Monday, April 04, 2011

Your Worst Enemy

 
Bill Rice Ranch - First Light Devotionals 

Judges 6:14, 16  "And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? . . . Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man."

 

One of the most discouraging things in life is when you are your own worst enemy.  Has that ever happened to you?  Sometimes, when asking for God's help, we are both our own worst enemy and also God's best answer.  When Israel cried to God for deliverance from trouble they brought upon themselves, God's answer actually came from among them through a man named Gideon.

 

Gideon was the answer to his own problem.  He was the solution that God used to deliver Israel from the Midianites.  The lesson we can take from Gideon is, when you seek God's help, be open to His leading.  When you ask for His help, be ready to answer God's call.  Here Gideon was seeking God's help; and to get God's help, Gideon had to be open to God's call.  That can be an "encouraging" part of being your own worst enemy-you can be part of the answer if you will answer God's call!

 

First of all, you can depend on the fact that when God commands, He enables.  Gideon doesn't seem valiant to us-and probably didn't feel valiant-but God said, "Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?" (verse 14)  God plus Gideon made Gideon the "mighty man of valour" that God was going to use.  You can confidently know that when God commands you, He will enable you.

 

Second of all, when God sends, He goes too.  God sent Gideon in verse 14, but in verse 16, God promises that He will go with him!  "And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man."  Maybe your family is insignificant like Gideon's was, and maybe you are the least capable in your family; but when God sends you, He will go with you.  You can know that God has sent you and is with you!

 

God will never ask you to do anything that you cannot do if you will obey.  God will ask you to do many things that you cannot do, but nothing you cannot do if you will obey.  When you obey, God is responsible to do through you what He has commanded of you.  Is there something you are asking God for that has its answer in you?  If you should obey in some area, by all means, do it!  When God commands and sends you , He enables and goes with you.  The key to it all is obedience to Him! 

  
  
Prayer Requests:
1. Ohio Regional Conference on Marriage & the Home this week (4.8-9)
2. Deaf Rally this weekend in Hummelstown, PA (4.9)

Looking for more devotionals? Visit the archives here
 
 
 
Bill Rice Ranch | 627 Bill Rice Ranch Road | Murfreesboro | TN | 37128

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