Courageous Faith - Continued

Overcoming Your Fears

Murphy's law comes to mind when I think about this subject: "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong!"

When you get the book of Judges, you realize that every thing that could go wrong went wrong.

The book of Judges records six cycles of failure, repentance, and restoration for the Israelites.  The cycle worked like this;  first we had failure, which lead to judgement, which lead to repentance, which lead to deliverance, which lead to restoration, and the cycle would start all over again when the Israelites strayed away from God.  But, if you notice God was always ready to receive them back.

Now, a certain character comes up in the book of Judges, that would be "Gideon."  Gideon was a mouse of man, who was scared of his own shadow.  However, God saw a man that He could use to teach about "Courageous Faith."  Gideon never operated with faith, it was always If, if, if, with him.  Never putting his full faith and trust that God would help them in the face of a big battle with Midianites and Amealekites.

The Lord would even refer to Gideon as a "Mighty Warrior." (Judges 6:12)  But, did that build Gideon's faith, nope - remember he was the big IF guy.

Instead of God correcting him, criticizing him, or chastising him, He sent an angel to Gideon.  The angel said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of the Midian's hands." (Judges 6:14)  God has a way of choosing unlikely candidates do His work.

To make a long story short, Gideon gained the "Courageous Faith," needed to destroy and army of Midianites and Amealekites numbering 120,000+ with about 32,000 men.  Now, he didn't do this on his own.  God took a man that was afraid of everything and made him a great leader.  Gideon learned to have courageous faith by trusting God.

The Bible often reminds us: "God has not given us a spirit of fear: but of power, and of love, and of courage.  (2 Timothy 1:7)  It's a lesson we all need to remember: God is more interested in our finding Him in life's struggles than protecting us from life's struggles.  Building faith into "Courageous Faith," is what we should work towards.  That begins with trusting God.

Put all your fears and worries in God's Hands.  He can handle it!

 Worship today....God deserves all the Glory!