Author: admin

Before Jesus sends you out, He will draw you in.

You may be eager to charge out into the battles of your day and change your world. You may have a love for people that drives you to invest yourself fully in others. You may be zealous to share the Gospel and delight in leading others to Christ. Nevertheless, there is an overarching truth that affects everything you do. It is this: the key to being an effective disciple hinges not on how much time you spend with others, but on how much time you spend with Christ.

Jesus intended to turn the world upside down with the twelve men He selected. Facing such an immense task, the first thing Jesus did was to draw His disciples to Himself. Unfortunately, modern Christians often assume they are too busy to draw near to Christ. Such an investment of time appears to them to be a luxury. There is simply too much to do. Too many appointments to keep. But the stark truth is this: if you will not draw near, you will not have power.

Do you need to draw near to Christ today?

How hard are you willing to strive in order to achieve victory? Gideon had already won a major battle. But the war wasn’t over yet. There were still enemies in the land! Gideon might have reasoned that the invaders had already been beaten. He could have taken comfort in the knowledge that the invaders were now on the eastern side of the Jordan River. He could have stopped to celebrate the amazing victory his little band had already achieved against seemingly insurmountable odds. Further, Gideon’s forces were exhausted. They had fought through the night! They had chased their enemy relentlessly. Surely it was time to stop and rest.

Yet Gideon was not finished. He was determined to complete the job God had given him. Anyone might have excused him for taking time to catch his breath. But often the victories God grants us are minimized or negated because we do not follow through with them to the finish. We can see the finish line in the distance so we decide it is time to stop for a rest. Complete victory is traded in for partial victory. A portion of our enemy is allowed to escape to fight in another day.

Have you seen God’s assignments for you through to the end? Or, have you paused to catch your breath? Could it be that you still need to push through to the end?

One of the surest ways to attract criticism is to lead. When you lead, people will inevitably find fault. That ought to come as no surprise.

Gideon had simply done what God had told him. Yet people complained for not having been included. Now that victory seemed assured, everyone wanted to participate!

Gideon could have lost much of what had been gained had he become petty or resentful of his critics. Had he divided his people at that crucial time, it might have allowed his enemies to regroup and to retaliate. Instead, Gideon chose humility. He did not try to defend his actions or to angrily defend himself. He chose humility. As a result, the naysayers were satisfied, and victory was assured. Some people would rather be right than victorious.

By his response, Gideon demonstrated much wisdom. He proved that God had known what He was doing all along when He chose the timid farmer.

One of the divinely appointed tasks of leaders is to inspire others to levels of greatness they would never have achieved on their own. Such was the case with Gideon. The land had always been populated with warriors. But these soldiers remained immobilized until God raised up Gideon.

Once Gideon and his little band of men confronted the Midianites, the oppressed peoples immediately rose up to expel the invaders. Why had they not done so seven years earlier? The answer is simple: they needed leadership.

There is no point in criticizing people for not doing what they should. That is, unfortunately, their nature. What is also true is that those same people will take action, if they are properly led.

If your people are not acting as they should, don’t resort to criticism or complaints. Rather, ask God to use your life to be an inspiration to others. Hopefully when people watch your life they will feel compelled to take action themselves.

God has numerous means of making you far bigger than you are. You may be ordinary. Your resources may be minimal. You may lack experience. But when God gives you a task, He also stands ready to make up any shortfall on your part.

There were only 300 people with Gideon. They faced a vast army. Gideon may well have wished God had given him a additional battalions, instead, God gave him trumpets and clay pots! His men may well have wondered what they were to do against an enemy with swords and spears when they were armed with pots and instruments. But that was God’s plan. And, at the appointed time, in the dead of night, the 300 broken pots and trumpet blasts made the band of Israelites sound as if they were a thousand times more numerous than they actually were. Thus a vast army was intimidated and overcome by a very noisy, little cohort.

God is never intimidated or bewildered by what challenges you. He has an unlimited number of ways to address your problems! Over the centuries, God’s people faced many enemies, yet God never again led them to use this particular maneuver. It was one of a kind, like much of God’s activity throughout Scripture.

At a particular moment in history, God’s people faced a need. God met it uniquely. If you are facing a challenge right now, don’t expect God to provide for you in exactly the same manner that He has before. He may choose to do something unique in your life.

