King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Thursday, April 01, 2021
Chapters: Judges 6-7
Message: Be Armed And Ready
Hello My Friend,
I love it when I am talking to God and He immediately shows Himself, it may not be something significant, a ray of sunshine, a song, a sound, or complete silence, but He let me know that He was listening to me and heard my plea. So many people seek proof that God exists, the more wicked the world gets the more they are looking for a way out. Sadly, many of those will turn to false gods rather than Christ, it is a great reminder that God only hears the cries of the ones who believe in His Son, [John 5:39-44 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. 41 I receive not honour from men. 42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. 43 I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. 44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?]
I have been studying Civics and actually learned so much more than when I was a child in school, there was a great deal of oppression in America as they fought to be free from the British. The entire population among the thirteen colonies was only two and a half million as opposed to millions more in Britain. It reminded me of the Israelites when they left Egypt, and traveled over into the promised land, it was about the same amount of people. Now, it had been a couple of centuries since they arrived in Canaan, and Joshua led them across the Jordan and into the promised land. God proved to them that He was with them, but once Joshua and that generation died, they quickly forgot that He was with them, and fell into worshiping false gods. That is when God would prove them by sending oppression, this time God delivered Israel into the hands of the Midianites, and they we by far the worst of them so far.
[Judges 6:1-6 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. 3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; 4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. 6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD.]
[made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.] And there you have it, true cavemen. The Midianites oppressed them so badly that they were forced to dwell in caves, they could not even plant crops as they would be destroyed as soon as they were ready to be harvested. Finally they call out to God, He heard their cries, and He chose a man name Gideon to deliver them out of the hands of the Midianites.
[Judges 6:11-16 And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. 13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. 14 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? 15 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. 16 And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.]
[why then is all this befallen us?] This is the age old question that we all have when we are first drawn to God. I will never forget the oppression I was facing that I started calling out to God. That was when He told me the truth about Jesus, up until then, He was just God’s Son to me. When I saw Jesus as my Saviour that was when He showed Himself to me and I truly accepted Him as my Saviour. [And the LORD looked upon him,] Until we understand the oppression we are under and the need for God, He will not reveal Himself to us, then when we do, that is when He shows us His Son. No one gets to God without Christ, [John 6:44-47 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. 46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.]
Once we receive Christ as our Saviour, we are His for life, there is nothing that we could do to lose our salvation unless we believed in vain. However, for us to see God working in our lives then we need to get rid of the idols, the religions, anything that could put screeching halt to our new found faith. Now, that God revealed Himself to Gideon He was going to prove his faith, He gave him a task, but it was not an easy task, break down the altar that his father had for worshiping Baal, and build an altar for Him. Gideon succeeded, but as soon as the Baal worshiper saw this they went after Gideon’s father and demanded that he hand over Gideon.
[Judges 6:30-34,36-38 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it. 31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. 32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar. 33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. 34 But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him. 36 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, 37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. 38 And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.]
[then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand,] Okay, so, here we go again, God proved Gideon and through his faith he obeyed God and now Gideon is proving God again. Is that not how we all are? I can tell you countless times when God has proved my faith and then I proved His faith in me. I will also tell you, that I have failed more times than I care to admit, and yet He is so longsuffering and faithful to forgive me and prove to me that He never leaves nor forsakes me, [Numbers 14:18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.]
While God has the power to do and make anything happen at any time, including give us what we ask instantly, He rarely works that way. Why? He wants us to be dependent solely upon His strength and not our own. Now, Gideon and all the men of Israel were about to see the hand of God at work, He instructs Gideon to gather an army together. Out of thirty-two thousand men, God chose three hundred to got to battle with the Midianites.
[Judges 7:2–4,6-7 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. 4 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 6 And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 7 And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.]
[The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands,] God does His best work in small numbers. He does this for one; to remind us that nothing is impossible with God. And two; to bring others to His Son. It may seem like we are outnumbered, and quite frankly we are, but we are not alone in this, God will always send someone to help us. God encourages Gideon, tells him that there is someone who can help him if he is afraid.
[Judges 7:9-12,16-18 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. 10 But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: 11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. 12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. 16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. 17 And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. 18 When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.]
[and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host.] We need encouragement that we can succeed. Life is hard enough as it is, we do not need negative people bringing us down and making us feel defeated. In fact, most suicides are a result of people having so many negative things said about them that they feel they are better off if they no longer existed. And death cannot save you, if you have never accepted Christ a your Saviour, then you have worse things to worry about, [John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.]
Did you ever wonder why God chose the men who brought the water to them with their hand? They were aware of their surroundings, if they were to be ambushed they would see them coming and be prepared to fight, whereas the men who just went into the water face first would not have. God wants us always prepared to fight. Why? So that He can do His greatest work in us. It is obvious that the Midianites were not prepared, the most incredible thing happened with those horns, pitchers, and lamps.
[Judges 7:20-23 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. 21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. 22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath. 23 And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.]
[and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow,] Do you see what happened? This gigantic army was so scared at the noise that they began to fight each other. The army went after those who fled, and God in fact, delivered them from the Midianites. God’s army is not very big in number, compared to the billions of people on the planet, we are, but a spec, and while we are being oppressed, God is preparing us for this battle. We must be brave, we must have our trumpets ready to sound the alarm, w must our pitchers with lights within in our hand, and we must be ready to shout, “The sword of the LORD, and of Jesus!” Now, that is the whole armor of God, [Ephesians 6:11-13 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.]
Jesus Christ Magnified: [Judges 6:21 Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for sending Your Son to save all who believe in Him from death and hell. Time and time again You have proved Yourself mighty in my life, yet time and time again I have failed in giving You the glory for it. I am sorry that I do not thank You enough for all the miracles You have made in my life, even the ones where I was the miracle someone needed. Thank You for oppression, it shows me that Your hand is in everything. Sometimes, I feel like I will never get out of the oppression I face, but I know that I will because Your mercy endures. As You establish me, strengthen me, and settle me in the love of Christ, I know that all things will work together for good and You will truly get the glory. Lord, Lead me and guide me, as one of Your chosen soldiers, keep my eyes open and prepared for an attack at all times, let me be a living sacrifice, always willing to do what You ask, leading all You send my way to Your Son. I ask these things in Your name Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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