UNDER The Rainbow

(by Lorie Codispoti)

If you ask my eight year old granddaughter what her favorite color is she will say, “rainbow.” It’s been her favorite from the time she could communicate her choice. She loves rainbows!

Do you love rainbows, or has our culture’s rebranding of this heavenly display skewed your view of them?

Let’s set the rainbow back in its rightful place.

This unique display of creation has much to tell us about the God who designed it & placed it in the sky for us to see. It also has much to say about humanity’s past, present, & future.

I'd like to share with you a few of my discoveries.

WHAT THE RAINBOW SAYS ABOUT GOD & OUR PAST.

The first time Scripture records the appearance of a rainbow is in Genesis 9, where God made a promise & covenented with Noah that He would never again destroy the Earth by a flood.

Most ancient cultures have their own version of a worldwide flood, along with many rainbow myths. What stands out about the Genesis account is that it is not fiction. We have the historical & scientific evidence to support the chronology of the Genesis flood. Evidence that fits with what we see in both the fossil & geological records.

For Noah & his family God intended for the rainbow to be a new beginning. It was a sign of His ongoing mercy & love for mankind. We read in Lamentations that His mercies & compassion are NEW every morning. We read in 2Corinthians that, in Christ, we are NEW creations, & that all things become NEW. In Isaiah we’re told not to remember the former things because God is doing a NEW thing.

Our God is a God of new beginnings, & whenever we see a rainbow we are reminded of that truth.

WHAT THE RAINBOW SAYS ABOUT GOD & OUR PRESENT.

In school we all learned that rainbows appear when light reflects & bends through water droplets, giving us a multi-colored arc of seven colors.

Did you also learn that no two people see the same rainbow? That’s right! According to National Geographic, “Viewers on the ground can only see the light reflected by raindrops above the horizon. Because each person's horizon is a little different, no one actually sees a full rainbow from the ground. In fact, no one sees the same rainbow—each person has a different antisolar point, each person has a different horizon.”

The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, speaks of God’s judgement on His people for their unfaithfulness, but he also speaks of God’s promise to restore & bless them. He emphasizes God’s presence & His beauty in chapter one, where he describes what he saw in a vision: “Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” (Vs.28)

The rainbow reminds us that our perfect & holy God is a God who judges sin, but He is also an ever present God who promises to restore & bless those who turn from their sin & worship Him alone.

WHAT THE RAINBOW SAYS ABOUT GOD & OUR FUTURE.

Before Dorothy went "over the rainbow" & was transported to the fictitious land of Oz, she imagined a place where the storms of life would be behind her & all her dreams would come true. But, what lesson did Dorothy learn at the end of the movie? The same one we need to learn about reality. That not all dreams are attained by traveling "over" the preverbal rainbow, but rather, by living well under it. When we weather the storms that God allows in our lives it can draw our hearts, as well as the hearts of others, to Himself.

When we’re finished with our assignment here, we will also testify that “there’s no place like home,” but, unlike Dorothy’s home, we’ll reside forever in a perfect world - a world where our dreams will come true because they align with the beautiful will of the King who rules & reigns there.

Jesus said that He was leaving Earth to prepare a place for us (John 14). Our God is not a wizard hiding behind a curtain. If He promises to return for us then we can trust His faithfulness to fulfill all that He has promised.

When God used the sign of a rainbow to communicate His covenant with Noah & his family its important to note that He did not say that He set “a rainbow in the cloud.” He said, “I set MY rainbow in the cloud…” (Gen.9:13) This is significant because our English bibles read “rainbow” but the Hebrew word is translated “bow,” as in a battle or war bow.

Given that insight, notice where the bow is aimed. It’s not the Earth. God aimed the battle bow toward the heavens, at Himself. The arrow formed a cross as God went to war against our sin. He poured out His wrath on His sinless Son in order to take back what was stolen.

So when we see a rainbow today - without the arrow - let it remind us that Christ took the arrow & broke its power over the sin storm that engulfed us. May the bow we see in the canvas of the sky remind us that the peace treaty has been signed with the blood of Christ.

I think my new favorite color is rainbow.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

Face The Mirror Of Reality

(by Lorie Codispoti)

When’s the last time you took a good look at yourself in the mirror?

