Obey Afraid

Judges 6

For 7 years, Israel (the people of God) are suffering under the hand, the rule, the abuse of Midian (strife) and their compadre, their ally Amalek ( dwellers in the valley, those from below, Esau’s descendants, the brother who did NOT value his gifts and sold it for a pot of soup.) Israel (the People of God) hides in caves and strongholds in the mountains. They seem to be powerless and all they can do is, hide. They lost some of their identity, suffering from a national inferiority complex.

Whenever the People of God sow seed, Strife and Valley Dwellers attack and destroy the crop. This left no nourishment for the People of God, wasted the land and impoverished the People of God.

AND THEY CRIED TO THE LORD.  

There was nothing they could do about the situation. They had not one ounce of courage left. Their oppression was so severe that they could not resist or throw off this yoke of slavery. But they cried out to the Lord.

Then the word of the Lord came by a prophet who said to them: The Lord says: I brought you out of Egypt (a type of sin ) from the house of bondage. I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians (house of bondage) and out of the hand of all those who oppressed you and gave you their land, their inheritance. And I (the Lord) said to you: I am the Lord your God; Fear not the gods of the Amorites ( the sayers: the biggest tribe in Canaan and often used to mean all of Canaan) in whose land you dwell.  BUT YOU HAVE NOT OBEYED MY VOICE.

Disobedience always has consequences. We often disobey God, neglect His word and His covenant and then are at a loss for why we are receiving the reward of our behavior. This answers the “WHY?”

Now THE ANGEL OF THE LORD CAME. A visitation, a Divine revelation happens. This Angel of the Lord shows up 58 times in scripture. It is always the result of Divine Intervention.  The first time was in Genesis 16:7. Some believe that this is the Old Testament form of Jesus Christ (pre-incarnate Christ)

The Angel of the Lord shows up under a tree, terebinth or turpentine tree at Ophrah ( meaning: fawn) of Joash (given by the Lord) the Abiezrite (My Father is help).  Joash ( given by the Lord) has a son Gideon (Hewer, cutter, chopper) who was hiding in a winepress to beat out a little grain. A winepress was usually dug into the ground and this made a perfect hiding place. He had to provide for his family in secret so that Strife could not steal their bread.

The Angel of the Lord addresses him: “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of courage.” Courage seems to be high on the list of things that pleases God. Joshua 1:7 Gideon’s answer is to question and even doubt what was said: “If the Lord is with us, why is all this befallen us? Our Fathers told us about God’s mighty works.” And Gideon makes the conclusion that God has forsaken them and handed them over to Strife.

It seems like the Lord ignores Gideon’s response: “Go in this your might,  - maybe if we see ourselves as weak and wanting we are better tools, vehicles in the hand of God – you shall save the People of God from Strife and poverty. This is a call to a mission. This is the unction that comes and lies in your spirit, in your gut. This is what makes you go and do even though you are terrified.

HAVE I NOT SENT YOU?

Now Gideon steps up his questions to doubt and excuses: How can I do this?  This was the response of Moses, Joseph, Joshua, Mary, Ester, Debrah, Saul, David etc… It seems God always choose those who do not think they are something. It seems like it is always the ignorant and unlearned fishermen that are called. Gideon’s excuse: My clan is the poorest and I am the least in my house. Maybe that Is why he was outside hiding in the winepress, beating out grain, because he was expendable.

SURELY I WILL BE WITH YOU and you shall smite Strife.  God does not give us a mission and then turn to be a spectator. He is with us in the frey. He is ever present.

Gideon’s response: “ If I have found favor in Your sight… then show me that it is You who speaks to me. “ This is a big question. If we know and are sure that it is God speaking to us, we have no other excuses other than direct disobedience. When God speaks, what is our response?

Gideon makes an offering and it is consumed as a burnt sacrifice, A sweet savour unto God. This proves to Gideon that it is indeed the Angel of the Lord and He built an altar, a memorial to God naming it: Jehovah Shalom – The Lord our Peace (as opposed to the oppression of Midian/Strife) The application is obvious. There will always be some sacrifice, even if it is only time, food, money, opinion of people etc. Our God is the God of the answer. He is our peace instead of Strife. He is our freedom instead of bondage. He is our riches instead of poverty.

