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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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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Room of Good Intentions

Click to watch video

Have you ever felt no matter how much you strive to please God that you consistently fail?  No matter how hard you try you feel like you are running in place? There are many tired, cynical, well-intended Christians wearing  masks determined to work on their sin to achieve an intimate relationship with God.

Jesus said His yoke is pleasant, and His burden is light (Mat 11:30).  Does it feel light to you? Does it feel pleasant? It can.  We all go through periods of feeling insufficient but we have the power to combat the feeling through the Holy Spirit.

Learning of God’s grace will make you more aware of God’s forgiveness and of the need to keep forgiving each other as God forgave us in Christ. We need to be aware of the strengths God has given us to help others as well as aware of our weaknesses we need to work on.  In our “natural self” (flesh) we might want to bypass God’s way.  Sacrifice isn’t comfortable. But God declares His grace is sufficient for every painful situation we will ever encounter.

God has provided us with the tools (repentance, prayer, Truth) we need to break free by gaining an understanding and by trusting Him. As you turn your troubles to Him you can feel safe, secure, loved, and yes, pleasant.

I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (Cor 12:10)

We are new creations no longer slaves to sin. (Galatians 5:1) Jesus, our Savior provides all we need through His resurrection power. (2 Peter 1:3) His grace turns our weakness into strength. (2 Corinthians 12:9).

TRUFACED

I’m reading TrueFaced by John Lynch, Bill Thrall, and Bruce McNico. TrueFaced addresses the most basic motives faced by every follower of Christ: the distinction between our determination to please God or to trust Him.  If you need help thoroughly grasping the concept of a truly trusting, grace-filled relationship with the God, this is a book that will help.

I purchased this book after listening to John Lynch’s TrueFaced audio message. John is a phenomenal communicator who will delight you with his engaging humor and realistic approach. In the video and audio below John uses the metaphor of two rooms in our pursuit of God.

I laughed and teared up through the message, praising God all the way way through. The video at the top of this page  is a snippet from the audio message. Don’t just watch the video–the audio has much more, beginning with the “Santa Claus is Coming to Town theology.”

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2. We Can Rejoice in Our Weakness
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5. Expectations and Legalism?
6. Feeling Worthy When We Aren’t

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I have a mental defect. I don’t do left and right very well. I cannot make a two-sided copy of a document on a copy machine to save my life.

When my children were in car seats I could never remember which one went into the right and left car seat (after 4 years!. I recognize my limitations.

Saturday evening we planned on driving our miniature horses with our grandchildren.

Because of my left-right-mental defect, I don’t allow children to talk while I’m harnessing the horses. It can be dangerous.

There are a LOT of different hooks and buckles that need to be attached carefully or someone can get hurt. I broke the rule.

I was almost finished harnessing Comanche when the children got into an argument over whose helmet was whose. I stopped harnessing to address the argument. I lost my place before I completed the harnessing.

Thinking the horse was harnessed properly, I unhitched Comanche from the barn wall and got in the cart with my whip (I always go on a test drive before I take the children).

Runaway Horse!

Comanche immediately bolted from the barn in a full gallop. I instantly pulled on the reigns only to find I had forgotten to clip the reins to the horse’s bit –the most essential hook! I was on a runaway horse.

A runaway horse is bad; a runaway horse with an attached cart carrying middle-aged woman is a nightmare.

Mentally I knew pulling on the reins was useless but I kept pulling and hollering, “Whoa!” Comanche misinterpreted my whoa as, “Faster, faster!”

My husband, children and grandchildren watched in horror as the horse took off across the pasture. I had many thoughts in those few seconds.

1. God help me! I said this many times loudly (in case He couldn’t hear me).
2. There is no emergency break. Should I jump? This cart is going to eventually be on top of me. Should I try to jump and clear it? (some faith, huh?).
3. Thank God I have been taking my chlorophyll because my calcium levels are higher and I might not break my hip (yes, I really did think this).
4. Who is going to clean the house when I break my hip?
5. (No, I did not think this is something to blog about.)
6. If I live through this I will never ever forget to clip the reins to the bit again.
7. Pleeeeeease God help me!

Comanche was going MUCH faster than we have ever, ever driven (I’m not sure how fast, it felt like 150 MPH but I think in reality minis with a cart can only travel 15 to 20 MPH).

As I braced myself, we made a hard right turn and the cart went up on one wheel. I implanted and locked my feet on the foot dash (grateful we chose the cart with the foot dash).

We were running out of open area in a full gallop heading toward the second barn and the fence. We would have to slam into the barn or the fence. I was trying to decide which was more appealing (like I had a choice) when Comanche stopped on a dime 3/4 inch from the fence (OK, maybe a foot).

I blinked, shakily got out of the cart, hooked up the reins, then got back in the cart (with my red face) drove over to my family to give the grandchildren the promised ride.

I was immersed in thought about the spiritual lesson I had just learned.

Spiritual Object Lesson

Have you guessed yet? Isn’t it incredibly obvious? A few months ago I compared tugging the reins right or left to listening for the Holy Spirit’s tugs—I was thinking, God can’t control me if I don’t give Him the reins. A runaway horse is an object lesson of us without God in control.

James 4:3-4 says “Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey us, we direct their entire body as well.”

Psalms 32:9 says “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.” but instead look to Him to instruct “and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go”

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (v. 8).

We recently watched a movie about a border collie Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy. When Mist was first trained to work with the sheep she didn’t do well and had to be leashed and taken back to the barn. As she matured and learned her master’s ways he no longer needed the leash; the master could whisper a command from across the field and the dog obeyed.

We make hundreds of decisions daily, sometimes obvious—right or wrong–according to God’s Word. Pray that you hear the tugs of the Holy Spirit and that you are so tuned into God and His Word (His ways) that you obey His commands when He whispers.

If you liked this post you may also like:

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2. We Can Rejoice in Our Weakness
3. The Secret to Producing Spiritual Fruit
4. A Proverbs 31 Woman
5. Creating Reminders for Our Children
6. Scheduling by Faith
7. Spiritual Mountain Climbing

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What are We Seeking? Religion or Relationship?

God does not want a people who simply adhere to a set of rules no matter how well intended. God said in the book of Hosea, “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6 ).

Sacrifices meant nothing because their hearts were unfaithful to God. God wants obedience and not sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22), mercy and not religious rituals.

God longs for our devotion and loyalty. Do we depend on God or religion? Do we feel comfortable because we read the right Bible version or stay away from movies? How about the attitude, “I don’t drink, smoke, cuss, or chew, or go with girls who do”?

The Pharisees were the ultimate in religious behavior. They extended