Imagine
yourself back in the Bible days, long before Jesus was born. Our country has
been in bondage for many years. You’ve been terrorized by the enemy and have
little hope of ever being delivered. Then, an angel of the LORD comes and tells
you that "you’re a mighty man of valour"
and God is going to use you to set your land free. This time I would like to
share with you the experience of a man named Gideon (Judges 6 & 7).
Do not look at this as something in the past, but apply it to your life for this
day that we live in, and something will begin to happen to you! So,
how was Gideon chosen by God and called a mighty man of valour? Gideon was
chosen because he was sold out. He was sold out to God to do His will. His
Number One desire was to please God and fulfill the call placed upon his life.
Because of Gideon’s desire, God used him to set an entire nation free. He
became sold out by surrendering his all to God.
He
was willing to give everything he had in order to fulfill God’s purpose.
God first asked Gideon to give a sacrifice unto Him. I like how God works. He
says, "Show your love to Me and that you believe I can do the
impossible - give Me a sacrifice." Today, God is requiring our
sacrifice. A sacrifice is anything your flesh doesn’t want to do: praying,
giving of your finances and time, ministering to a soul in need. The
Bible says to crucify your flesh daily. Every
day we must wake up and make Jesus Christ
our first and foremost desire. We
have to be fully sold out to God’s will for our lives. The
next thing asked of Gideon was to thrash down the altar of Baal and rebuild the
altar of God. How
could God set
Sold
Out! (Part 2). Now
this wasn’t the end of Gideon’s battle; in fact it was just the beginning.
The Bible tells of the enemy being so colossal, they could not be numbered (just
as the sands of the sea or the grasshoppers in the field). There was no way to
even begin counting them and Gideon only had 300 men with him. However, we must
remember, they were the 300 men God chose.
Isn’t the LORD wonderful! I love the way He works. He took what seemed
to be a lack and caused it to be more than enough to defeat the enemy. You may
feel that what you have inside of you is not enough to defeat everything that
may come against you - you
are more than a conqueror! Gideon
and his men each went to fight the enemy with nothing more than a trumpet, a
lamp and a pitcher. As they
surrounded the camp, they sounded their trumpets, shined their lights and broke
their pitchers. God caused their enemy to become so frightened they fought and
killed one another. They had their lamps and they had their horns, but they
never had to fight or kill anyone. God took care of it! All we need is to shine
our light in this dark world and proclaim the goodness of God with our trumpet
and God will take care of the rest. You
may be the only one saved on your job or in your family, but if you sell
yourself out to Jesus Christ and make Him your Number One desire, then God will
use you to set all those people free from the bondage of sin. To
shine your light in this day is to be a bearer of Christ. When Jesus lives
inside of us, it is our job to go to those trapped in the bondage of sin and
reach out to them with every thing God has place within us, and show them the
love of God. We must show them they are not forgotten and tell them of the One
who gave His all, just for them. Never say, “I can’t do what God has
asked me to do,” because God knows the abilities within you. He put them there!
He knows what we are capable of doing and asks for nothing more than our
very best. When you sell out to
God, He will take what seems like a weakness and cause it to be your strength.
We must be the Gideon of today and sell ourselves out for Jesus Christ. Our
Number One priority has to stay focused on building His Kingdom.
When you’re sold out people can take whatever they want from you, but they
can’t take your desire and love for Jesus Christ. They can take away everything, but they can never
take away God’s plan for your life….to reach souls for Him. “Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to
our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Timothy 1:9). “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that
loved us” (Romans
8:37). Prayer: “LORD, Prepare
Me to be a Sanctuary, Pure and Holy, Tried and True with Thanksgiving ~ I’ll
be a Living Sanctuary for You. AMEN!”
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