eternal destruction.
Rescue the people from destruction
In John 4:39, we read, “Many of the Samaritans from that town put their trust in Him because of the word of the woman testifying, “He told me everything I ever did!” (TLV)
If we study the life of the Samaritan woman whom the Lord used to lead so many to Jesus, she was probably not the kind of person anyone would think could be used by God to reach out to others. When Jesus met her, she was a lonely woman, who led an immoral life, she had had five husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband. However, something happened that day when she met, and spoke to Jesus. The one who avoided socializing with people, ran to inform the people of her town that she may have found the Messiah, and it was her word that made the entire town believe and come to meet Jesus.
If God can use such a woman, He is willing to use each one of us to be those who will share the good news of the gospel with others, and bring them to the Lord. This is the call of God to every believer, to be the ones who will save and rescue those who are lost, without hope and without the Lord.
The Lord Himself with go with us
We read in Mark 16:20, “And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.”
When the Lord Jesus commissioned and sent His disciples, they had the blessed assurance that the Lord would go along with them, and establish the word by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. He did so by working wonders and signs among the people, thereby attesting the word of God that was preached.
The Lord promises to go with us, equip us, anoint us, and use us. When we venture out in obedience, He will demonstrate His power by the working of His Holy Spirit in, and through our lives. When a policeman in uniform stops us we do so because we respect the authority that has been placed on him by the government. So also when the Lord calls us to go we do so, with the authority that the Lord Himself has placed on us, and with the affirmation that the Lord is working alongside us. The Lord is in partnership with us to preach the word, and He will confirm the word that is preached with miraculous signs and wonders. We therefore don’t need to be fearful about anything.
Where does revival start?
We read in Judges 6:25, That night the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it.”
The Lord called Gideon to deliver the people of Israel, but for Gideon to accomplish that, he first and foremost had to set things right in his own family. The Lord commanded Gideon to primarily destroy the altar of Baal, and to bring down the Asherah that Gideon’s father had built and worshipped at.
If we are yearning for revival to break out in our nation, let us submit to the Lord so that it begins with us. May we set right things that are displeasing to the Lord in our personal lives, and in our families, so we can be worthy vessels whom the Lord can use to bring revival, and transformation to all those around. May we be revolutionized to be those extraordinary people, who will bring revival in our homes, our city, our state and to our entire nation.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
Transcribed by: Sis. Esther Collins
