– Scripture:

                  Faith Over Fear

Gideon prepared a young goat and a huge amount of unraised bread (he used over half a bushel of flour!). He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and took them back under the shade of the oak tree for a sacred meal. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and unraised bread, place them on that rock, and pour the broth on them.” Gideon did it. The angel of God stretched out the tip of the stick he was holding and touched the meat and the bread. A fire broke out of the rock and burned up the meat and bread while the angel of God slipped away out of sight. And Gideon knew it was the angel of God! Gideon said, “Oh no! Master, God! I have seen the angel of God face-to-face!” But God reassured him, “Easy now. Don’t panic. You won’t die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to God and named it “God’s Peace.” It’s still called that at Ophrah of Abiezer. That night this happened. God said to him, “Take your father’s best seven-year-old bull, the prime one. Tear down your father’s Baal altar and chop down the Asherah fertility pole beside it. Then, build an altar to God, your God, on the top of this hill. Take the prime bull and present it as a Whole-Burnt-Offering, using firewood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.” Gideon selected ten men from his servants and did precisely what God had told him. But because of his family and the people in the neighborhood, he was afraid to do it openly, so he did it that night.

                               Judges 6:19–27 MSG

– Reflection:

In your life, do you feel more faithful or fearful?  Have you experienced times when it was a little bit of both?  If so, you’re in good company.  Gideon did too!  And if God can use a faithful, fearful person like Gideon, maybe God can use us too!

Where do we go from here?

Could we do what Gideon did? I mean, he is telling us to tear down idols every day. Are we listening? So many causes and people have been placed on platforms that should not be heard or given power, but it is getting done because people are not fearful of GOD and what he can do. Too much faith is being placed in worldly causes, even to give GOD what is his. We need to have more faith than fear of the cancel culture. When we do, the strongholds of these things will stop.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, thank you for giving me a mindset of not following the culture of the world and where I live. It is an honor to have a healthy fear of you to remember my faith. My fear is not of this world but of the creator of this world, and I know that all will be taken care of in your time. In Jesus’ name. Amen.