Judges 7:18
When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpet on every side of all the camp, and say, “The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.”
More and more we are hearing in the voices around us statements to the affect of: “I am my own boss”, “I’m nobodies slave”, “I only care about what happens to me”, “who do you think you are to tell me what to do”, “I know my rights” (which means ‘my needs come first’, and other such statements. At first glance these statements just seem to be good, solid, stalwart confidence. Ok, maybe in some folks it seems to be hyper-confidence. But surely there is nothing wrong with it. Right?
Consider. When you look into the Scriptures, the predominate thought focus which God continuously deals with is: My ways come first! My ways are higher than yours. My ways are right. I alone am supreme. That means that no matter what, we are de facto servants. We already are number two, before we even open our mouth. How then can we win with a SELF battlecry?
We try to fight our battles alone. We try to change our lives alone. We try to overcome our faults alone. We try to be SELF MADE men and women. And in the end we always end up UNMADE men and women. The sword of our natural man seems to shatter when we need it most. The battle cry of FEAR ME, quickly becomes I FEAR.
We try to push away God. We certainly push away man. And sooner or later we even push away ourselves; into a deep, deep, deep corner of the recesses of our psyche. And then we start to die. And then we are dead.
But it never had to be that way. It never has to be that way. God has a battle cry for all his servants: THE SWORD OF THE LORD – which is mightier than any two edged sword; and the sword of GIDEON, which means: WARRIOR. Follow Christ your warrior (instead of yourself) and use the Lord’s SWORD (instead of your ego) and your adversary WILL RUN from you!
Original Copyright: © Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 4/04/2004