Which Cycle are you on?

As I was reading through the Book of Judges I learnt a lot about the amazing Love of my Lord Jesus. The Israelites were doing everything the way they wanted(Judges ends that way-Judges 21:25 "25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.").However every time they were in trouble and couldn't get out of it themselves, they thought of God and God would answer their cries and rescue them by raising a judge or a leader for them. Once delivered they would follow God for a few years and then go back to worshipping the Baal and the other gods.

In all that I read, not a single time did I find another god listen to their cry. No baal or any other god came to their rescue. Only the Living Lord of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob came to help them when they cried. They spent most of their time, pleasing a god who was of no good, no help and nothing. When they were in their deepest troubles they called out to the Living Lord. I thought, how could these people be so foolish, so fickle, that in spite of seeing the Living God always delivering them, how could they turn around and worship another god.

In the light of all that I read, I examined my life, I found that in the past I used to do the same things, oh yes I had God on my mind whenever I needed His help but generally, when I had no problem, I would do as I wished. Sunday I would be all over the church doing a lot of activities and when God called me to fellowship with Him, I'd say, oh not now, I need to take rest for the choir practice in the evening or some other work I had. I didn't realise, but I was in a vicious cycle, any believer can get caught on.Like the Israelites were in the cycle of sin, I was in a cycle of too much activity.
Now when I look back I see, there were many times, when God would want me to talk to someone (an unbeliever) about Him, but I was too busy doing my church things, I wasn't paying attention. I was busy serving my own made up god "church activity" without making time to fellowship with the God Who was behind it, maybe looking to get a good word about myself from my pastors and fellow believers.However, when I had problems then I was quick to pray and God would always answer me. My church couldn't help me in what I deeply needed through my fellowship with God.(Now I'm not saying the church was bad, but my help was to come ONLY from God Himself, God wanted me to slow down and sit with Him, not with another christian book, but just with Him and His Word-The Bible, and listening.)
It kind of now reminds me of Martha and Mary. Martha and Mary both were serving Jesus, but Jesus preferred Mary's servitude over Martha's. Martha was preparing food for Jesus, which was a good thing in itself, but she was so caught up with it, she had no time to spend with Jesus Himself. Jesus liked what Mary did, because she sat at the feet of her Lord and listened to Him carefully, while He was at their home.

Lesson: Don't let anything and I mean anything or anyone, come between you and God, God waits, even desires and longs to have fellowship with His children. He wanted to commune with me so desperately, God gave me leave from my job for a year now and has brought me so close to His heart. (Its nice). I am in a different country, different place, the only One I really know well here, is My God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He's here and walking and talking and showing me beautiful things about my life and about how He worked with His people in the past and even now. I am glad I came out of it . I don't say singing in a choir or preaching is not right, but we've got to know this- God does not want us to do anything apart from Him. He wants to be involved in your life too-He gave His life for us didn't He. There's more joy and more glory in life that way.I am surprised that the time I now send my time alone, God has used me to be a blessing more now, than the time when I was in my church back at home.

To conclude I quote Jesus from John 15:5 (Whole Chapter)

"I am the vine; you are the branches.

If a man remains in me and I in him,

he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. "

Let's stop trying to do things apart from Him, let's do it with Him as a team, as a family working together to bring Almighty Father's plan to life.

Know Before You Go

Looking at Gideon's life its amazing that in this tiny encounter, God has put in so many lessons.

When we read this same passage yesterday, we saw that God wanted to send Gideon. Today we'll see more about Gideon.

When God asked Gideon to go up and fight against the enemies and lead Israel to victory, Gideon says " But Lord , [a] " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." (Judges 6:15)

What does Gideon see himself as

• Weak
• Least

What does God see in Gideon

• Mighty Warrior

So how did God know that Gideon is a mighty warrior. Now even before God assigned Gideon to be a leader for the Israelites, God saw Gideon as a mighty warrior. Watch how the angel of the Lord greets Gideon-"12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." (Judges 6:12). Was Gideon doing anything related to warfare that the angel of the Lord would address him in such a manner -NO. He was threshing wheat(Judges 6:11). God addressed him as he would become and not as he was. Even with Abraham, God started calling him Abraham (Father of a nation) much before he had his own son. God started calling him a father before he was one. In the physical, there was nothing that could be a hope for Abraham to become a father, he was soooo old and so was Sarah. However in God's eyes, nothing is impossible.

Lesson: What do you think of yourself. No matter how poorly we think of ourselves, no matter how inadequate we think we are. God thinks differently. God sees you as you will "become" not as you are. God calls us victorious, more than conquerors. God sees us as Victors. Take courage in this knowledge of God's hope for you and move on. Become a conqueror, if its a new job, conquer it. Your family unsaved, conquer through prayer. Sickness prevailing, conquer it.