I’ll never forget the time I was talking to my grandmother about how much time women spend in front of a mirror. We were on our way to her weekly hair appointment. (In her generation & circle, the women went to the beauty parlor once a week for a wash & set.) She made the comment that she didn’t like spending too much time in front of a mirror, because it was a reminder of how old she was getting. It wasn’t that she minded getting older; it was that sometimes she felt like she was looking at a woman on the outside who wasn’t the same as the women she felt like on the inside.

I get it now!

The older I get the less time I want to spend looking at the reflection staring back at me. Perhaps if I don’t look then I don’t have to face the reality that things are not what they used to be. I can pretend I’m something I’m not, as long as I stay away from the very thing that presents the inescapable truth that I’m getting older.

I’ve been reading through the story of the prodigal son.

Even if you’re not a Christian, you’ve likely heard the story of this father & his two sons. The oldest son is obedient, trustworthy, & loyal, while the other has a bit of an identity shift & decides he wants to put as much distance between who he wants to be & who he is. So he runs away from everything he’s ever known to embrace a life that checks all his emotional boxes & makes him feel significant. Trouble is, he’s been lulled into thinking he can create his own image by avoiding the mirror of reality.

I heard a bible teacher recently say that we can’t know who we really are until we know who God is. We (Western Christians) read the Bible asking it to tell me things about ourselves. The teacher noted that our culture reflects more of the Greco Roman world (Aristotle, Socrates, Plato) than it does the culture that Jesus was addressing. The Bible is a book that we should approach the way it was written & intended to be interpreted. We need to read the text with a heart that wants to know more about our Father God.

While this story talks about two brothers - one of which decides to cut his familial ties & run away with his inheritance because he wants to redefine himself apart from them, and the other who has to deal with jealousy when the prodigal returns - the real story is about a father who loves both of his sons.

The text tells us that the father watched & waited.

He watches with great heartache as the younger one chooses a path that only leads to destruction. It’s the story of a father who searches for & is willing to go to extreme measures to forgive his wayward son, & assure him that his cries of desperation have been heard & he is always welcome to come back home.

While we may think that these two brothers deserve a stern rebuke from their father, that’s not the direction he chooses.

According to the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, whenever the Israelites were reduced to eating the pods that pigs (unclean animal) were fed it was due to a famine. It was not only a desperate measure to ward off starvation, but it was a shameful thing that forced them to face the reality of where they were & what they had become as they drifted away from God. It was a reality check that caused them to humble themselves & repent of their sin.

I submit to you that both of these sons have an identity problem. They both think they are something they are not, and this stems from the fact that neither one of them really knows their father.

Jesus is not telling this story to showcase the faults of two foolish brothers. The spotlight shines on the character of a loving father who watches, waits, & then runs to meet the wayward son. The father who later will assure the older one that his standing has not changed & neither has his love for him.

“But when he came to himself.” (Luke 15:17)

It's time for the prodigal to go home & face the mirror of reality.

This son gets to a place where he finally realizes that he’s been gazing into a warped mirror - one that was set in front of him to give him a twisted view of the man he was designed to be.

One of the things I never stopped to think about, until now, is that when the prodigal reaches his father & begins to confess his sin, he doesn’t even get to finish his confession.

He may not have known his father, but his father knew him. He knew that his son had been humbled by his poor choices & was now truly repentant. (Psalm 51:17 tells us that God will not despise a broken & contrite heart.) The father is moved with compassion & cuts the son off mid-confession. Overjoyed at his return, the father orders that he be given a robe, a ring, & sandals for his feet. Then he orders a party to welcome his son home.

Most of us can relate to one of these two sons. Maybe even both. We’ve either squandered the resources we’ve been given, or we look down from a place of presumed superiority on those who have.

Maybe it's time for us to turn & head back to the Father's house. Perhaps it’s time for us to come to ourselves & face the mirror of reality.

The beauty of this mirror is that the more time we spend gazing at the woman (or man) we were created to be, the more convinced we will become that the Image we see is a reflection of our Father in heaven. God the Son, willingly left His position in glory to show us what He looks like.

Our loving Father wants us to know that the Image we see on the outside was designed to match the One He created us to reflect on the inside.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

The Panting Soul

(by Lorie Codispoti)

During the early years of my Christian walk I learned and sang many songs that took their lyrics directly from Scripture, particularly the psalms. Each one is embedded in my heart & I’m incredibly grateful for a rich foundation that emphasized praise & worship as a means of entering into the courts of our King.

Many of us are familiar with Psalm 42. The first two verses express the author’s intense desire to seek & know God.

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God….” (Is the tune playing in your head?)

