Valiant Warrior

I have been praying a series of scripture prayers over my home and family for a couple of weeks now. They are amazing! I can literally feel the mood in our home lift. I need to pray them again right before the kids come home now that school has started.

Today, as I was praying, for John, one of the prayers was Judges 6:12, "The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior." God impressed on me that I needed to share this with John...God sees him as a valiant warrior! Isn't that awesome? I love it!

But as I read the context of the scripture so that I could know what it was that God was asking me to share with John, I realized God pointed me there for me as well as John. Maybe not the valiant warrior part, but the versus before and after that spoke to me greatly!

The first part of chapter 6 are the words God spoke to a prophet of that time. Verse 10 (the end of where my Bible divides the first section of that chapter) ends with, "But you have not obeyed me." So this is where things change! Up to this point in chapter 6, God has rescued Israel. He has taken them out of bondage and provided them with victory in every battle they have touched.

Enter Gideon. He is going about beating the wheat into wine "in order to save it from the Midianites. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, 'The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior'." Then HollyAnn said, well, that is not exactly what the Bible says, but it COULD! "Then Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about"...oh my! Ever have your words appear to you in the Bible after you have said them? I have said "if God is for us, or if He is with us, then why has all this happened???? I have said that to John probably tens if not hundreds of times over the past 3 or 4 years. It seems that each time we step out in faith, the ending is less than favorable!

The Lord's answer? "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midiean, Have I not sent you?" When GOD send us, we have victory! Wow! It gets even better! Gideon then answers again, "O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house." How many times have you listed all the reasons you can't do what God told you to do? I don't have enough energy for one more child, Lord. I am just a housewife in West Texas, I can't turn the heart of Liberian leaders. I am just human, I can't hold this relationship together. I am already doing so much, I can't add one more thing to my plate. The list goes on and on!

You know what God says to that list? "Surely I will be with you." (emphasis mine). The Lord then tells him that Gideon WILL defeat the enemy as just one man! Gideon still isn't sure! I love that! I love that God shows us in His word His servants that have gone before us that were just as unsure as I am from time to time! Gideon has seen the angel of the Lord and he still wants more confirmation this is what he is supposed to do. Ever done that? I'm guilty! So the angel of the Lord takes the soup that Gideon prepared for him and pours is on a rock. Then he reaches out a staff to it and "fire sprang up from the rock and consumed" it! Well, if he had any doubts left, that did it!

But it gets better! Oh how I love God's Word! Even though Gideon knew without a doubt what God was asking him to do, he was scared to do it! Been there? You know that you know that God has given you a command. And with all your heart you long to obey, but fear is still there. Have we sinned? Not yet! The sin comes in if we let the fear stop us. If we, like Gideon, proceed in our fear to obedience, we have not sinned, but shown God in His full glory and strength! In my weakness (and fear) He is strong! Verse 27 of chapter 6 says, "Then Gideon...did as the Lord had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father's household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night."

I love it! He was still afraid, so afraid that he performed what he was told to do in the dark of night. But he did it! He followed God's voice and command to walk in obedience.

I can list a dozen or more things that God has called me to do and after arguing with Him about why I am highly unqualified to do it, I proceeded 'in the dark' for fear of the thoughts or reactions of those closest to me.

I think of this a lot as I talk to families about adoption...especially inter-racial adoption. Many of the older generations, and some even of current generations, don't understand and truly believe in their core that mixing colors is an abomination of God. I am sure Gideon's family thought that destroying the alter to Baal was an abomination to say the least, but who was right? What if Gideon had succumb to the attitudes of his family.

Now, I'm not saying this gives anyone the right to go rogue and be arrogant with family in the things God has called them to, but I am saying that God gives us a perfect example here of a man who had to go against the wishes of his family in order to obey God.

I can honestly say that neither of our families think we should add kids to our life. The fact that we are considering another foster placement just has them puzzled and scared for us. And it makes me doubt my ability to do what God has called me to, makes me think I must be mistaken in being open to another placement. Probably could say they felt the same about the addition of Baby Girl as well. They have accepted Baby Girl. My parents have been a life saver in all that we have had to do for her with her being a foster child. They have helped me out to the point that I know I couldn't have done it without them! So I don't in anyway want to paint either of our parents in a negative light here. But I do want to encourage those who are facing opposition from their families. It doesn't have to just be adoption...maybe God is calling you to sell your possessions and move to a mission field over seas, maybe God is telling you to leave a lucrative career in order to pursue a passion that God has put inside you, whatever it is God is telling you to do, DO IT! Don't let the opposition of family or friends who mean well in their criticism keep you from obeying God!

Go for it because, "the Lord is with you, O valiant warrior!"