The angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” Gideon replied in doubt and in an accusatory tone with questions:

“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” (Judges 6:13)

A few things are wrong with Gideon’s perceptions:

Gideon Forgot About Israel’s Sin

Gideon blamed God for the oppression and fails to recognize Israel’s sin and idolatry. Israel had not turned away from the pagan idols.

God loves His people, even in sin.  He is also a Holy judge. Because of His love for the guilty He is merciful and desires to forgive.  He is just and merciful. He provided an amazing answer to the problem of sin through Jesus’ atoning blood and the work of the Holy Spirit our lives be cleansed from sin and be transformed to reflect His love.

Gideon’s people were crying out to the Lord for help (Judges 6:7), but gave no evidence of real repentance. Constant self examination of sin and its removal coupled with trusting God grows our relationship with Him.

Gideon Trusted in Formulas Instead of God

Gideon believed in the “Law of Linearity.” If you do A, B will logically follow. If you want to win a battle have a mighty leader and a bigger and stronger army than the enemy.

Gideon questioned God’s wisdom in choosing him to be the nation’s deliverer. He said, “My clan is the weakest . . . and I am the least.”

God chooses the “weak things of this world” to accomplish great things for His glory (1 Cor. 1:26–29). Gideon wasn’t a man of strong faith or courage. His family worshiped Baal (Jdg. 6:25–32). Yes the angel said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior“–He was a might warrior with the Lord.

Do you trust in formulas? You might not think you trust in formulas but do these sound familiar?

1. If you are a submissive wife, your husband will love you.
2. If you bring your children up in the Lord ,your family will be happy.
3. If you tithe, you’ll be financially secure.
4. If you plant corn, you will reap corn.

Do the formulas work? If you plant corn, will you grow corn? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe there will be a drought or flood and the crops will fail.

Doing A does not always produce B. Whenever God calls us to a task that we think is beyond us, we must be careful to look to God and not to ourselves. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

We all come to God in need of merciful help and power.  He is waiting for us to stop relying on formulas and run to Him. He has called and commissioned us, all we have to do is obey Him by faith, and He will do the rest.

Gideon Sought the Blessing Not the Blesser

Gideon was seeking the blessing not the Blesser. He sought the victory of God without the responsibility of the relationship. We think that we can contain God within a box and that we can coerce Him into blessing us.

If someone marries a spouse for money and times are hard the marriage will fail (seeking the blessings).  If the relationship is based on love and times are hard the love will grow. (seeking relationship with the Blesser).

God wants us to seek Him. If we remove sin in order to receive blessings we are placing blessing above the Blesser- which is a form of idolatry!

Go In the Strength

My, my lessons stories of Gideon are many and rich.  Judges 6 ends with the  story of Gideon testing God two times with the fleece.  In Judges 7 God tests Gideon to see if he will trust Him to go into battle with the Midianites. I hope you have time to read all of Judges 6 & 7.

There is so much imagery intended to remind us of God’s faithfulness in the past and future in Judges 6 and 7: the fleece, the water (dew), tearing down the altars,  a meal, unleavened bread, a rock, a staff, fire, a threshing floor, a wine press,  sacrifices, a dream, and so much more!

It is time for me to teach my children so I’ll close for now. Go in the Strength you have ((Judges 6:14)

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I have a Kindle Ebook Reader. It has become a part of me. I use it several hours each day–now even more. I recently  downloaded MP3 Bible study Breaking Free by Beth Moore (excellent study! see review below).

To listen to the audios at night involved dragging my computer into my bedroom. No more! Now I can listen to any MP3 book with the Kindle on my nightstand.

Kindle comes with an MP3 option for music listening as you read–but in my experience it worked lousy for audio books, I could only listen and not fast forward or rewind. And I had to start over if I paused .

But then I learned the secret. If I upload my MP3 into the Audible folder I have the option to fast forward, pause, rewind, etc. just like on an MP3 player. Yooo Hooo!

I use the MP3 feature daily now while cleaning the kitchen, when I go to bed, etc. If I’m not listening I’m reading.

FREE STUDIES

I also download and listen to free Podcasts on the Kindle. I can upload any of these studies in MP3 free: (If you don’t have a Kindle, you can listen on your computer or MP3 player)

1. Dwight Pryor (Hebrew Roots)
   
2. Nancy Leigh Demoss’ Revive Our Hearts
3. Beth Moore on Life Today,
4. God Journey
5. Charles Stanley
6. and many more (by speaker or Bible topic) from Oneplace.

Kindle is much more than an EBook reader. You can do all these things ANYWHERE, in the car, doctor office, restaurant, plane, etc. It’s always wirelessly connected with no monthly fee. The Kindle has been an super investment for this book worm.

1. Read books
2. Buy and download books in one minute (get thousands of books free)
3. Upload Heart of Wisdom Ebooks to Kindle (via Kindle email)
4. Browse the Internet (limited, like on a cell phone but bigger)
5. Check your email (with Google email)
6. Listen to audio books
7. Listen to podcasts
8. Listen to music as you read.

Learn more about Kindle

Powerful life changing study from selected passages in the Book of Isaiah draws parallels between the captive Israelites and today’s Christian in order to show how to make freedom in Christ a daily reality.

Beth starts the book by identifying the Five Benefits of the Christian life that God desires for us to enjoy and then lists the five obstacles in our lives that keep us from fully enjoying them.