You may be very familiar with these verses & the song that accompanies it. The danger with familiarity is that we can be tempted to speed read our way through well known passages & completely miss the treasure hidden within.

Personally, I’ve discovered two things within Psalm 42 that have refreshed my weary heart.

#1 - Taking note of repeated words & phrases is an important tool to use as we attempt to interpret any passage in Scripture. Have you ever noticed that the word “soul” is repeated six times in this chapter? This is not only significant, but it’s worth digging into in order to understand what the author wants to communicate.

Unfortunately, our western view of “soul” originates from Ancient Greek philosophy, which communicates that our soul is the immortal essence of our being - something that is trapped within our bodies until it is released at the time of death.

However, that is not what the original Hebrew word for soul communicates. It literally means “throat,” & can have several applications.

According to one Hebrew scholar: “In the Hebrew mind we are composed of multiple parts. The body is the flesh and bones, the vessel. The organs are viewed as the seats of thought (the heart), emotion (the kidneys), intuition (gut), etc. The breath is ones character, what makes a person who they are. The soul is the whole of the person, the unity of the body, organs and breath. It is not some immaterial spiritual entity, it is you, all of you, your whole being or self.” (Jeff Benner)

So when the author says that his soul is thirsty for the one and only “living God” I read that, physically, his throat (soul) is dry from the weariness of being “cast down,” but his whole being is in need of the kind of refreshing that only a living God (not a dead one) can provide.

#2 - The psalmist uses a panting deer as his metaphor to express his intense desire to know God. One of the first things we learn about reading Scripture is that there is nothing haphazard about any of the words. The author didn’t just randomly pick a deer panting for water as his best option to describe his own thirst. Every word in every verse of Scripture is intentional & carries with it deep meaning. The Hebrew word for “pant” implies a desperate need for water. It’s a dire situation for this deer.

The famous American poet, Emily Dickenson wrote that a “wounded deer leaps the highest” (which is also the poem’s title). One writer analyzed her work by noting that the deer jumps in such a way that one might think it is full of life, but in reality it has sustained a fatal blow. The animal is attempting to gather one last burst of energy, leaping its highest before succumbing to the inevitable sentence of death.

Is it plausible that the deer in Psalm 42 has something in common with Dickenson’s animal? Perhaps his soul is “cast down” & “disquieted” because he has encountered some kind of life altering event that has forced him into a desperate situation.

Deer are very much aware of their surroundings. God created them with characteristics that enable them to both sense & escape predators. They have the stamina to run long distances, as well as powerful legs that enable them to leap & jump with ease. The Bible describes them as being sure footed, which enables them to traverse rough terrain & climb steep mountainsides.

But, what happens to the deer that has been wounded? How do they respond to a life threatening event?

While deer are herbivores they will, on occasion, as needed, eat meat. Like snakes! (Not kidding.)

I read one Jewish medieval interpretation of Psalm 42 that suggests the reason the deer is desperately seeking strong flowing, deep, cool & refreshing water is due to the fact that snake venom will heat up its body & the water will neutralize the effects of the poison.

Another commentator points out that deer were over-hunted for their tasty meat in that region during that time. Many times they were chased to exhaustion by hunting dogs, thereby causing them to seek the shelter & refreshment of deep waters in their attempt to escape from their predators.

The psalmist is in such anguish that verse three says that his tears have been his food, day & night. He’s desperately crying out to God for help.

Did you know that deer can become so desperate for water that in their suffering they will make a strange braying noise & walk openly among the wadis in their search for water? This exposes them to great danger, but it is a danger they are willing to risk for the only thing that will save them from certain death.

The first part of verse seven grabs my attention. It reads “Deep calls unto deep…”

While being deeply poetic, this phrase is also incredibly relatable. How many times have I desperately cried out for God to provide what only He can. He is the only source of Living Water. The exciting part of this verse is the hope that is imbibed in the next part, “…at the noise of Your waterfalls; all your waves & billows have gone over me.” The deer found what he was looking for. He could hear it before he could see or feel it, which likely strengthened him for one last energetic burst.

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the Help of my countenance & my God.” (Vs.11)

Are you being chased by an enemy that is about to overtake you? Have you been mortally wounded by his arrows?

Put your hope in God & run like a deer who has nothing to lose but what he’s already lost, & everything to gain by the God who hears the desperate braying of your soul. He is the God who has promised to not only rescue all those who call upon His name, but the One who provides a way of escape, while at the same time refreshing your soul with His Living Water.

