MIGHTY WARRIOR! THE LORD IS WITH YOU! By David Ritter

Judges 6:1-12  Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.  ² Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.  ³ Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.  ⁴ They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.  ⁵ They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.  ⁶ Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help. ⁷ When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian,  ⁸ he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  ⁹ I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land.  ¹⁰ I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”  ¹¹ The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.  ¹² When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

The Lord woke me up in the middle of the night recently with the verses, Judges 6:1-12, emblazoned on my mind.  The premise of this section of the Old Testament is how the Lord reminded Israel how He brought them out of slavery and gave them a promised land, yet they still turned to other gods.  The 12th verse is especially poignant...the Lord appeared to Gideon saying, “The Lord is with you mighty warrior,” which Gideon found it difficult to accept.

            This message to Gideon is a clear statement of consecration for today’s Christians:

             1.  Remember from whence you've come! (He has brought us out of darkness.)  (Verse 8)

              2.  Remember all the things He’s done!  (He cleansed us by His blood.)  (Verse 9)

              3.  Remember the Lord your God is one!  (God is calling us to separate ourselves apart for Him.) (Verse 10)

           

The call is for consecration, to put aside the things that hold us back from lifestyle worship: endless pursuit of pleasures, along with unhealthy relationships, television, videos, music and books that do not glorify Jesus Christ. I believe God’s heart is that we separate ourselves from the gods of this world.  Until we make a concerted effort to remember these 3 things, we cannot know the fullness of His presence.  As it was with Gideon, may the Lord approach each of us as “Mighty Warriors” and declare, “The Lord is with you!” AMEN!