"Romans 8:35-37 "35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."[a] 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Notice , the strength is not of us but through Him who loved us and died for us and rose again. Thats our strength. So let's take strength in our Living Lord Jesus and become the conquerors God called us to be.

Anyone Like Gideon

Background: Israel is going through a tough time, they've forsaken God, the younger generations never heard of God who rescued their ancestors from the Egyptian slavery and brought them out into the Promised Land. Israelites, now in the promised land, mingled with the Canaanites and others staying in the land instead of driving them out.They've now been through many judges whom God raises up every time they are in trouble and call upon Him. However in Judges 6 we see a different story. In the midst of all this trouble Israelites were in. There is someone who had atleast heard of God from his ancestors. His name is Gideon.

I wonder in this time when all of the Israelites were in disobedience and defeat, God finds a man threshing wheat in a winepress, Gideon. I wonder what was special about Gideon? One thing that impressed me when I read this chapter in Judges after reading all the ones before it was that there was something different about this man. If we read Judges 2:10 it says "10After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the LORD or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel", we find that once the generation that was with Joshua and saw the miracles had passed away, the new generation did not know God. However in the midst of such a people, there is Gideon to whom the angel of the Lord appeared. When the angel of the Lord appears to him, here's what happens "12And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, you mighty man of [fearless] courage.
13And Gideon said to him, O sir, if the Lord is with us, why is all this befallen us? And where are all His wondrous works of which our fathers told us, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian."(Judges 6:12-13)
Gideon remembered that his fathers had told him about a Living God who rescued them and wanted to know where God was now and why God wasn't helping them. Here's what I found about him

• He was in a bad situation too, as were the other Israelites, however he remembered God's works, his fathers told him about
• He wanted to know, about this God, who helped his fathers with all the miracles, atleast wanted to know why God wasn't helping any more

God's response to this was

• I am sending you Gideon

Lesson: This is so much like our times now, as the Bible says in

2 Timothy 3:1-4 -"1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—" Isn't it a time when everyone is doing as they please, not respecting another human being, abortion rates, weird marriages, pleasures increasing, strange diseases mankind has never faced like before. What a time is this??? Even in the middle of such times, God has an answer for all of us who seek Him.

We too have examples (like Gideon did) of people who have followed our Lord righteously and have been a blessing to many in their generations and even in the generations to come and more so our Bible-the Word of God. People who have been the key either in prayer or preaching and have changed so many lives, just by following the Living Lord. God did mighty things through them.

If you seek the Lord, you want to know, God why aren't you doing something? What happened to all the good things God said he could do, like , healing the sick,raising the dead, bringing hope to the hopeless, joy of the Lord to the mourning, God's power of giving peace to His children, to give them an answer to finding a fulfilling life.

To this God says: I send you. You might not think, you're the one, but God thinks so. God tells Gideon " 14The Lord turned to him and said, Go in this your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?" (Judges 6:14)

I always thought, telling others about my Saviour was a thing I could not do, because it was not in me to do such a thing, I could never do what God has written in the Word of God, however later I realised, God would like me to know some things, before I go. That you are His precious child, now a child is a member of the family, as God has said in John 1:12 "But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name"-"You are God's children" meaning, that child has his family traits, family heritage, family property, family benefits. So know this and go. Be bold because its the Lord who has sent you. How would they know about God's family, until they see one of God's family members and that member is you. Get onto the Word of God, find out your family traits, your family heritage, your family property and get going. Represent your family, the best you know how, God has empowered His children already.

What a Dad!!!

I don't know how to put this any better. Our God is soooooooo patient, beyond we can ever imagine. Judges is full of His compassion, a Loving Father, desperately waiting and wanting His children to return to Him. He did not spare the rod so that His children don't fall into the wrong things.However even when they got hurt, He would bind them up and care for them. Only wanting to let them(His children) to know, He cares, He's forever there for them, He's made a covenant with them and He will never break it.

The Israelites, once in the Promised Land, forgot God who brought them up out of Egypt and gave them this new land. Started following a different God which was not God at all. Its so sad that someone so despised by the one He loves, still keeps coming back to them and helping them and loving them and rescuing them. What a Loving God!!

