Becoming Mighty III

Text: Jud. 6:11-16 

More lessons: Psa.50:14-15

The encounter between Gideon and God's angel in our main text remains one of the strength building passages in the Bible. Among other things, that angelic visitation tells us how deeply God is interested in getting us out of our trouble zones. Israel was under constant raid by the Medianites and just when it looked like God had forgotten about them, He showed up. In the midst of your troubles, don't ever think that God has forgotten you. The Bible says that He is close to the broken hearted.

On your own part, remain conversant with the Word. In verse 15 of our main text, Gideon asked a great question,… did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of Medianites. Here Gideon was exhibiting spiritual capabilities based on his understanding of spiritual things. An understanding of spiritual things makes a man mighty. He was invariably saying that if God was with Israel in those years that their fathers told them about, why did God abandon them to the dictates of the Medianites?

He had clarity of what relationship Israel had with God before and what God did compared to what was happening in his days. Out of that understanding arose in Gideon the burden for a change.

A lot of people want to be mighty but they lack spiritual understanding as to what to do. The problem of finance in the church for instance, is not about money but rather it is about people who lack the understanding of what God wants to use money for in His vineyard. Mighty men are men who have spiritual understanding of how things work. Gideon had an understanding of how things work in the spiritual. In verse 14 the Lord looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might. The angel said to him when he finished his submission, you are correct and loaded with enough information as source of strength, so go in that might and perform the dictates of God. The same way as the angel listened to Gideon, God is always eager to listen to your prayers. The angel gave Gideon instructions to go and act and with that Gideon stopped the argument and began to obey the angel.

One of the secrets of mighty people is that they are teachable. A man that cannot be taught can never be mighty. Be teachable. Don't confront your teacher, or whoever is leading you. Spiritual mentors are to be obeyed in all godly instructions. Because Gideon was teachable, at the end of his life, he was a mighty man. May you be teachable and be mighty in the vineyard of the Lord.

Prayer/Action

* Ask for a clearer spiritual understanding of issues about your life and destiny.

* Pray that you will be teachable even in times of pain and anxiety.

* Ask God to help you obey your spiritual mentors in all godly leadings.

* Prophesy that you will not remain a weakling in the things of God.

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Becoming Mighty II

Text: Judges 6:11-16 

More Lessons: Joshua1:1-9

Becoming a mighty man goes with a lot of responsibilities. The Bible personalities who were mighty did not become so by sleeping all the days of their lives. They had an intimate relationship with God and they also kept the commandments and instructions of God and of God's prophets. They studied the Word of God and applied it to their situations.

When I hear people say the grace of God is upon them, I ask how much of the Bible they have read. I do not have respect for church titles without evidence. I do not celebrate people who are church leaders but refuse to master the assignment in their hands even from the point of knowledge. If as an ordained minister you cannot sit down to learn under others, you won't last. The ordination would become a reproach because the man who is too proud to learn will fall suddenly.

There is no way a man can come to church only on Sundays and be a strong man in God. This way, you may be mighty in other areas but definitely not in the things of God. Break with everything that limits your knowledge of God because it reduces your strength daily. Sit down with the things of God like Bible studies, quiet time with God, fellowship attendance, evangelism and the likes. Every Bible study you miss in 52 weeks of the year reduces the strength of your destiny. Every time you refuse to sit down and do quiet time, you grow less in strength and risk the danger that the day brings your way. Gideon said, “God cannot be with me and this thing will happen”. In other words, when God is with a man, he is a winner.

In verse 13, Gideon made an observation about what Israel was going through and wondered where all the miracles were, about which their fathers told them. Gideon was making reference to events in the past that made Israel great and wished such could be repeated so that Israel would triumph over the Medianites and regain their might. Gideon knew God's Word when he said their fathers told them about the miracles in Egypt on to Canaan. Because Gideon had the right and correct knowledge, the angel marked him down as the man needed for the assignment at hand. Gideon knew what God did before, which He could do again.  How much of God's Word have you stored in your spirit? Joshua was advised to hold onto the Word of God day and night and thereafter, he would experience good success. You should do same.

Prayer/Action

* Pray for divine visitation in times of depression for added strength.