Five Benefits:

1. To Know God and Believe Him
2. To Glorify God
3. To find satisfaction in God
4. To experience God’s peace
5. To enjoy God’s presence

Five Obstacles:

1. Unbelief
2. Pride
3. Idolatry
4. Prayerlessness
5. Legalism

Quotes from the Book

Read the book reviews and watch a video on Breaking Free by Beth Moore.

Enter the Blog Giveway to win a free Shack book

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Talk about timely,  I received a link in my email today to an article titled Teaching a Horse to Stop. Where was this email last week when I had a runaway horse? That proverbial barn door is closed.

Read about the Blog Giveaway.

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Blog Contest! #1 NY Times Best Seller: The Shack

I’m giving away three copies of The Shack. If you haven’t bought your copy yet, or want to see what all the controversy is about, or want a copy to give to a friend, all you have to do is leave a comment here (or on my review of The Shack)  to enter to win!

Receive an extra entry by you posting about this contest on your blog sidebar so others can know about this contest. Be sure to please link it back here for an extra entry!

You can read my review of The Shack here.

Is your relationship with God based on performance, duty and obligation (works), or is it based on love?

The Bible says “they will know we are Christians by our LOVE” - works are a by-product of the fruit we already have. If the fruit ain’t there, then the works will not follow naturally. Whatever you do try will be in the flesh! If you are trying to drum up the fruits through works, then it’s like a fruit tree trying to force itself to grow fruit! Watch this video for more on Religion vs Relationship.

About The Shack Controversies

Be forewarned: The Shack has its critics. It takes a hard look at churches that replace the gospel with rituals. Jesus certainly spent a lot of time on this topic. Maybe that is why it is so impressive to me because I have had legalistic* churches shoveling guilt and shame (man’s traditions) at me for so many years. I re-read the Gospels since reading The Shack and it was glorious. (Gets better every time!)

There are things that may bother you in this book –a few things bothered me at first but the whole story is so amazing it was worth it to me to overlook these few things or –rather, gave me pause to think about how I was looking at some things. I’ll be happy to discuss the controversy in the comments.

I’ve been reading Wayne Jacobson’s writings (one of The Shack’s publishers) for over 5 years. I’ve read everything he has written and listened to almost every audio. There is no doubt in my mind The Shack’s author and publishers are deeply committed followers of Jesus Christ who have a passion for Bible.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8.

God wants you to know that there is nothing you can do to make him love you any more today, and nothing you can do that will make him love you any less. He just loves you.

If you’ve never known the joy of simply living in God’s acceptance instead of trying to earn it, your most exciting days in Christ are ahead of you. People who learn to live out of a genuine love relationship with the God of the universe will live in more power, more joy and more righteousness than anyone motivated by fear of his judgment.–Wayne Jacobson in He Loves Me

Contest Rules

1. Leave a comment or review on this post.
2. Random drawing determines the winners.
3. Post and link about this contest on your blog sidebar for an extra entry!
4. U.S. only (Sorry, postage is sky high now)
5. I will choose three winners from random drawings at Random.org on Sat. September 15th.

*Legalism: religious performance, scrupulous and meticulous in its outward form, but, inwardly, as Jesus described it, “filled with dead men’s bones,” (Matt 23:27). It is relying on self, personality, background, training, and talent or skill instead of the Spirit of God. And it is operating for and on behalf of one’s own personal glory. ( Ray C. Stedman)   (Also see my view of God’s law)

Related:

1. My Review of #1 NY Times Best Seller: The Shack
2. BALANCED Video Review of The Shack
3. The Shack Author Video Interview
4. “Is The Shack Heresy?” by Wayne Jacobson
5. Read excerpts from The Shack
6. Listen to an audio interview by the author
7. Daisy Petal Christianity (Free book download)
8. Jake’s Story (Free book download)

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Darwin or Design?

The Privileged Planet explores a startling connection between our capacity to survive and our ability to observe and understand the universe. Is this correlation merely a coincidence? Or does it point to a deeper truth about purpose and intelligent design within the cosmos?

The Privileged Planet (Book)

Astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez and philosopher/theologian Jay W. Richards firmly stand in the design camp. In The Privileged Planet, the authors have produced a comprehensive, richly illustrated and heavily notated book.

Gonzalez and Richards counter the prevailing notion among scientists that Earth is merely an average rocky planet revolving around an ordinary star on the outskirts of an undistinguished galaxy. The authors present evidence that suggests life in the cosmos is a rarity due to a variety of prerequisite conditions, such as the unique properties of water, the peculiarities of the Earth-moon system, the sheltering effects of Jupiter and Saturn, and the fine-tuned nature of the universe. The authors maintain that these same conditions allow mankind’s significant discovery of the structure of physical laws and the universe. The appendices examine a revised Drake Equation and tackle the idea of “panspermia” - the seeding of life on Earth.

The Privileged Planet DVD

This hour-long documentary explores the scientific evidence for intelligent design and purpose in the universe. In the process, Earth is revealed as far more than the product of time, chance, and random natural processes. We now know that a rare and finely tuned array of factors makes Earth suitable for complex life. We depend on our planet’s oxygen-rich atmosphere, its large moon, its planetary neighbors, and its precise location within the solar system and Milky Way galaxy. But the story does not end here. For, the same factors that make a planet like Earth hospitable to life also provide the best conditions for scientific discovery.

The Privileged Planet explores a startling connection between our capacity to survive and our ability to observe and understand the universe. A connection that points directly to the work of a creative mind and plan. This extraordinary documentary will be a focal point in the escalating debate between evolution and design.

Creation Science Resources

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