We have power for witness through the Holy Spirit … Acts 1:8

We have the strength which God supplies for ministry … 1 Pe. 4:11

We have a mission from Christ backed by His authority … Matt. 28:18-20

Why then are we not more bold, confident and fruitful in witness and ministry?  Too often, because we don't feel like we have the power, strength or authority of Christ in us!

When God called Gideon to be a deliverer for Israel he could hardly believe God had the right man … God must have misread the zip code or His GPS had malfunctioned!  Gideon said to the Lord, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” [Judges 6:15].

God had called Gideon … an unlikely candidate for the job by human wisdom!  But God does not call many who are wise or mighty or noble according to the flesh, but He chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and He chooses the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong [1 Cor. 1:26-27].

But having been commissioned by God who promised to be with him, Gideon still felt like “little old” Gideon.  He couldn’t detect any change in his physique, courage or mental grasp of military strategy.  He not only struggled with the fact that he was a “nobody” and was not qualified for the task … but even after God commissioned him he still felt like the same person … it didn’t feel like anything had changed.  How could he do what God asked him to do?  Because God Himself – the One with all authority – had sent him [Judges 6:14].  And secondly, because God promised to be with him.

We have the exact same promise from Jesus today!  Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and earth … He has sent us to make disciples and minister in the body of Christ … and He is with us even to the end of the age [Matt. 28:18-20].   Like Gideon, we still feel like the same old inadequate person we believe we are … and like Gideon, if we will trust and obey, God will do His work through us.

Timid Gideon trusted and obeyed dispite his feelings and God used him to bring a mighty deliverance in Israel.  If we trust and obey, God will use us for His glory too!

Pastor Jim