No encounter with God is without a command to go and “do”.

 The first order of duty was to pull down the idols and offer them to God. These idols were the gods of the Canaanites, the idols of the other nations around them, those who kept them in bondage and poverty.

Second, he had to build a place of worship to the Lord God in proper order. Here he had to make a burnt sacrifice. He had to restore the worship. He had to rectify the honor that was given to other gods.

Gideon obeyed afraid, but he did what he was told. He snuck out at night and completed his task. This caused the upheaval he expected. They came to kill him but his dad protected him. Yet a war broke out with their oppressors. We often want the small thing, the key thing to be the entire war. It does not work like that. Before the victory there is often an entire war. Yet, we should not shy away from this because God fight for and with us. Victory is a sure thing as long as we follow God.

THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD clothed Gideon with Himself and possessed him. This is of great importance if we will see the victory. We have to be clothed, filled and overflowed by the Spirit of God. There is no room for our own human ideas and emotions. We have to be Holy Spirit controlled.

Victory is a sure thing because God is in it. Victory is a sure thing when we obey. Obey afraid if you must, but just obey

Petition

During the first month of 2013 there was, as with prior years, a flurry of ministries who invited everyone to fast and pray for the first 21 days, to set the tone for the year and dedicate the year to the Lord. Our prayer group do a “Daniel’s – fast” and in the past I have participated in it. This year while praying about my participation; -- I can only fast if God is giving me the grace, -- I heard the Holy Spirit say “No”.  I still felt a desire to set aside extra time to pray… As I was reading through the story of Daniel the words: “he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God,” jumped off the page at me. The Holy Spirit whispered: “What is there that you feel strong enough about, that you will petition Me about it, three times a day for 21 days?” 

I had to sit back and ponder this. There are many concerns, many people’s pain that lies on my heart. It took me ten days to sift through it all and come up with a short list.

As I started doing this, my God-mother mentioned “Petitioning God” to me in relating how a mutual friend took time out to petition God concerning her children. This underlined the word I received. 

Petition is NOT a casual word. It is right up there or rather down, deep down, with words like “burden”, “supplication”, “mourning”, “groaning”. It is an intense, focused request. It is a legal term. A term that says, this far we have come and we cannot go any further without the intervention of someone or something outside of ourselves; of a higher authority. Petition belongs to those who have such intense, motivation about something that they will stand in the cold, rain, snow, scorching sun or what else to gather signatures to change something. It is an appeal to a Higher Authority.

Petition often concerns desperate situations. I can think of people in the United States that petition to save a species from extinction. That made me think of Queen Ester and her petition to safe her people; or Zachariah, the old priest, that cried out to God for many years concerning the barrenness of his wife, Elizabeth. It is the cry of a people or person that has come to realize that I/we need help. It is Hannah crying for a son. It is Jeremiah asking for his life. (Jer 42:9) It is also Daniel opening his window toward Jerusalem and petitioning the Lord of heaven and earth about the state of the nation of Israel.

Daniel mourned for his people. The 9^th chapter records one of his prayers and the reason behind it and the first few verses of chapter 10 says that he was in mourning. When I read these chapters, I see a man with a burden for a people who do not deserve any mercy, yet he asked for it. He ask forgiveness, like Nehemiah does, for the sins of his people. (Dan9:17-19) “So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

Can you feel his angst, his cry, his desperation? “If You, O Lord, do not help us, we have no other place to go!!”

Now I can re-iterate the Holy Spirit’s question: “What is there that you feel strong enough about, that you will petition Me about it, three times a day for 21 days?” 

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Luke 1:13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John;

Luke 2:37 (Anna) and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four . She never left the temple, serving night andday with fastings and prayers.

