Judges 7:1-25 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
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.
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. (22,000 were afraid)
It would be terrible to have fear filled people with you while you fought a battle!
It would be terrible to have fear filled people with you while you fought a battle!
In WWII, Hitler very much wanted Mussolini to commit to being his ally. When Hitler got Mussolini on his side, he learned rather quickly that the Italian army didn't have the will to fight. In one Battle there were 80,000 Italians and 30,000 British and the British overwhelmed the Italians and captured their army. Hitler would often have to take Germans away from their other battle stations and reassign them to rescue the Italians. Yet amazingly, Hitler wanted the Italians.
Sometimes we are always having to rescue an individual who cannot carry her own weight.
I once told my mother: "You can go down but I'm not going to go down with you."
My mother straightened up after I said that. But I meant what I said. Why should we both be destroyed?
Judges 7:4 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.
So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.
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.
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.
So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
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And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him (to Gideon), Arise, get thee down unto the host (of Midianites); for I have delivered it into thine hand.
But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host.
Then went he (Gideon) down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host (of Midian).
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.
A vast army was assembled to fight Israel. God has limited the army of Israel to 300 men because if the entire army of Israel fought, they would say they won the battle with their own might. This way, they would know God gave them the victory.
And when Gideon was come (to the camp of Midians), behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.
And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.
A single statement from God can make all the difference to us today. I've had many such statements from God brought to my mind which gave me strength to go forward with assurance that God was with me in that which I was doing.
Examples:
* January 10, 1980 ...an angel of the Lord spoke three words into my ear in the night: "Hartford, Seattle, KWJS" ... because of this word, I knew God was showing me to go on radio. Also because of this Word from God, I had faith to add other radio stations in USA from Hartford to Seattle.
* March 2012 ... dream showing me to start a blog.
* 2015 ... began writing books on Amazon through leading of Holy Spirit
* December 6, 2018 ... word from Holy Spirit, "You'll never see this house again." Led me to move to Colorado after release from hospital and led me to put Texas house up for sale ... and gave me faith during the coming months that the Texas house would sell.
* January 2020 ... God gave Pam Padgett one word, "Podcast". She set up Podcast for the ministry and we began Podcast recordings the first week in February, 2020.
(I don't want to do anything unless I'm assured God authored the project.)
Take care to go only where God sends you.
Terrible penalty for those who follow their own ideas.
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
(Unless God authors that work that we are doing, it will be unaccepted by Jesus.)
Is it God who told me to do this? must always be the examining question for anything we do.
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We see God providing the faith Gideon needed to enter into battle with the Midieonites.
Today, the Holy Spirit in us provides constant assurance of the way of God for us so we can move forward by faith in God.
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Judges 7:16-25 And he (Gideon) 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.
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.
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.
So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.
This must have sounded like sure doom to the enemy army.
This must have sounded like sure doom to the enemy army.
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.
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.
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 Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan.
Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.
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I moved to Lubbock, Texas, in July, 2002. A woman in our church group moved to Lubbock from Houston shortly after that. Certainly we thought it would be advantageous. Instead it was a disaster.
This woman showed a very strange way of life to me. One example is as follows:
This woman showed a very strange way of life to me. One example is as follows:
This woman wanted to buy a light fixture for her dining room. She asked me to go with her and help her select the fixture. We met at the lighting company. The minute we entered the building I saw a fixture which I thought would work. This woman wandered about the lighting room and looked at fixtures and didn't find a fixture that appealed to her. I just sat at the counter and watched her. I asked her if she found anything and she replied, "No." I pointed to a fixture and I said, "I think that would work." (It was the fixture I had seen when we first entered the door to the business.) She looked at the fixture and liked it a lot and bought it.
Later I asked her if she prayed before we went to that shop and she said, "NO ... because I knew you would."
Later I asked her if she prayed before we went to that shop and she said, "NO ... because I knew you would."
We were never able to work well together.
I found this woman's decisions to be extremely strange.
I had viewed her over a number of years and had never seen her decisions to make sense to me.
One time she dug a 2 foot ditch all along the back of her house and then called me and asked me to tell her what she might do with it.
I designed some simple garden areas for her back yard. Very low mantainence using fountain and stepping stones. She wanted very elaborate flower beds. I took her to houses in the neighborhood to see how this type of flower bed worked out. These beds were eaten up with weeds. They might start out wonderfully but in time the maintenance become a burden and often people let them go without attention. These are very high maintenance flower beds and would require a good many hours of work caring for the plants. It is hot in Lubbock, Texas. She didn't like the heat. She preferred being indoors. But she hired one of the more expensive designers and set about to restructure the project. I don't know the outcome but I do know it would require a good amount of maintenance and also money to keep this type flower beds in top shape.
After watching the way she approached projects, I was certain I would not want her to be in charge of me if I was unable to deal with medical problems. I had prayed many times,
"God, if something happens to me, please don't let Sandra be in charge".
Something did happen to me. In December 2018, I fell and surgery was required to rebuild my left wrist and also to take care of a broken hip. (I was 81-years-old.) I was required to sign papers giving power of attorney over my medical situation by naming a person.
Sandra was standing there when they brought the papers for me to sign. I said, "Pam Padgett is in charge of me." Sandra was shocked and said, "How can Pam be in charge? She doesn't even live here." I replied, "I don't know how she can be, but she is."
Sandra was standing there when they brought the papers for me to sign. I said, "Pam Padgett is in charge of me." Sandra was shocked and said, "How can Pam be in charge? She doesn't even live here." I replied, "I don't know how she can be, but she is."
Pam came 4 times during this period to help me. She found another rehabilitation hospital where I could be moved when the first hospital didn't work for me. She arranged to transport me from a doctors appointment, by ambulance, to rehabilitation hospital, since I was in too much pain to be moved by other transportation. She arranged to have my personal effects put in storage and she helped list items for estate sale at the Texas house. She made photos of personal items and brought the pictures to hospital where I selected the items I wanted to keep when I moved to Colorado in February. She moved my old car and my cat to Colorado. Everything was handled very professionally and competently with very little confusion. It was amazing.
All along I have found Pam prays and she takes appropriate action after prayer and I was caused as little problem as possible. Pam and I have worked on several books together so it didn't surprise me to see everything going well.
We are of the same spirit and if there is a problem we pray and we know how to wait and resolve matters, We are of one Spirit in the Lord and we know how to depend on God.
It is very important to have the correct people in your army.
Do not compromise. You will destroy yourself if you take on fleshly, confused bodies just because those persons are available.
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