1. "11Then the sons of Israel did (L)evil in the sight of the LORD and [c]served the (M)Baals, 12and (N)they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger...."(Judges 2:11-16) God still helped them out, because He is true to His promises, once He's made a covenant with you, He doesn't move back from it even if you do. Thats what God did, even to the point of giving His own Son so that no one should perish but every one should have everlasting life.
   "God loves people more than anything, He'd rather die than let them go"
   Thats how loving our God is. So amazing is His Mercy, His Love, His protection. Even when the Israelites forsook Him so many times.
2. 18When the LORD raised up judges for them, (U)the LORD was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was (V)moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.(Judges 2:18-19)

Over and over again, throughout Judges, we see the people of Israel doing wrong, falling into captivity, calling out to God, God delivering them and then the Israelites go back and serve other gods.(Judges)

What does this bring out about God? Everywhere else, people might say, how can the Christian's God be just and loving at the same time. I think Judges gives us a better picture of how the Israelites kept going and doing their own things in disobedience and then God keeps coming and helping them out. No one wants to see the wrongs that the people did, rather they are willing to point out the fact that God made disaster come to them. Why?

Here's what I see about God in the Book of Judges, for all whom He called His children-

1. He trains His children to be the best-which of us parents would want our kids to be uneducated, foolish and not having enough knowledge to do well in this world. I think NONE. "1(A)Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan;
   2only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly).
   3These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and (B)the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.
   4They were for (C)testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses. "(Judges 3:1-4) God left the nations to train the Israelites who had not fought battles before.
2. He disciplines His children-"12Now the sons of Israel again (K)did evil in the sight of the LORD So (L)the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD."(Judges 3:12) God allowed, meaning He had control over the enemies as well, for correction and for training to see if the Israelites would obey God. As also written in Deuteronomy 8:5 "Know also in your [minds and] hearts that, as a man disciplines and instructs his son, so the Lord your God disciplines and instructs you. ". Why does God discipline His children, because Proverbs 22:15 "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him. " Most beautifully put in Hebrew 12:5-7 6For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes."
3. He never leaves you nor forsakes you- In all that the Israelites did, God did not leave them. They despised God, even though every time they were in trouble God helped them, yet they turned to those which were not gods and served them, instead of the Living God. Deuteronomy 31:8 "The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." The Israelites had forgotten the covenant that God and Abraham had made, yet God had not forgotten His part of the covenant.
4. Unconditional Love- God did not deal with the Israelites as they deserved, Ezra 9:13 says "What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this" If God had to deal with us as we deserved, oh where would we be, but He has called us His children(John 1:12) He is so magnificent in mercy and forgiveness.

Lesson: Let's learn from our Daddy, what is it that He's trying to teach us. If we're in a disciplining situation, lets ask God, what should I correct Lord. A teacher gives a student wrong when they add 2+2 and write 5, why? so that the child learns Math correctly. So also does our Father, the giver of Life, wants us to know the Good Life. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. so I think He's the best one to show us the way. Lets learn right.

Forgetting a Good Friend

Background: Joshua has passed away, after doing whatever God had asked him to do. Now the Israelites are left without a leader (someone like Moses and Joshua). God had already declared that the Canaanite territory belonged to the Israelites and Joshua in his last days, even distributed the land amongst the Israelites.Now the Israelites had to fight the Canaanites tribe by tribe and take over their respective lands. Some of the tribes did(Judges 1:1-19), some did not(Judges 1:27-33). To the tribes which did not drive out the Canaanites God said "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you." (Judges 2:1-3). Now before blaming God for being angry at them, lets see the following.

What had gone wrong :" After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. 7 The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel. "(Judges 2:6-7)
However in (Judges 2:10-15 ) "After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. " we see, once the generation that had seen the Lord, had passed away and a new generation had come, who did not know God, how their disobedience had brought them defeat.

I'm thinking:Its a sad situation, the elders who had seen the Lord's work from Egypt through Canaan,did not keep the covenant with God alive.

1. They mingled with the Canaanites and did not drive them out
2. They did not teach their youngsters about the Living God who delivered them out of Egypt

The Israelites had the simplest part of the Covenant to follow-to obey God-thats all, and during Moses' time God had told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 4:9 "Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them". They had forgotten to tell of all the wonders God had done for them, they had forgotten God in all their endeavours and were now doing their own thing. Worshipping idols which were not God and honouring idols which had done nothing for them. Giving themselves up to idols of stone and metal and forgetting what a "Living God" had done.

Life's Question:Don't we feel sad when we've done something good to someone and they forget about it and us totally and moreover they go and do something we don't like. Moreover, to make matters worse, what if they went and made friends with someone who totally dislikes you and is against you. What would you do? Would you go back to being friends with them, even if they don't you there? Would you help them, even if you know they will never come back to appreciate what you've done?