Drink your fill & frolic in the healing waters of His presence. He will enable you to finish your race.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

Nothing New Under The Sun

(by Lorie Codispoti)

Deja vu?

The longer you live the more likely you are to see or hear something you’ve experienced before.

For example, within our homeschool circle in the 80’s & 90’s you were on the cutting edge of fashion if you wore a jean jumper & little white tennis shoes. (I confess, I had jumper envy until I was able to purchase one.) The look was so cute & comfortable.

Have you noticed the nostalgic return? I’m kind of excited about it.

It was Marie Antoinette’s dressmaker who first coined the phrase, “There is nothing new, except for what has been forgotten.” Perhaps she had requested a garment that would wow the masses. Something that would not only surprise her audience, but a look that would send every woman of nobility to the nearest dressmaker to copy this innovative new look.

I wonder if Antoinette’s dressmaker borrowed his thought from Ecclesiastes 1:9, which says that “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” The thing is, this truth was recorded well before the 18th century. Imagine how much has been forgotten & then rediscovered since then.

I’m thinking of all the curriculum choices homeschoolers have today.

Writers & publishers have designed some wonderful products that are sure to wow the masses. And, while it’s exciting to attend a book fair, where you can spend a whole day (& a lot of money) perusing some fabulous options for teaching reading, writing, & arithmetic, one can become easily overwhelmed by all the options.

So, here’s my tip for those of you who are in the middle of trying to decide what will work for your students: “… there is nothing new under the sun.”

Teachers have been instructing students to learn how to read & write with the same basic tools for generations. Before you make your final decision, take some time to assess your student’s needs, your budget, your time, & your resources.

Sure, if you have a big enough budget & want to support the hard-working people who design new ways of learning old things, then by all means do so. But, don’t let perceived limitations discourage you into thinking that your child will be deprived of a good education if you don't have the newest reading program. Not all the bells & whistles are repackaged in such a way that they will guarantee any greater success than the old & forgotten curriculum that your parents used to teach you. It might smell a little musty from being stored in the attic, but last I checked adding & subtracting haven’t changed, & we ’re still using the same alphabet the pilgrims used to teach their children.

Speaking of attic treasures: I was looking for something completely different when I discovered something long forgotten.

You guessed it - my daughter’s jean jumper. Yep, I must have saved it. I was so excited that I took a picture & sent it to her with a note that expressed my elation, along with an offer to mail it to her. Sadly, she did not share the sentiment & very politely said, “No thanks, Mom. You can donate it to the thrift store.”

Ouch! Really?

Not everything forgotten is seen with new eyes.

Unless they are my eyes.

I’ll be holding my head high as I sport my new, old jean jumper.

And to all the Marie Antoinettes of the world, get in line!

Nostalgia is back & deja vu is all the rage.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

Wedding Preparations In The Heat

(by Lorie Codispoti)

Our daughter’s wedding was in July, so they have an anniversary coming up.

Thoughts about that day & our do-it-yourself wedding are filling my mind with all kinds of memories.

According to the locals, it was the hottest July they remembered experiencing in that part of Colorado. We weren’t having an outdoor wedding, so the heat should not have been a problem, right?

Wrong.

To our surprise, we learned that many of the older buildings (& homes) were not designed or built with air conditioners in mind. And the church where they were married was no exception.

The solution was to bring in these portable cooling units called “swamp coolers” to help cool the air inside the building. Every local knows what a swamp cooler is, but I had never heard or seen one. (Apparently they use humidity to help cool the air, & are especially useful in dry climates.)

First problem solved.

Next we learned that the dough my husband planned to use to make flippers for the reception didn't rise well in higher elevations.

Denver, we have a problem!

Thankfully, after tapping into the knowledge & resources of a local bakery, that problem was also solved.

(FYI: Flippers are a Portuguese fried bread dough, & part of my husband’s family heritage. Along with the sentimental connection, it was the featured food our daughter wanted for her wedding reception.)

By the time it was all said and done we were exhausted, but also blessed with a great and memorable wedding.

Chuck Swindoll said, "We are faced with a series of great opportunities, brilliantly disguised as impossible situations."

I share this story because I want to encourage you to press on in your walk.

Psalm 32:8 says, “I will instruct you & teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”

As the heat index rises here in the Southeast, bringing many challenges along with it, we must remember that there is nothing that is too difficult for our Father - who stands ready to intervene in every situation we turn over to Him.

