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Prioritizing Allegiances


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Gideon knew to do God's will, he must be obedient to God above all else. We must trust God and know that by being obedient, things will work out for the best. Gideon has been instructed to destroy the alter by God. By obeying God, Gideon has been told he would overcome the Midianites, which would benefit his parents as well as the rest of the community.

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"Children ,Obey your parents in the Lord" is the commandment of Christ. Joash was not 'in the Lord' at this time, so Gideon's obedience to God's command was right. His honor belonged to his heavenly father and not his earthly one. His justification was that his orders came from a higher command than that of his father.

If we truly believe that we are called of God to do something, no matter what that may be and how it may seem to the world, we must do it, knowing and believing that God will make the sense of it and that the outcome will indeed give 'honor' where honor is due.

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We are to obey our mothers and fathers in Gideons situation by respecting and honoring them, but the Lord has to come first. We are to obey God first regardless of what our fathers and mothers want. Gideon's justification is that the Lord told him to do this and Gideon was faithful to obey and complete what God wanted him to do.

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We are always to obey God rather than man. Maybe Gideon knew his father's heart and knew his father was with him. Or, even if he knew his father was oppossed, Gideon obeyed God. He was not disobeying his father; just following God. God blesses us when we step out in faith and follow him. Both Gideon's father's came through for Gideon in a BIG way. Joy

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God tells Gideon to tear down the Baal altar and Asherah pole because before The Lord will deliver the Israelites from their enemies, he requires them to forsake the false gods they have turned to.

God then tells Gideon to build a proper kind of altar to the Lord.

This was risky because the Baal altar had been put there by Gideon's father, Joash. Gideon knew this could put his father Joash in a very difficult position before his family and then there was also the very real possibility that the other men of the city would seek to kill Gideon.

This did make Gideon afraid so he did what God told him to do at night.

Even the night mission took great courage. This was not a sign of weakness for Gideon because Gideon was intent on obeying what God had told him to do. Maybe he was afraid of hurting his father, Joash. But most important was that even if it meant hurting his father and upsetting the other men of the city, Gideon was determined to obey God. This was Gideon's first step of faith and showed great courage. Gideon was yet to learn the wonders of what obedience to God was going to bring him, his family and his people Israel.

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Sorry

The above answer belongs to the first question.

The following belongs here

Gideon has given us all a fine example of how to obey the commandment to "Honor our father and mother" in the situation he found himself.

We have also been given Matthew 10: 37 'He who loves and takes more pleasure in father or mother than in Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves and takes more pleasure in son or daughter than in Me is not worthy of Me'.

Gideon was determined to obey God, even if it meant hurting his father and upsetting his family and even being put to death by the other men of the city.

Like Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, when I think of Gideon, I also think of courage and faith. What a blessing Gideon is to all of us.

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If we obey God first, then we will surely obey our father and mother. Gideon was obedient to God, tearing down his father's altar to Baal. When Joash saw the obedience and faith of his own son, then he responded and turned away the hostile crowd. Gideon's justification for his action is his love of the Lord first. According to Matthew 10:37, we are not even worthy of the Lord if we love parents or our children more than we love Him. Because I was barren and faith healed and had our first son at 34, I prayed that I would never put my child before His creator. We named him Aaron (mountain high or bringer of light in Hebrew) Lane McClung. From the highest mountain to the lowest valley ( I pictured a lane like a path through a valley) I vowed to serve the Lord. Thirty-three months later God then blessed us with another son, Asher, who was born laughing. Asher in Hebrew means fortunate, happy, Asher Lael McCLung, again ALM. I would be foolish not to put God first ; our sons are his gifts to us. I believe in my heart that Gideon's father was proud of his son who put God first in his life and truly relieved that Baal's altar was broken down and an altar to the Lord had been prepared for him. lmc

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honoring doesn't always mean doing what they want if you know God has other plans. parents sometimes guilt their children into letting the parent remain in a wrong position instead of the child being able to confront them with the truth. loving someone doesn't mean letting them stay in a negative or fallen state. God honors us by loving us enough to confront our issues.

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The first commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart mind and strength. This command is not only the first in order but also the first in precedence and all other commandments are subject to it. Whilst we are told to honour our earthly parents, Jesus reminds us that whoever loves their father or mother more than God is not worthy of Him. Luke 14:26 goes even further but only as a comparison to our love for God.

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I believe Gideon WAS honoring his mother and father; By obeying God.

I recall a time before my parents had come to know Jesus as Lord, They arrived unexpectedly at my home when I was getting ready to leave, to work in the ministry God had placed me in; It was important that I be there that day...I had given my word. My parents became very up-set that I wouldn't change my plans, and stay with them.

They could not understand, that to be about my Fathers business, was my life, and still is. There, in fact were many tears on my mom's part, and hurt feelings on my dads. My point is, I put God first, and before my parents left this world, they both came to know Jesus as Saviour.

God will honor us, and our prayers when we place Him first in our lives! :lol:

Somewhere in Gideon, this truth was placed by God.

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The first commandment commands us to not to have any gods before God. This means that we are to put God first. In the matter of honoring our parents, we are to show them respect and politeness even if their views are different than the Lord's. But, we are to follow the teachings of the bible and not be disobedient to God. Jesus said that his presence requires a decision. As we follow him we will invariably meet with some opposition because our goals, lifestyle, and purpose will be different. While we are not to neglect our parents, our first priority will be to God.

