“What God Speaks Unto You, YOU ARE!!!!!” A Gideon Study by Charles Thompson

Just like so many of us, Gideon doubted himself.   For whatever reasons (He claimed his family was the weakest in Manasseh and also he was the youngest in his family) he felt that he was not God’s chosen one to lead an army to defeat the Midianites.  He had gone through so many defeats and failures that he didn’t believe that God would use him for this mighty task.

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He tested God, but God showed His patience with Gideon by proving to him that it was truly Him.  With this segment of Gideon’s story, I can look at my life and see where there were times that I thought, “Not me, God wouldn’t use me for this.”  Because of who I am, where I’ve been, the bad I’ve done in my life, an evaluation of myself, I ruled out GOD’s Will in my life.  I automatically figured, I have never been “THE BEST” or “THE GO-TO” guy or “THE ONE TO COUNT ON,” but God said differently.  We sometimes look at life as it is to US instead of looking at what GOD says.  We feel as, “He’s not talking about me,” well, He is.  Stop saying you cannot do something when God is telling you TO do something.  It is through Him, that ALL things are possible, we need to stop “TESTING” God and “BELIEVE” God.  Gideon was slow to believe, but once he was convinced of God’s power, he was a loyal follower who obeyed God’s instructions. He became a natural leader of men once he let go of himself and let God fill him.   

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What Gideon should have noticed is that when the angel came to him and delivered the message, the angel referred to him as “thou mighty man of valor, courageous warrior!”  Through that alone, it was written, he “IS” a mighty man of valor, a courageous warrior.  When we hear Gods voice tell us something, no matter how dim the light is, we need to receive it and believe it!  When God tells us something, He is not lying to us or playing with our emotions, He is God!

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After Gideon rose up the army, it was determined by God that he had too many men.  God told him to get rid of some of the men because if not, Israel may think it was their own might that they conquered the Midianites.  Gideon did so, he cut the army down to 300 men and his faith and trust in God was strong.  He did everything that the Lord told him to do and was victorious in God’s mighty favor.  We should look at this and see that in our lives we need to have faith in God, even when we cannot see the next step.  We have to know that when we say God is our provider, comforter, healer, etc… He truly is.  We have to live like it.  We have to kill our own self and be filled with God’s spirit.  Have faith and courage to step out on God’s word and know our Savior will deliver, just as He says He will.  The battle is already won!!!

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Once the battle is over, just like Gideon, we should give God the glory just like he did when his men wanted Gideon to be their “ruler.”  Gideon told them that him, his sons, nor his grandsons will NOT rule over them because God is their only ruler.

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Charles