"When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, 'The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.' "
- Judges 6 : 12
This is our portion of scripture for this week.
We all know the story of Gideon : how God used him to deliver the Israelites.
Don't you wonder why the angel called Gideon "mighty warrior"?
It's amazing, how the angel already called Gideon what he was later going to be (in delivering Israel) even before Gideon himself knew about his future task. The angel did not say to Gideon, "hey Gideon, you weakling" or anything of the sort.
Doesn't this make you wonder?
This only means one thing : God does not see us for what we are, but rather, He sees our future and sees what we are going to be. Do not under estimate yourselves like Gideon did (“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Judges 6 : 15) but rather, we should see ourselves like God sees us.
This is the trouble with many of us these days and this attitude greatly impedes our progress.
Instead of looking forward and seeing ourselves through the eyes of God, we see the past and weaknesses. We remember all our wrong doings and wrong choices and look at out present mis- happenings.
We cannot press forward with this kind of mind set. God does not see you weaknesses or your past but He looks into your future and calls you by what you could be if you would just let Him transform you and work through you.
The other thing to hold on from this verse is that the angel told Gideon "The Lord is with you". That was the first the angel told Gideon. Of course, Gideon asked questions (“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” Judges 6 : 13).
Don't we do the same thing? We ask, Lord where are you? Why is this happening? I know I have asked such questions before but the angel said to Gideon, even before anything else "the Lord is with you". What an awesome report to hear. Even before gideon voiced His questions, the angel already countered them with his statement. It's the same thing with us today, God wants us to know He is with us, even when the situation and circumstances say otherwise. He knows we are concerned and worried, but He wants you to know He is with you.
Don't try to understand God or figure Him out with your finite minds...He is infinite and even when we feel nothing is right and that God is nowhere to be seen, He is right there, with you, in that storm, in that tragedy or whatever it is.
Another thing to note is that to be able to deliver the Israelites and change their situation, Gideon had to look beyond his weaknesses and background...He had to accept he was truly a "mighty warrior". That means, before the deliverance could take place in reality, it had to have taken place in Gideon's mind.
It's the same thing with us.
Before we can break free from our situations and let God truly work in our lives, we need to get that deliverance in our minds first and see ourselves as God sees us as if we had already overcome whatever we might be going through.
You've got to let go of your past, of your pains, of your weaknesses, of your short comings...God cannot work in your life with all those hanging over your head. You need to be mentally transformed by Him and realize all those things are passed away, they do not matter to God. He has forgiven you after you asked for forgiveness and as long as He is concerned, He has forgotten them ever since. ( "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Psalms 103 : 12).
God wants to move in you and through you. You just need to let go of all that negativity and past, stop questioning God and look forward and begin to see yourself as He sees you.
Fear not, He is with you and He will always be. (So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" Isaiah 41 : 10).
May God help us to let go and see ourselves as He sees us.
Amen!
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