* Connect to the miracles of the past and ask God for more today.

* Declare yourself one of the mighty men of your generation, in Jesus’ name.

Determine to reignite your commitment to the study of the Bible and prayer.

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Becoming Mighty I

Text: Judges 6:11-16 

More Lessons: Gen.26:12-16

It is a wonderful thing to be called a mighty man. To be mighty is to be endowed with an extra ability beyond the normal. Might is a function of strength. When you talk about might you talk about being able, by an extra ability, to do what is not ordinary. God produced many mighty men in the Scripture and I pray for you today that you will go beyond the ordinary, in the name of Jesus. The strength of a man determines the extent of what he can carry. When people run away from challenges, the truth of the matter is that they lack the strength. There is nothing that God does that He fails. That's why we call Him the Almighty God; the God that has strength in every area. That strength is deposited in man because man is created in God’s image. God has endowed men with divine capability.

One of such men is Gideon who God raised to counter the oppression Israel suffered at that time in the hands of the Medianites who exercised might over the weak Israelites. One day an angel of God called Gideon a mighty man of valour. The argument of Gideon was irrelevant to the angel. If the Almighty God says you are a mighty man, you are, indeed. If a man is experiencing defeat but is called a mighty man by God, what is God saying? When a man who cannot beat his chest in the presence of his enemies is referred to as a mighty man by the Almighty God who cannot lie, then there is something inside that man that makes God say so. It simply means that God Himself is with the man. Once God is with a man, that man cannot be defeated by his enemies and that is why he  is a mighty man. He may not know it, but that is who he is.

Regardless of what your experiences are today, as long as a conviction exists inside you that with God on your side all things are possible, you are already a mighty man. Your strength begins from knowledge because your ability to know is the beginning of your strength. So work harder on what you know if you want to be a mighty man. Get to know more. If you want to know more, read more, ask questions from them that know more; acquire knowledge because it is the beginning of might. Gideon eventually realised that when God is with a man the man cannot be defeated. So Gideon led Israel into victory over the Medianites. God is with you, you cannot be defeated.

Prayer/Action

* Pray for divine strength to do God's work more than ever before.

* Pray that you will be strengthened by the Word of God in all situations.

* Tell the Lord you are taking your place in strength and you are dropping every weak man’s mentality

Believe what God says about you that you are a mighty man and live like one.

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Cure for Troubled Heart

Text: Jn.14:1 

More Lessons: Psa.12:1-3

Life is filled with troubles, beginning from the day a man is born. There are health, financial, family and career troubles and lots more. Life assails us with a million kinds of trouble. If we were to choose one word to sum up our times, ‘trouble’ would be a good pick.

We live in the time of great anxiety, fear and insecurity within and without. The reports are not different because we hear of wars, rumours of war, pestilence, hunger, natural disasters of unimaginable dimensions. Many times one wonders whether God is aware of the events happening around. In Jesus’ days, both Jesus and His disciples were troubled when Jesus prepared to go. He was agitated as He was about to identify the one who would betray Him, He was troubled as He was about to predict that Peter would deny Him three times and He was stirred up and ready to tell the disciples for the final time that He was about to leave them.

As He got to Gethsemane, He announced to His disciples, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me Matt. 26:38. As for the disciples, they had reasons to be troubled because their bread winner was leaving, the One who paid their taxes when they had no money, fed them when they were hungry, healed their household when they were sick, delivered them from the scourge of the Pharisees and now He announced that He was going. What was Jesus’ cure for this trouble? Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me Jn.14:1.

The cure for a troubled heart is to believe in God and take Him at His Word. It was the cure for His disciples and it is the cure for us today. Believing God and His Christ is all, every other thing rests on this. It is when you believe God that you can believe His Word, trust what He says, and take up His promises in prayer. Jesus demonstrated this when, in great agony, He went into intensive prayer to the Father because He believed the Father had the answer to the trouble (Matt.26:38-39). Child of God, stay believing God, no matter how dark the night looks, God is in control and all things will work together for your good (Rom.8:28).

Prayer/Action

* Command every doubt, worry and anxiety to disappear from your life.

* Ask God to increase your faith in Him.

* Ask Jesus to help you stay trusting in Him in all situations.

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