Go in the strength you have....

I thought I would share what someone who attends our church wrote...

Pastor Chris, in his Warrior message yesterday, taught about Gideon. He was the least member of his family from the least tribe in Israel. His country was sieged by a nation much stronger and crueler than they were because they had not obeyed God and worshiped other idols.

When we meet Gideon (Judges 6), he is threshing wheat in a wine press. Wheat was typically threshed on top of a hill so the wind could catch the chaff and blow it away. What fell to the ground was usable wheat. Wine was pressed in valleys where gravity made the work much easier. Gideon was afraid he would get caught by the invading nation and that his wheat would get stolen, so out of that fear, he was doing the wrong thing in the wrong place and probably at the wrong time!

But God shows up and speaks to this man who is afraid and sees himself as the least in all Israel and calls Gideon a mighty warrior. God then tells Gideon to "Go in this your might" (KJV) and he would save Israel from the hand of the Midianites who were persecuting them. The NIV says "Go in the strength that you have". This is where Pastor Chris talked about the fact that there are things that we are already strong enough to do and we have to trust that if God is directing us to do something, He's already equipped us to do it. We don't need to be afraid of failure in some things because we have the strength already in us to face the battle.

I pulled out my Hebrew word study bible (thank God for a husband who loves books!!) and the word for "Go" in hebrew notes movement - to walk, continually; to lead or to travel. The word for "might" can be translated - to be firm; capacity or means; ability; fruits or substance. So, we can lead or continually walk with firmness. We can use our means and capacities, our abilities or the fruit that we bear in life to walk out our faith with purpose.

This made me think of the boy in John 6 who gave his lunch to Jesus. Jesus in turn fed 5,000 men with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. If I give to Jesus my abilities and walk in faith, trusting that He can multiply what I have, then I have the capacity to not only accomplish His will in my life, but I also have the potential to lead others along the way.

There are so many hard decisions we have to make in life, and often it is easier to let things "happen" to us than it is to actually meet circumstances face to face. But like Pastor Chris said, if we sit back and wait for changes and battles to come to us, we are guaranteed failure every time, not to mention how much ground the enemy gains when we just wait for him to attack us.

If we could take the gifts and talents and experiences that we have and offer them to Jesus; if we would be willing to move forward, in faith, and face the changes and challenges that come to us, we would find that we are much stronger than we think we are and would have a much greater chance of success! And who knows how many people we would invite into God's kingdom by leading the way, using our abilities and experiences to show others how God is able to turn the least of us into mighty warriors for His glory and our salvation.

Dawn Steele