 Ephesians 6:18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

Translated as prayer Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved., (Paul’s petition)

Heb 5:7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear; (speaking of Jesus)

James 5:17  Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.;

1 John 5:15… And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

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Petition:

Dictionary Definition: pe·ti·tion[ pə tísh'n ]   

1.     demand for action with signatures: a written request signed by many people demanding a specific action from an authority or government

2.     appeal or request to higher authority: an appeal or request to a higher authority or being

3.     something requested: something requested or appealed for

4.     Petition can also be the title of a legal pleading that initiates a legal case.

 HEBR: sheh a la. =request, thing asked for, demand

a) request, petition

b) thing asked for

1 Sam 1; 1 Kings 2; Esther 5 and 7; Jer (32) 37, 42; Daniel 6;

GRK:  Deesis 1) need, indigence, want, privation, penury

2) a seeking, asking, entreating, entreaty to God or to man

The Inheritance of Daughters.

During the allotting of the land, dividing of the inheritance, that Moses had to do in the Promised Land; there arose a unique quandary. There was a man, from the tribe of Manasseh, named Zelophahad who had five daughters and no sons. He died in the wilderness. These five came to Moses about their father’s inheritance. They wanted to keep their Father’s name for posterity and did not want to lose his inheritance. Moses took the matter to the Lord. ( Numbers 27)

The girls received their father’s inheritance and that posed another problem: When they get married, their inheritance would go to their husband’s family and so the inheritance will be lost to the house of their father, his tribe and family. It was then decided that when a daughter has an inheritance that she can marry whomever she wants but only in her father’s tribe, in order to keep the inheritance where it belongs. (Numbers 36)

I found in the story of Zelophahad’s daughters an answer and a warning to the quandary of women called of God with an anointing, a gift to serve the Father in the Kingdom. It is a quandary because it is out of the norm. It is usually a male who receive the call to preach, to work in the kingdom, blazing trails and establish the Kingdom of God on the earth. The ladies are usually in a supportive role. Just as in the times of Moses the men were the ones who inherited and the women were part of his family, and secondary to the inheritance.

Yet, God does call females with a Holy calling to do what traditionally has been done by males. And yes there has been, traditionally, an outcry by some who loves the letter of the law but not the author of it, against this. Still God does call women, young ladies into the ministry.   It is to those whom He has called that these 5 girls speak as an example. To those who have heard Him say: Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father's house; Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him.(Ps 45)  It is to her who have an ought in her heart, who knows that God has gripped her soul that this is of importance.

Your calling is a Holy calling and you are separate from your sisters who have not been such apprehended. You have an inheritance from the Father which will be lost if you do not claim it. You have a position in God’s Kingdom to fulfill, and a place on His wall to build and defend. You cannot go the normal, traditional way. You may want to have it both, but it cannot be. You cannot have the traditional house, picket fence and Golden Retriever. You have the call of God inside of you. THAT is your inheritance.

It is your duty to protect it. It is your responsibility to protect it. You cannot marry someone who does not share the same calling and anointing with which you have been gripped.  Well, you can but you will suffer loss. You will forever be in a position of having to choose your husband or God. You will either loose the marriage or your call: Both extremely painful.

The call of God is without repentance… meaning it is never withdrawn. It is not a job offer that you can refuse. It is not a scholarship that you can let go. It is not a marriage proposal that you can deny. It is a Divine claim upon your existence that changes the very fiber of your being. It is the seal of God upon your soul that has a cry of its own. It is the “burden” that the prophets of old spoke about. It is the fire that was in Jeremiah’s bones. And you and I are just nor big and strong enough to kill it. It will never leave you. It will be in your dreams, in your spirit until you heed the call and fulfill it. It is a Divine Inheritance that cannot ever be returned.

When we marry a man outside of our tribe, not necessary an unbeliever, someone who does not share a call of God similar to our own, we are un-equally yoked. That yoke will become a prison sentence that chafes and scar and be like a continues torture. The opposites will forever pull you apart into two directions and your life, your inheritance, will be lost. That which you were given, the gift of God will be lost, and the Kingdom of God will suffer.

If you find yourself as part of the called ones, when you know that an apprehension has happened in your life, listen carefully to the voice of the Holy Spirit. The decisions may bring many tears in this life, but the inheritance has a reward that will outshine it all.