Faith Over Fear

The angel of the Lord came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.” Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!” He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.” “But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.” Then he said to him, “If I have found favor with you, give me a sign that you are speaking with me. Please do not leave this place until I return to you. Let me bring my gift and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.” So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from a half bushel of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought them out and offered them to him under the oak. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat with the unleavened bread, put it on this stone, and pour the broth on it.” So he did that. The angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. When Gideon realized that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Oh no, Lord God! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” But the Lord said to him, “Peace to you. Don’t be afraid, for you will not die.”

The question I want to ask you this morning is what is your position of faith?

If you will reflect on much of your life - to include maybe what’s happening right now, you may find that you can relate to Gideon.

Gideon was in his home town hiding from the Midianites and thrashing wheat - and we know of course that wheat is used for making bread. Bread that was obviously hard to come by because the Midianites were continuously destroying Israel’s crops and razing their farmlands. Midian did this to maintain their dominance over a subjugated Israel.

Gideon was struggling to maintain life amidst turmoil in a world that continuously experienced out fear and defeat. For seven years, Israel lived like this and Gideon’s response now is in cowardice and hiding while he quietly seeks out his bread.

We often don’t realize until its too late when fear overtakes our lives; before we know it a significant amount of time has passed - like Israel’s seven years - and we’ve relegated to hiding, seeking our basic necessities of life to simply hold it together in fear and isolation.

We’re overtaken by shame and guilt, so we want no one to see us where we are, and want to no one to find out who we really are.

We isolate ourselves so we can console ourselves and allow our secret sins - which we promise we have control of - these secret sins to become heavier and heavier, even addictive; and we tell no one.

I know I had to be delivered from such a mess. I had to be rescued from myself. I had to find release from a life of control, manipulation and deceit. No one would have assumed that “Ryan the Church boy, the preacher’s kid, the nice guy, the goodie goodie, the one who’s got it altogether” would have anxiety and timidity issues. That’s how people viewed me, but they didn’t know who I was in private, when I was alone, the things I would seek out on the Internet to try to regain some sense of control on life. I would regularly lie to people and say that I was fine, that life was grand and I would say God is Great and everyone around was convinced I was perfect.

I had so much doubt - was I really saved? Especially knowing what I knew about my sinful private life. My faith in God was continuously shaken on my OWN desire to control situations for an outcome I desired and never asked God about. I kept questioning God’s power in my own life - why did I keep struggling with so much that I could never tell anyone about - why could He just save me from all of that mess that I kept returning to over and over again.

I can see here Gideon was ate up about similar questions:

Why is all this happening? Why is my life in such chaos?

Why am I not seeing everything my grandparents and parents testified about in their lives? Where are the miracles, where are the wonders?

Didn’t God save me? Why am I continually struggling with my past?

God, where are You?!

God is God, even in my circumstance

Notice how God approaches Gideon. And let’s remember Who “the angel of the LORD” is - it’s JESUS.

Jesus confronts Gideon and calls Gideon by a different name: Valiant Warrior.

And responds to Gideon not by answering Gideon’s questions - as if God has to justify Himself in any situation. Instead, God empowers Gideon, the Valiant Warrior for taking a message to Israel.

He said “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!”

God had a message for Israel, and He chose Gideon to deliver that message.

God’s selection was not based on strength, capability, having it all together, resourcefulness, nor wealth. God chose Gideon because He needed to show Gideon and the nation of Israel His might and strength to save them from themselves.

You will find that most often God chooses your lowest point to reveal Himself the most - that is until you have the faith and maturity to rely on Him freely.

Your strength is not enough, and it’s not supposed to be

Gideon replies, of course, with his “I can’t becauses”.

I can’t because “My family is the weakest in the region - we don’t have the influence”

I can’t because “Even in my own family, no one hears me”

I can’t because “I’m the weakest person of the weakest family”

How quick are we to tell God we an’t. You father’s in the house have heard this a lot from you kids. Whenever something may be mildly difficult, like taking a deep breath. All of a sudden its physically impossible and all the Laws of Nature, the Laws of Physics, a millennia of Human History ends because your son somehow forgets and cannot, for the very life of him, he cannot take a deep breath.

And in like manner, somehow I CANNOT maintain any decency as a human being towards my now but not previously unable son.

Usually eyes big, slightly red and veiny and a singular blood vessel protruding from the forehead.