Whenever we find ourselves commissioned by God to embrace a new challenge - be it a new location, a new assignment, or a seemingly monumental task - we should remind ourselves that we have the greatest Resource available. When we call out to Him He promises to be with us as we walk our way down the aisle to the altar.

If God has given us His word, His Spirit, & one another, then we have everything we need to accomplish the task.

Scripture doesn’t promise that preparing for our wedding day will be easy. In fact, we can count on the fact that there will be many obstacles to overcome along the way. We may even have to endure unbearable heat and find new ways to enjoy flat flippers.

But one thing is for sure. When we hear that wedding bell ring and call us to a higher elevation, all we’ll care about is the Bridegroom we’ve been preparing to meet face-to-face. His presence alone will dwarf everything we’ve endured on this side of the wedding feast.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

Rightly Interpret Scripture

(by Lorie Codispoti)

No bible verse should be interpreted in isolation. Each one has a context that must be considered if we are going to rightly divide the word of truth.

A wise teacher once noted that: “Before we ever get to the here & now of a text we have to get to the then & there of a text.”

Unfortunately, what often times happens is that we isegete (put into) rather than exegete (draw out of) a biblical text. Instead of interpreting biblical passages through the lens of the author, his audience, & the culture of his day, we look at everything from our own feelings & experience. This is bad hermeneutics.

As a young believer I adopted some spiritually unhealthy norms when interacting with Scripture. I took my cues from a few unstable influences, & those influences shaped a lot of wrong thinking about who God is & what His word is all about.

Thankfully God didn’t leave me in that sphere. Learning how to rightly interpret Scripture has changed everything from the way I read it to the way I share it with others.

No one wants to see us walk in truth more than our loving Heavenly Father. When we’re diligent to ask & seek, He promises we will find. I needed rewiring (transforming) & God graciously provided the schematic (His word with His Spirit) to assist me in tearing down an unstable foundation so that He could begin the process of rebuilding my faulty thinking.

After a recent teaching I was asked about my process of studying, interpreting, & communicating Scripture. I found the question hard to consolidate into a simple answer. For one thing I still feel like a novice & there’s so much more to learn. And second, because it has become a lifelong endeavor to develop a solid hermeneutical practice. While I have added valuable tools to my interpretation belt - tools that have helped me to understand the blueprints better, construct a solid foundation, & add one story at a time to my house of faith - I’m convinced that this construction will be an ongoing project until I breathe my last breath.

While that may be discouraging to some, I’ve found there to be tremendous joy in the journey. So much so that I want to continue exegeting Scripture like I’m building a skyscraper. Each new floor added enables me to see things more clearly, whether I’m looking up or looking down. I’ll leave the finishing to the Master Builder, who can be fully trusted to finalize the project & call it done.

In the meantime, why not grab your hammer & join me in the building process? It's hard work, but it sure is rewarding.

“A wise woman builds her house…” (Prov.14:1)

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

No Such Thing As Trans-kids

"If you’re talking about “trans-kids,” your premise is that there is a new kind of person - some kind of person who’s not male, not female, who somehow is born in the wrong body. … So, what’s the reality? There are no “trans-kids.” There are boys & girls, male & female children, or adolescents who might be experiencing distress, but they are not a different kind of person. … Let’s not talk about “trans-kids” or “trans-people.” They’re people. People with equal dignity. But they’re male & female, boys or girls, men or women - regardless of their self perception. … Our perceptions aren’t always grounded in reality. … You cannot change sex. You’re male or female & it marks every cell of your body." (Strong Women | Telling the Truth About our Bodies with Mary Rice Hasson. https://colsoncenter.org/.../strong-women-telling-the... )

Be warned: People who advance or engage in the promotion of deceiving, disabling, & disfiguring a child will face a much worse destruction. (See Matt.18:6.)

Teach the children in your life to align their beliefs with what is real. (The very definition of truth.)

Sarah Stonestreet made a good point in this conversaton: While it’s a good thing for us to long to be re-created, when we look to re-create ourselves we are buying into the lie that we can transform ourselves into something other than what God made us to be (male & female).

When we attempt to re-image ourselves we are playing the role of Dr. Victor Frankenstein. We are new creations IN Christ. Altering His design will only create a hideous & broken monster.

