Liberte

#4. What is God's answer to Gideon's self-image? (6:16) Does this spiritual principle apply to our lives as Christians? Can you recall any New Testament passages that teach the same principle? What is an appropriate prayer to pray in light of what God has taught you from this passage? He told Gideon that He would be by his side. That principle definately applies to our lives as Christians. When God is with us who can stand against us. Jesus tells us often that He is with us in different ways. i can't think of a specific verse, but there were many ways and times that He showed his presence. He has showed me his presence in many ways as well. Father, we are just weak and lowly humans, without you we can do nothing of note but with you we can move mountains. Stand beside us O Lord in all we do, guiding us and strengthening us to do your will every moment of the day in the holy name of Jesus we pray. Amen

How did God see Gideon? (6:12) How did Gideon see himself? (6:15). Whose self-perception is most accurate? How can our own self-perception prevent us from becoming what God has made us to be? God knew what Gideon would do and he knew of course that all things are possible with our Lord. So when he called Gideon a Mighty Warrior he was describing him as he would be when standing by the Lord. Gideon felt weak and lowly, he feared the Midianites and felt helpless against them until the Lord said He would be with him and gave him the sign of fire. Few of us actually have the Lord sit down by us and tell us in person that He will be with us. We might know what God wants us to do, but feel unsure of it or unsure of our ability to do it. It seems like such a large undertaking how can one weak untalented person carry it out.

According to the prophet in 6:7-10, what is the reason for Israel's oppressed state? What commandment did they break? In what way hadn't they "listened"? (see exposition). How does this affect Christians today? They worshipped the gods of the Amorites instead of their own true God. So God allowed the Medianites to oppress them. They broke the first and formost commandment to have no gods before God and to make no graven images or bow down or worship them. They were explicitly warned not to allow the false gods of the Amorites to filtrate into their lives. But they did and left behind in so doing their true God. Today we have the same tendency to draw away from Christ to our own false gods in the world. We have different gods now, money, television, acceptance of peers, beauty, pleasure and more. They don't look like gods, we don't bow down to them, but they bow us down by taking our eyes from the true God.

Anger does not contravene or negate love. We can be angry at someone we love and still love them. If you love someone a lot and you hear or see them being hurt, you get angry, you want to do something about it. That is the natural reaction to someone hurting someone you love and sin hurts God and caused Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Not feeling anger at the sin we see around us means we are complacent and calloused. Perhaps because we have seen too much of it, or perhaps we are not feeling God's hurt because God isn't really real to us. When God becomes real, then we begin to feel. We begin to see things the way He does and that is going to make us angry at sin. The Bible says Be angry and sin not. (Eph 4:26) In other words be careful when anger overtakes you that you do not succumb to certain sins by it. Do not let the anger eat at you and make you bitter. Forgive even as God would. We shouldn't strike out and cause pain or sorrow, especially do nothing that would cause another to stumble. In short, do nothing Jesus would not do, but he did overturn the moneychangers tables in the temple. Jesus knew what He was doing, Christians need to think before we act too. Next the Bible says don't let the sun go down on your wrath. If something can be said or done to end it without sinning, then with a little prayer do it, then forget it. If nothing can be done about it, realize the anger but don't dwell on it, say a prayer and let it go. Sometimes circumstances force us to live or work in the midst of sin. All we can do is let the perpetrators know that it bothers us and hope they will respect us enough to not do it in around us. Then live our lives in an as exemplary manner as we can, not participating in their sinful activities yet being kind and courteous. Witnessing when we can to them and pray that they will want what we have with Christ when they see how we love. sidenote: It can be hard to seperate the sinner from the sin and personal feelings of offense from God's. The sinner is aware that he is offensive, that is disrespect to the Christian as well as God. How do we deal with that? It is doubley hurtful, because the reason it offends the Christian is hopefully because the Christian is godly not self-righteous. I have to question myself when I feel anger for such things to make sure I am angry for the right reason and not for selfish reasons. It is a hard thing.

I have been writing to a professed Christian who has some different ideas about Jesus, this is her comment and my answers. HER: I'll have to look over it again, Isaiah 11 huh, I wasn't sure where it was any more. There is a prophesy about Dan that says he will be like a snake in the grass, it calls his snake an adder. Wonder what the difference is between one kind and another. The snake deal on the cadusis came from Moses making that snake on a stick figure back when they were in the desert. I don't know why it represents healing, but that snake on a stick wasn't destroyed for 400 years, then God had someone get rid of it, because they were worshipping it, instead of him. Oh God... Jesus made public display of the enemy on the cross, the enemy was his flesh... ME: There is absolutely no comparison to Jesus on the cross. I'm sorry, but I find the analogy blasphemous. Moses created the former and it was given some minor power by God to heal the Israelites from serpent bites, but that is it. Jesus Christ died as a sacrifice to sins and a means to our healing; we are told to worship Him. I will worship Him on the cross and off. I really hope you can see that some day before it is too late, and the new age tripe you follow is satan's way of separating you from the power of God and reliance on Him. HER: Christians worship that figure on a stick... no wonder I've always been drawn to the fish figure. ME: That is not what Jesus did on the cross, the enemy was not his flesh, it was satan. Jesus never sinned had He done so he would not have been a fitting sacrifice and His death would have been futile. The shame that he carried to the cross was the sins of the world not His own. He died as a sacrifice, not a display. Blood must be shed for the remission of sins and the blood must be from a pure and sinless creature. But under mosaic law the animal sacrifice only held for one year, it just was not sufficient. So God sent Christ to be the ultimate sacrifice. It was on the cross that he knew me and you and died in remission of my and your sins. It was there, no where else. That is why the cross figures so strongly in our faith. The figure on the cross must be worshiped, He is Lord! No He isn't on the cross any more, but He still bares the wounds, why would He carry those marks after the fact if He didn't want us to remember? He could make them go away in a second, but they are still there today. I know you still want to separate Jesus from Christ and both from God and the Holy Spirit, but that just isn't Biblical. Jesus and Christ are one and the same. He was born of a virgin overshadowed by God the Father, Mary was a virgin then and a virgin still at His birth. Either you believe the Bible in its entirety, or you don't believe it at all. If any part of the Bible is wrong, then none of it has credence. For God is not God if he hasn't the power to keep his word true. God called Jesus His Son, God. There is only one God, therefore they are one. There can be no other answer ... There was a lot more to this letter and I included a lot of scripture, but this portion was kind of appropriate. John knew Jesus' nature from the womb. He was the one crying in the wilderness preparing the way. Just as while a babe in the womb he lept for joy at recognizing the prescense of Jesus in Mary's womb, the man recognized the man. Both were filled with the Holy Spirit and bore witness one with another to their true character. It was a prophetic declaration, John knew by the Spirit in him that Jesus would be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. I know that John's reference to Jesus as a lamb is about the ultimate sacrifice because: Lambs were traditional sacrifices and John knew this. Jesus' sacrificial death was prophesied and John knew that. John declared that He would take away the sin of the world knowing such a feat could only be accomplished by the shedding of blood, He called Jesus the Lamb of God because his purpose was to be the ultimate sacrifice. Further reading of the gospels tells us that is what happened, John must have known as he knew from the womb. I know this because the Bible tells me so, yes, but I also know in my heart down to my soul that Jesus died for me alone and you alone and each who accepts His sacrifice alone and all at once. Hallelujah! He is God!