Scripture:  Judges 6:1-14

 

Judges 6:1-14 Paraphrased:  The children of Israel HAD DONE EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. THEREFORE, God turned them over into the hand of Midian (the Midianites) for seven (7) years.  If having the Midianites against them wasn’t enough, the Amalekites also came up against them. (Note that both of these “ites” (Midianites and Amalekites) were nephilim and/or of nephilim descent.)  The Amalekites destroyed the Israelites’ crops, leaving them without food or animals.  It was ONLY AT THIS JUNCTURE that the Israelites took the time to look up and cried out to the Lord. The Lord sent a prophet to remind them that it was God who had delivered them out of Egypt, bondage and oppression, and had driven their Enemy out as they watched and gave them the land.  God’s message told them not to fear the gods of the Amorites while, at the same time, He reminded them that THEY HAD NOT OBEYED HIS VOICE.  [Oh boy, my message to the Israelites would have been, “See what happens when you don’t obey? . . . I told you so.”  God isn’t like that.  He operates in LOVE, not in sarcasm and bitterness.]

 

An angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon under an oak tree while Gideon was threshing wheat, and delivered this message from God:  “The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.” To which Gideon replied:  “Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, “Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? But now the LORD hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”  The LORD replied, “Go in this THY MIGHT and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have I not sent thee?”

 

SCRIPTURE:

 

Deuteronomy 26:17-19 “You have today declared the LORD to be your God, and that you would WALK IN HIS WAYS AND KEEP HIS STATUES, HIW COMMANDMENETS, HIS ORDINANCES AND LISTEN TO HIS VOICE. "The LORD has today declared YOU to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that YOU SHOULD KEEP ALL HIS COMMANDMENTS AND THAT HE WILL SET YOU HIGH ABOVE ALL NATIONS which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that YOU SHALL BE A CONSECRATED PEOPLE to the LORD your God, as He has spoken.”

 

Hebrews 13:7-9a KJV “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. 8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. 9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines”

 

2 Timothy 2:3-5  KJV “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

 

Brethren, we are grafted-in Israelites through Jesus.  God’s Covenant with the Israelites is also for every believer!  A covenant (like any legal contract), has two parties.  One party promises to do “his part” and the other party promises to do “their part.”  A contract/covenant is not a one-sided endeavor.  This, Warriors, is how we must look at our life in Christ.  Jesus does not do it ALL.  He does His part.  JESUS: left all His Majesty in Heaven; was ridiculed and sentenced to death even though He was innocent; willingly went to the cross and gave His life . . . He died and rose again TO REDEEM US.  OBEDIENCE TO ALL of God’s commands is OUR PART in the Covenant – what we promise to do.  We must OBEY God’s Word to keep our part of the Covenant.  It is not an option as so many Enemy-driven false teachers would have us believe. 

 

I had a brother just the other day in a comment saying that it wasn’t him who sinned, that it was “the sin” (i.e. the fault of the sin) that lived in his body.  Brethren, we are given FREE WILL and that free will is controlled by our minds (the Battlefield of our mind).  Jesus’ redemption has set us FREE . . . makes us a new creature.  We are NO LONGER SLAVES to SIN (Romans 6:1-6); through Christ, we are now ABLE TO CHOOSE OBEDIENCE!  Therefore, if we choose DIS-obedience, WE ARE SINNING.  We cannot blame the sin in our bodies because SIN is a CHOICE.  The false doctrine this deceived brother was “pushing” is what the Enemy is pushing.  DO NOT BE DECEIVED!

 

The above-scripture in 2 Timothy bears witness of that happened with the Israelites and Gideon happens to us today.  Even though the Israelites were God’s chosen people; no matter how many times they were witness to God’s deliverance, His provision, His miracles . . . they still DISOBEYED God.  As brother Paul Begley would say, “Whhhaaaaaaaatt?”

 

So, tell me, what was the consequence when the Israelites disobeyed God?  God gave them over to “the Enemy.”  This passage in Judges begins by telling us that God turned the Israelites over to the Midianites for seven (7) years because of their disobedience!  What happens when, as believers, we “willfully and continually sin?”  God turns us over to the Enemy and allows us to be tormented/demonized/oppressed.  Indeed.  The same scenario! 

 

I know the Enemy has been hard at work over the 100+ years, sowing his seed of false doctrine and doctrine of omission.  My prayer is that we are not as stiff-necked and hard-hearted as the Israelites.  For if God allowed his chosen people (and they are STILL his chosen people) to suffer as they did because of their willful and continual sin . . . we must expect the same kinds of consequences TODAY.  For God does not change (see Hebrews 13 scripture above)!

 

Do not be fooled or deceived brethren.  I plead with all of you; stop believing that SIN is okay.  Stop believing that because we are human it is okay.  Stop believing that God protects us from the consequences of sin.  Stop believing that because you have accepted Jesus that your work is done and that God will do it ALL for you.  Stop falling into the same TRAP the Enemy has been using against you time and time again!!!  Stop living a defeated, sin-filled life as a Believer!!!  You have been chosen by God!  That’s right!  You are special to God.  Understand and believe how God feels about you.  Stop acting “as if” SIN doesn’t matter.  It matters to God!  

 

Is our reaction to God’s love, protection and miracles like that of the Israelites?  Do we wait until we are so deep in the consequences of sin before we call on God?  Do we think, like Gideon, “Where are you God” and blame Him for all of the consequences we have brought upon ourselves?

 

To those of you who have been swept away by FALSE DOCTRINE: Brethren, we SUFFER CONSEQUENCES FOR OUR SIN.  Period.  Being saved does not save us from the consequences.  God does not change.  We have eternal security if we have truly repented of our sin and accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior.  Our redemption, however, does not keep us from the consequences of sin.  God, in His infinite mercy, not only offers salvation but also deliverance.  God’s deliverance begins with REPENTANCE and RENUNCIATION OF SIN. 

 

PRAYER:  Our most-high, most gracious, merciful Heavenly Father, we humbly come before You.  We acknowledge our silence to our sin.  We acknowledge our indifference.  We acknowledge our sin to you, Oh God.  You, who have delivered us from death and sin and from eternal damnation . . .You, O Father, who provided a “way out” because of your great love for us . . . You, who calls us “CHOSEN!!”  Your love is greater than any other!  Your grandeur is displayed every morning.  Our sin is not hidden from you and yet you love us still!  Father, forgive us  . . . we repent and renounce ALL sin.  We repent of breaking Covenant with You.  We repent of not holding up our part of the Covenant.  We repent of our DISOBEDIENCE to Your Word.  Father, we stand as naked before You; nothing hidden from you . . . we lay every sin before you . . . we repent of and renounce every alliance with the Enemy.  PLEASE DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK ON US ANY LONGER FATHER!  Renew our LOVE for you . . . bring us back to our FIRST LOVE, and we promise to serve YOU and YOU ONLY the rest of our days.  AMEN and AMEN!

 

Crying Out in the Wilderness,

Delann Conrad

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