As believers, we are not only called to stand for truth, but we are to care for those who have been deceived. This goes for all those who believe the lie, as well as those promoting it. My heart gravitates toward the innocent children being victimized by this false ideology, but it also understands that while there are those with vile intentions, there are also those who genuinely believe they are helping these kids. Each person is worth the persecution we may endure for speaking truth. It’s a far less thing to endure than what they face if they continue walking in this socially constructed, cultural lie.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

The Hand That Fills The Glove

(by Lorie Codispoti)

I’m over four years into this trial now, & though I’ve come a long way, (Praise!) the battle is still very heavy at times.

(Something they don’t tell you when you’re diagnosed with a disease that has no cure is that sometimes the mental strain is as relenting as the pain.)

During my darkest days I teetered on the border of a dark precipice, praying that the wind of God’s voice would push me over the edge & into the relief of His presence. I was not suicidal, in the respect that I wanted to kill myself, but I did want to die.

God’s comfort comes to His people - not in the lifting off of their weight of sorrow or pain - but in strengthening them for victorious endurance. (J.R.Miller)

What if victory is found in the strength to press into & endure the very thing we dread?

Think about strength training. It involves weights & pain (sore muscles). There’s no way to avoid it in order to build strength. Sure, I’d prefer to have the weight of this disease lifted off; who wouldn’t? But, here’s the cool thing: I have a Spotter. And the goal of a spotter isn’t limited to simply providing safety for the lifter.

While preventing injury is part of their job, the resume of an exceptional spotter includes one vital component: emotional support. It's their ability to encourage the discouraged that infuses the lifter with the confidence they need to endure & move forward.

We have a Spotter!

If you are a believer, you have been given an amazing gift - the Holy Spirit. And His spotting ability goes well beyond the confines of a human spotter.

Do you remember what God told Gideon when he was faced with unsurmountable odds?

The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor! (Jud.6:12)

"Mighty man of valor"? Really?

When most of us think of Gideon, this is not the moniker we would assign to him.

Gideon was called by God to save Israel from the Midianites. For a variety of reasons, he knew he did not have what it would take to defeat this formidable foe. He lacked both the strength & the courage he needed to win this victory for his people. But by the time it’s all said & done, Gideon - vastly outnumbered by the enemy - wins the victory. The Midianites end up in such a state of confusion that many turn & kill each other, & the rest run away in the chaos.

One thing that stands out to me is that God made this proclamation over Gideon BEFORE He even gave him the assignment. He sent the Spotter to instill confidence. God’s Spirit would not only help him fulfill his calling, but He proclaimed Gideon to be a “mighty man of valor” when Gideon knew full well he was anything but mighty & courageous.

My wimpy, marshmallow-muscled self is greatly encouraged by this story. And it’s not because Gideon was anything special. (Really, it’s because he wasn’t.) The spotlight shines on the One who is special. God promised that His presence would be with him, but Gideon still had to pick up the weight & move forward in faith in order for God’s strength to manifest through him.

Another thing that speaks to me is where is says that the “Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon…” (6:34). This is God filling Gideon with Himself, much like a hand fills a glove before a lifter approaches the bench. So, I ask you, who is actually doing the heavy lifting? It is God who fills & enables us. Gideon’s enemies were camped in the valley we call Armageddon. He was so vastly outnumbered that without God his little band of warriors would all be wiped out in a single, very short battle.

The Might that emboldened Gideon is the same Might that emboldens us to charge into the battles we face.

Do you know what Gideon did right before he engaged in the battle of a lifetime?

Two things.

First, he worshipped. Lesson to us: worship before you war. The Spirit will fill & empower you to charge fearlessly into battle when you armor-up with praise.

Second, he took on the role of a spotter, encouraging his army & proclaiming the victory that God promised BEFORE they even marched into the war zone.

In our world, victory is secured after the battle. But, in the spiritual world it’s the opposite.

Gideon was a wimp; I’m a wimp.

Gideon was afraid; I’m afraid.

Gideon lacked faith; I lack faith.

Gideon surrendered all of his inadequacies to God & trusted Him for the outcome.

I can do that - and so can you!

What did the glove say to the hand? “I need something outside of myself in order to pick up this weight, press forward, & win this fight.”

The Hand replied: For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory. (Ps.29:11)

With that, the glove proclaimed: “For You have armed me with strength for the battle; You have subdued under me those who rose against me. (2Sam.22:40)

The LORD is with us - mighty men & women of valor!

Surrender your weakness & trust His strength. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you & go get the victory. After all, He secured it before you even stepped on the battlefield.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com