Judges 6:11-15

Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And  the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!” 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, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of  yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” So he said to Him, “O my  Lord how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.

Gideon was an Israelite born at a time when the Israelites were under captivity of the Midianites as God through Moses had warned them that such things would happen if they ever left God’s presence and went to worship other gods. He was very discouraged and disheartened by the deplorable conditions and situation they lived under; their independence was curtailed to a level that demoralized them all. A time came and God remembered them; for this reason He had an elaborate plan for their salvation from the Midianites.

In His plan, God intended to use Gideon to deliver the children of Israel from their fifth captivity since they left Egypt under Moses and settled in the Promised Land under Joshua because of their disobedience. The Midianites had fully taken over the land of Israel and terrorized everyone to submission; every produce of their farmland was now eaten by the Midianites, every fat animal was consumed by their enemies. This was a terrible situation indeed, toiling and then somebody else to enjoy the fruits of your toil. This unfortunate and unacceptable situation was in fulfillment of the warning they had been given by Moses and Joshua that they should not run after foreign gods.

The Angel of the Lord found Gideon hiding in winepress threshing wheat for fear that Midianites would come and take it away. The Angel of the Lord greeted him in a way that he didn’t expect for he was fully indoctrinated into submission to the Midianites. I am sure he was frightened at first thinking that the angel was a Midianite on his daily forage of the land looking for something to take maybe that explains his skeptism about the nature of greetings for he might have perceived it to be some kind of mockery.

The Angel’s message to Gideon was that of recognition and praise “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!” but he viewed himself as a hopeless person although God viewed him as somebody who had it in himself to deliver the children of Israel. God wanted to use him but he saw himself as worthless to anyone; his answer to the greetings clearly explain it very clearly; that this was a man who had lost all hope of deliverance from his predicament, he had accepted his enslavement as part of his life and nothing could be done about it. His extenuating circumstances were so grave and severe that there was no hope in sight for ordinary people of Israel at the time. They all accepted their fate and shrug their shoulders into submission, we are done, we are finished, and what else can we do? Let us be and so forth and so forth.

Like Gideon, we find ourselves surrounded by many worries and cares in this life that we are overwhelmed to a point of despair. We reach a point of giving it all up, our front and end are indistinguishable, days and nights resemble because of all we pass through. Many times we can’t tell between the tail and the head of a matter, yet we claim to serve a Mighty Living God. We don’t ask God, ‘what is your will in this matter?’ our circumstances most of the time overwhelm us into submission that nothing can be done to save us. We walk with our heads bowed down in shame of something we should have done but we can’t because of the myriad reasons blocking us, and we always offer good reasons for the lack.

Even today many Christians suffer because they don’t know who they truly are before God; they walk through life collecting and retaining every garbage and negative things said about them and use that rubbish to define themselves. Many are eager to condemn, blame and castigate themselves for every hurt, every disappointment, every failure, every negative aspect of their lives in subjection to demonic thoughts of defeatism; they live their entire lives whining and complaining helplessly for and about everything that is happening to and around them. Such teachings and preaching comes from the devil fully designed to deny them the proper view of being children of God. You could easily do this by agreeing with everyone who thinks or says you are not good enough, you are useless, foolish and good for nothing.

These might be your parents, teachers, neighbors, friends, or anyone but I am here today to tell you that they are devil’s agents sent to you to finish all the good that God has planned for you, it doesn’t matter who they are but that’s who and what they are. You might have failed to get high marks/grades in school, but let me remind you that Peter and John were uneducated yet that didn’t stop Jesus from using them powerfully. School is good, but failure in school doesn’t mean that your life is over! Failure in certain subjects doesn’t mean that the world has come to an end. I do not limit my argument to schooling only but this applies in every aspect of individual lives.

Few people turn out as they expected to in their own capacity and even so we should learn to always view ourselves from God’s point of view and not our circumstances point of view. We can only perform our tasks and the roles God intended for us only when we learn to view ourselves from His point of view. God’s view of us is more important that any other view anywhere and everywhere in the whole world. He is our creator, Father and our God, His intentions towards us should be critically important to us than anything else in this world, His view of us is even more important.

