How to Defeat the Midianites- Judges 6-8
1. The Warrior Test: You are not a warrior because you feel like one or because you are qualified to be one.
Judges 6:12 (NIV)
When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."
- You are a warrior because He said you are:
Judges 6:12 (NIV)
When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."
- You are usable in your weakness:
Judges 6:14 (NIV)
The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" …your strength/God’s
1 Corinthians 1:27 (NIV)
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2. The Water Test
Judges 7:1-4 (NKJV)
Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. nd the LORD said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.' " And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained. But the LORD said to Gideon, "The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' the same shall not go."
- Too many are too Fearful to be Faithful
- Too many are too Self-Centered to be Submitted
Quote: “The thought is disturbing, but it may well be true, that the composition of God's army to fight Satan's hosts in any day is really not any different. How many Christians are so fearful of the enemy and the “loss of what they have” that they are of no real use in this warfare, and how many of the remainder are so self-centered, rather than God centered, that they find little place for effective ministry." (Wood)
- You were not given a Spirit of Fear: We all have to face our Fear!
2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. - The watchful/waiting ones were counted worthy for work of the Lord:
Matthew 25:13 (NKJV)
Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
3. The Way Test
Judges 7:9-11 (NKJV)
It happened on the same night that the LORD said to him, "Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, 11 and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp.
- You aren’t called to be strong enough to handle the battle, just faithful enough to fall in behind the leading of the Holy Spirit
Zechariah 4:6 (NKJV)
So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts - You don’t have to figure it out, you just have to stand on God’s Word:
Judges 7:21 (NKJV)
And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. …the battle belongs to the Lord…stand and see the deliverance…you will see t this foe no more
We are weak and unworthy but all we need is a few who are faithful and committed to doing it God’s way, those who will stand in the power of the Spirit to see the Lord’s great victory!
Application: People and the Pastors
Blow the Trumpets, Break the Clay Pots and Proclaim God’s Victory…keys to the Kingdom, an open door that no one can shut.