But thankfully Jesus here, who is one with the Father, and does in a loving way what an ever-loving Father does:

And He says, “but I’ll be with you”

BUT I’LL BE WITH YOU. -JESUS

One of the amazing and beautiful things about our God is that He is not affected by our circumstance. He is not limited based on our limitations. He is not bound by our fears. He is not bound by what the enemy is trying to do in our lives. He is not bound by our lack of finances, our lack of resources, our lack or inability to perceive a better world, our lack our inability to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

He exists outside our time and space which all fit within the span of His hand.

So when God tells you He’s got something for you, and it seems daunting and overwhelming. He’s also telling you, “but I’ll be with you”.

This means that whatever God has planned for you and called you to do, He is with you and for you accomplishing His will.

This means He is your insurance package, this means He is your assurance package. This means that you have top cover and overwatch. This means God has prepared the way forward in your life if you’d just walk in it!

But ol’ Gideon here - he’s not paying attention. Because his eyes haven’t been opened yet. His vision is still clouded with circumstance seasoned with worry.

Gideon responds like we do.

“God, will you show me a sign?!”

The Word of God is sitting with Gideon under the oak tree there. He has already given Gideon a word. He’s already told Gideon that He’ll be with Him, ensuring the way forward. And Gideon is asking - but how will I know?

God, are you for real? Like, for real for real? God, you want me to do what? You want me to do this? Why you playin, God? You want me to do it like this? You want me to give this? With a cheerful heart, God?

Or the other way: you want me to stop doing what, God? I don’t know if I’m hearing this right. We obviously have a misunderstanding God.

You’ve been there. We’ve all been there.

And yet how does God respond one. more. time.?

I’m here. I’ll wait. Put me to the test. I’m still here. I’m still waiting for you.

I’m waiting for your heart. I’m waiting for you to resign to your self. Your ambitions, your desires, your wants. I’ll wait. But you’re not going to see what I’ve got for you until you do.

You can sit in your situation, bound by fear or you can trust Me.

GIVE HIM YOUR ALL

But you have to give Him your all.

God is waiting on Gideon’s faith flex. God is waiting on Gideon’s response. God is watching him - God has already done His homework with Gideon and knows him immensely. He’s quietly cheering Him on - when you come back, I’ll be right here.

So Gideon takes what’s most important to him at the moment - his life-bringing meal. Meat, bread, broth - brings it over to a rock slab and puts together a makeshift altar. He still doesn’t know who this is in front of him yet, but Gideon knows to go through the motions, go through the process - trust what he knows about this worship thing.

And God responded. He knows what’s about to happen and I believe God is anticipating Gideon’s reaction to what’s about to happen.

He casually takes His staff and taps Gideon’s offering - and the miraculous happens. It was consumed. God took all of it. Nothing was wasted. He took all that Gideon had to bring and God did the miraculous with it.

THE I AM, WILL.

GOD doesn’t want your left overs. He doesn’t want just some of you. He doesn’t want Sunday morning version of you. He doesn’t want just church-goer you. He doesn’t want just your money, your time, your obedience. He wants ALL of you. And when you commit your FULL self to all His ways, He’s able to do the miraculous in your life.

Notice Gideon hadn’t set out on his mission at this point. God had to do something in Gideon’s heart first.

For God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.

You will not fully know what God has for your life until you fully give everything over to Him. Your mind, your career, your marriage, your family, your money, your wants and passions, your car, your dog or cat, your past, your mistakes, your future, your gains, your losses. All of it - give it to Him and say, “Here I am God - you said you’d be here.”

Won’t He do it.

And then you’ll truly realize Who He is in your life. You will know Him no longer has Judge and Executioner in your life. Instead, you will know Him as “The LORD Is Peace”.

Jehovah-Shalom || The LORD Is Peace

Matthew 8:9–13 CSB

For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith. I tell you that many will come from east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus told the centurion, “Go. As you have believed, let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that very moment.

Act of Faith - Post-It Notes

Cross - what needs to be nailed to the cross, to remove from your life? When you put it here, you release it to remove it from your life.

Offering - what is it that you have that you’ve held on to but now you’re releasing to God as an offering? When you put it here, you declare this aspect of who you are is now God’s - for His purpose and glory.

Prayer Wall - What is it circumstantially that you’re going to put before God in prayer? When you put this on the prayer wall, you acknowledge that this is beyond your ability and we rally in prayer with you.