Jeremiah 29:6

Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands,                                                                                          so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished.

Despite being in captivity in Babylon, God commanded children of Israel to increase and not to diminish this is a clear indication that God wanted and still wants His people to view themselves forms His point of view and not theirs. Some would have thought that since the Israelites had sinned against God, that He had forgotten them and that is why they were taken captives in the first place, however it was their sins that made them to be taken into captivity and even in such circumstance God a plan for them was not that of abandonment.

God is not impressed by the situations and circumstances of people but only impressed by fulfillment of His plans to the same people. The same God who wanted the children of Israel to increase while in captivity is the same God we serve today. Therefore just like the children of Israel, we too should increase and not decrease in whatever circumstance we are in; He is telling us that in whatever circumstances we face we should look for His will in it. Captivity is not a good situation to be in, yet God commands us to overlook our circumstances and concentrate on looking for His will and plan.

Christians today ought to be the most happy and powerful people on earth if only they look at themselves through God’s eyes. God sees us as a very unique special people unto Him, as people who have denied themselves all the goodies of this world to believe and follow Him. This in itself is victory over the accepted norms of the world, living in a world full of temptations and maintaining self dignity in a morally decayed environment, fast deteriorating moral standards just to name but a few of the prevailing circumstances. Among men who only love only themselves and their pleasures, this is a world ready if not overdue for judgment of God.

Jesus told His disciples that they should overcome the world just as He did, this, they could do that only if they abided in His word. Today the same principal applies, those who abide in the word of Jesus Christ are able to stand the tests of the world and emerge as victors. They are able to overcome the world and its corrupting influences because they rely not on the systems of the world but heavenly ones; and again as Paul said we should not be conformed to the standards of this world but be transformed in the newness of life through Christ Jesus. This is a very important point to note as Christians today; our happiness is not based on anything the world can offer but only on what God has to offer.

My brethren, it is of uttermost importance that everyone should stop relying on their interpretations of their situations and rely on what God is saying about their predicament. When the Bible says that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, it doesn’t mean that the prevailing situations are favorable, no! They remain constantly against us and yet we decide to see what the Word says we are. God is not a man that He should lie to please us.

God is not interested on how we perceive ourselves but He perceives us, to be successfully bold Christians we should therefore interest ourselves with what interests God. This way we are able to come out of ourselves and look at all situations from God’s eyes. The world cannot understand how one can remain happy despite adverse circumstances or difficult situations facing them; Paul and Silas sang hymns in a Philippians jail while nobody could understand what was good about being in jail. They clearly understood that while they were in jail, God wasn’t jailed with them.

We too should know that whenever we are in lack of basic necessities or when everybody turns against us for whatever reason or even when we are persecuted, God is not at affected as we are, and He still remains to be God! Therefore the most important thing to know is that He is above all human situations and His word to you is that you should increase and not decrease in any circumstances. Christians today can be the most powerful and formidable force to recon with if only they look at themselves through God’s eyes.

Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ ho strengthens me.

The strength that enables Christians to remain unique and special is not within or about themselves but it’s about Christ who gives them strength to endure even the most trying moments in life. It is therefore imperative that we should change our mindset and embrace the mindset of Christ. Christians for without Christ we are powerless if not useless; our focus therefore should remain in Christ only and not anything else; it is not about our knowledge, our wisdom, our understanding and definitely not our ways.

Christ strengthens those that are able to abandon their own understanding and embrace His help through all circumstances. It is therefore important that we should completely surrender, cast away all of our mindsets and embrace that of Jesus at the earliest possible opportunity. No matter what we are going through, we should acknowledge that it is not through our strength or efforts but that of Jesus we emerge victors and not victims. We should define ourselves from God’s point of view and not our problems’ point of view for this makes the distinction between a successful Christians from a defeated Christians. May God bless you as you remain strong in Christ Jesus!

This devotional was written by Bishop Joseph Koburu Mukiira of Maximum Victory and Joy Worship Centre Nairobi, Kenya and brought to you courtesy of Journey 2 Joy International Ministries Inc. USA. ©All rights reserved by Bishop Joseph Mukiira