Today’s Bible Verse
The angel of God appeared to Gideon and said, “God is with you, O mighty warrior!”
Judges 6:12 (MSG)
From Worrier to Warrior
When was the last time God spoke to us that way? I would venture to say, He speaks to us that way ALL the time. Every time we open our Bibles to read and every time the Holy Spirit reminds us of what He says in His Word about us.
We are just like Gideon. Many men and women in the Bible were given NEW names by God but that is not the case with Gideon. Gideon means Warrior. Every time someone called his name, they were saying, “Warrior.” He did not need a name change. He needed to accept who he already was. God embedded his destiny within his name but, Gideon allowed circumstances and situations in his life to override his true identity.
I’m sure worry, fear, anxiety, and stress were at the forefront of his thinking. He was in a wine press threshing wheat because he was worried the enemy might see him or hear him. Wheat was not meant to be threshed in a winepress but on an open, elevated place where the wind could blow the chaff (worthless matter) away. Gideon made excuses to God concerning himself and his family (v. 15). God was going to do in Gideon what Gideon was doing to the wheat. He was going to thresh Gideon’s heart and remove the chaff, the worthless matter, of worry, fret, and unbelief from his life. And so, God did, and He used Gideon and three hundred of his men to deliver Israel from the hands of their enemy.
God rescued a nation by first rescuing a man from his worry and unbelief. What does God need to rescue us from so we can rescue our families and those around us? Will we allow Him to? Gideon changed. We can change. God is with you, O mighty warrior! (Pastor Veronica Acevedo)
An Uncommon Life
Worry is the “thinking” part of anxiety. It is any thought, feeling, image, idea, and/or fear that is negative in its nature, and which happens in response to either real or imagined problems. These thoughts are intrusive to our soul, our mind, will and emotions. Worry keeps us from trusting God and His Word. It contaminates our faith. It keeps us “believing” and “meditating” on things and events that haven’t even happened; and yet, to the worrier, it is real.
We cannot let the false reality of worry override the reality of God’s Word. Let’s allow God to “thresh” our hearts and remove all the worthless matter of worry and everything that comes with it and allow His Word to become the final authority in our lives. Let’s live a worry free, UNCOMMON life.
Today’s Declaration
Today, I declare, God is with me and if God be for me who can be against me. I leave all worry, fret, anxiety, doubt and unbelief at the Cross, the place of rescue. I trust You, Lord, with all my heart. I lean not on my own understanding and in all my ways I acknowledge You. Your Word is final authority in my life.
Today’s Bible Reading
- Old Testament: Numbers 18-20; Psalms 55
- New Testament: Matthew 23:25-39; Romans 6:1-14