Imagine creeping up to the edge of a vast host of ruthless enemies. These are people who would kill you in an instant if they learned of your presence. These are heartless invaders who plunder your nation and callously leave your friends and neighbors penniless and hungry. As far as you can see, there are campfires and the silhouettes of sentries patrolling the perimeter.

Imagine trying to keep your heart from racing. Think how hard it would be to breath quietly so you did not attract anyone’s attention. Imagine desperately trying not to cough or sneeze! Imagine having only 99 other soldiers with you, as you looked out over the vast expanse of the enemy camp, one thousand times larger than your meager force.

Then consider the order to blow your trumpet as loudly as you could! Imagine the contrast between hiding quietly in the bushes and standing up and boisterously announcing your presence. At that moment, you would know that unless God intervened: you were as good as dead! There would be no second thoughts. There would be no escape. It was all or nothing. You had to fully embrace God’s plan. Once you blew your trumpet, there was no turning back!

Is it time for you to blow your trumpet?!

Gideon was leading a seemingly suicide mission. The odds against him were astronomical. The tactics were unconventional and daring. The attack was to be under cover of darkness, always a difficult setting to coordinate military movements. The chances of something going awry were huge. The danger was palpable.

In such a crucial moment, Gideon gave the classic leadership command: do as I do. His troops had never fought a battle in this manner. They had no experience. They had to relay entirely upon their leader. Had Gideon sent his troops forward without him, they might have taken matters into their own hands and been defeated. In the darkness, it would have been easy for the troops to default to the military techniques they were accustomed to using.

But nothing could be left to chance. So Gideon remained with his forces. He modeled for them the exact behavior he wanted to see them use. To ask for such daring behavior from his men, Gideon had to be willing to stand with them on the front lines. If Gideon had not been confident in God’s provision, then his soldiers’ faith would certainly have wavered.

“Do as I do” are some of the most powerful words a leader can ever say.

Our natural tendency is to increase our numbers and to build our resources. The more we have, the greater our certainty of victory. That is why so many details of Gideon’s story can disturb us. He began with 32,000 soldiers, only a third as many as his fierce enemies. But then God allowed 22,000 of those soldiers to return home. As if that was not enough, God then reduced the force from 10,000 to 300. Truly a ludicrous number with which to launch a campaign against anyone! But then Gideon further divided his paltry contingent into three groups. Now, with only 100 men at his back, Gideon faced over 100,000. While military strategists would have gasped at such odds, God was finally satisfied that He had the odds He was looking for!

God’s ways are not our ways. We assume we cannot move forward until we have greater resources. God may declare that we cannot advance until we reduce what we have. As long as we have God, any other resource at our disposal is simply excess baggage!

What is preventing you from advancing with God? Have you been waiting until you have additional resources? Perhaps God is waiting until you have less. The fewer supplies you have at your disposal, the more likely it is you will rely upon Him.

After all that God had done to prepare his servant, Gideon still struggled with fear. Perhaps this is understandable since he had been asked to lead 300 men against an army of over 100,000. At times the greater the assignment, the greater our need to be assured that God goes with us.

We can be harsh on the timid Gideon for constantly needing God’s assurances. Yet we must also realize that his assignment was unprecedented. No one in Scripture had been asked to take on so many with so few. It might have seemed that God was throwing away their lives in a futile act of desperation. Against such odds, this handful of warriors had to know that God went with them.

Most of us cannot fathom what it would be like to be given such an assignment. When was the last time your divine task appeared to set you up for certain failure? When was the last time you required an enormous miracle to rescue you from certain, cataclysmic disaster?

While we naturally shy away from such moments, they can be exhilarating all the same. Looking back on your life, it will be those moments when God worked powerfully in your life that you will treasure above all others.

Once God has you prepared, it generally doesn’t take long for Him to have you mobilized.

God first had to get Gideon and his army into a position of complete trust and dependence upon Him. But once that was accomplished, God sent the orders to advance. Gideon had barely dispatched the bulk of his army when God told him to advance on the enemy.

Perhaps God did not want to take any further time, now that His servants were ready. Or perhaps God did not want his tiny army to have too much time to ponder the precariousness of their situation. Sometimes it is good to count the cost. At others, it is preferable to advance immediately without further analysis. God understood that, with his timid commander, the time to advance was now.

It generally takes much longer to prepare God’s servants than it does to use them. You will know when you are ready for your divine assignment. It will be when God tells you to advance. If you are not yet advancing; you are not yet ready.