Now the angel of the Lord came and… Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
--Judges 6:11
We all face spiritual struggles and personal battles. You and I both know people who are fighting for their family or their marriage. You might be fighting health or economic battles, or facing temptation and sin.
Battles are tough things. And fought in your own strength, they will wear you down. You may even feel like the last person capable of fighting the good fight of faith!
That’s just how Gideon felt when an angel told him that God was going to use him to save Israel from the Midianites.
Gideon was about as weak a person as they come. He was so weak that when the angel said, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor,” he proceeded to tell the angel that he had the wrong guy!
The enemy had beaten Gideon down because he had convinced Gideon that he was weak and not equipped to fight. But that didn’t matter to God! He doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called! And God renewed Gideon’s faith to be able to fight and win the battle.
Whatever your struggle, God will equip you to fight the good fight of faith! Don’t let the enemy keep you down. God is calling you to something higher, to something better, and to something greater, and he will equip you in that calling!
Whatever your struggle, God will equip you to fight the good fight of faith!
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”
Luke 2:46–49
One of the best known mountain climbers in the world, George Mallory dreamed of reaching the peak of Mount Everest. In 1924 he and another climber named Andrew Irvine were near the summit of the world’s highest peak when they vanished. Their bodies were not found until an expedition in 1999 located their remains. In the introduction to the book Last Climb, John Mallory, who was just three when his father perished wrote, “I would so much rather have known my father than to have grown up in the shadow of a legend, a hero, as some people perceive him to be.”
All of us face choices each day concerning how we will use the time, talents, and resources God has given to us. Many people fail to accomplish what they should because they spend their time on things that may be pleasurable or urgent, but are not truly important. By contrast, Jesus, even from a young age was focused intently, not on what He desired, but on what God wanted Him to do. Because of His focus and sense of purpose, at the end of His life Jesus was able to say, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4). Our choices each day determine what our lives will accomplish.
Today’s Growth Principle:
We should follow the example of Jesus and allow nothing to deter us from doing what God wants in our lives.
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