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We are to honor our father and mother but never more than we honor the Lord Himself. Anything we are told to do by the Lord comes before anything anyone in the flesh tells us to do even our parents. If they are true followers of the Lors they will not lead you astray, however in this case Gideon's father is worshiping a false God which is the wrong answer. I think that is why there is justification in this case for Gideon.

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How are we to obey the commandment to "Honor our father and our mother" in the kind of situation Gideon finds himself?

When our parents are not doing what is right in God's eyes, and God tells us to do something that would go behind our parents back. We must obey God. HE is our father first, before our birth parents. In the end, Gideon's father did back up Gideon in verse 31.

What justification does Gideon have for his action?

Gideon loved God more than his parents, he obeyed his Heavonly Father more than his earthly father.

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. How are we to obey the commandment to "Honor your father and your mother" in the kind of situation Gideon finds himself? What justification does Gideon have for his action? (Matthew 10:37)

we are told to honor our parents but not if what we are asked to do takes from God Himself. i grew up in an abusive home and this was a great trial to me how to honor my parents while at the same time recognising what they were doing was wrong and not as Christ wanted them to live. we are to love our family as this is Gods law but we must not allow the love to be an excuse not to follow God.

What Gideon had to do was against his father but he obeyed his higher Father as was right.

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Q2. How are we to obey the commandment to "Honor your father and your mother" in the kind of situation Gideon finds himself?

God tells us to honor thy Father and thy Mother, but none come before Him.

What justification does Gideon have for his action? (Matthew 10:37).

He was told by God what to do. He was being obedient. :rolleyes:

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Gideon is now a man before God, a man in charge of other men, and answerable for his actions himself (no longer under the authority of his parents). Above all he is answerable to God. Therefore He needs to obey God, not his father. That would be his justification. As adults we have the same responsibility before God. We cannot continue to blame our parents (who have done their best to rear us, but have now finished the task) but must make our own decisions and look to our own future as mature Children of the Living God. Even though we become independent of our parents, we still love them, attend to their welfare, pay attention to them. We can respect them, without necessarily holding to their opinions (as we respect other people in the community but do not always agree with them).

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  • 2 weeks later...

When faced with the decision to obey God or please man, we must choose to obey God. Gideon couldn't think about his family, especially his father, because Gideon was under a direct mandate from the LORD. God had placed Gideon in the position of being the instrument to bring about deliverance from the wicked Midanites. Gideon's responsibility to God far outweighed his allegiance to man, i.e., his family.

Matthew 10:37 supports this: we are to put NO ONE above the LORD. If we do, scripture says that we're not worthy of Him. As much as I love my family and friends, I don't want to risk not being with my LORD and Savior when it's all said and done.

God is an "All or Nothing" God. He wants our complete obedience, our unwavering love and undying devotion! :wub:

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Q2. How are we to obey the commandment to "Honor your father and your mother" in the kind of situation Gideon finds himself? What justification does Gideon have for his action? (Matthew 10:37).

Sometimes, we set for ourselves all the wrong priorities. God is first. The first commandment calls us to obey and love God above all things.

Honoring our parents comes after commandment number one.

Respect to our parents is taught primarily from God's Word.

The family values come as a result God's intervention with humanity.

The first priority in our lives is to honor God.

There are times that we are confronted with making decisions in order for us to determine what is the most important thing in our lives. Trials are a hard time for us at times. I could imagine Gideon, probably thinking about his circumstances, probably about if I do .....then ........, what if ..........then....., and then I just see him remembering God's intervention in his own life; Gideon would actually decide to obey God. God showed to Gideon who he was, he was still trying to save the Israelites despite their unfaithfulness.

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Q2. How are we to obey the commandment to "Honor your father and your mother" in the kind of situation Gideon finds himself?

We are to honor our father and mother in accordance with teh will of God. If we know that our parents are doing something wrong, and they want us to do the same, then we shouldn't. Once our parents are working in accordance with the will of God, then this is when we should honor them. God is our heavenly father, our main parent, he has given us earthly parents to guide us along the way, but if they are leading us to the path of destruction, then we should not follow.

that is why it is imperative that we as christians study teh bible to know the will of God. We should place no one before our God.

What justification does Gideon have for his action? (Matthew 10:37

Gideon knew that God should be obeyed at all times. He knew that he was doing the right thing, and in teh end he would have helped them to come back to God. He knew that when they came back to God, they would be delivered.

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The Word of God does tell us to honor our mother and father but it also tells us to put god first. We are to honor our parents but their life should be lined up with the Word of God. If we are to love Jesus we must put His kingdom first. Matthew 10:37 says God comes first before even our parents.

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  • 3 months later...

Gideon had a choice, honor his father or obey God!! It's evident he chose the later.

And as it turned out his father backed him up. Because of Gideons obiedence all of Israel was blessed, because God continued to bless Gideon with victory after victory.

Matthew 10: 37 Tells us a man must be ready to leave his father, mother.... if they are going to follow Him

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  • 1 month later...

:D Praise The Lord for my early morning rising!!

Yes, it is true that we should honor our father and mother. In Gideon's case it was honor God or your father(earthly). Sometimes, God would use us that will call us to make a decision, obey GOD or man, and YOU MUST CHOOSE GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS!!

Matthew 10:37 calls us to be like Gideon was in the text to choose GOD over man. Or else we are not worthy of GOD

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