Today we celebrate the independence of America! My concern for our nations on high alert! We live in some of the most troubled times our country has ever seen. Our constitutional rights are being stripped away and ignore. In its place tolerance and political correctness is preaching from every platform. It is even being preached from the platforms and pulpits of our churches. God is looking for people to stand up for the truth in this hour. Even if the truth causes us pain or even our lives. People are chasing after the message they want to hear instead of the truth that might transform and change their lives. God is looking for some people that will be empowered by his Spirit in the hour.
God wants you and me to be “Mighty heroes", He wants you and me to be “Mighty heroes” of the faith! In my devotion this morning it was reminding me of the conditions that Gideon was discovered in when the Angel of the Lord came to him. He was hiding grain so that the Midianites would not take it! Hiding is not exactly the attributes of a Hero! Hero’s are Tuff and fearless or at least that is what the movies I watch have taught me! God was saying to Gideon it’s time to stop hiding from the enemy!
How many times do we envision ourselves as mighty men and women of God? I just know this morning your first thoughts as you looked in the mirror were, “Let’s see how I can be called a COWARD today!” Maybe it was, “now if I work really hard I just know I can be the biggest WIMP in the world!” Get real! There is not one of us as believers that do not want to live out the life of a Hero! We want to be known as being, “Strong in the faith, or people that know how to be used of God!”
The sad truth is that the Church does hide a lot of times! Frightened and hurting! We get the mentality of the people in Gideon’s day… if I keep a low enough profile, then the enemy will not take what little I have left. We have taken on an attitude of tolerance, i.e. we are content not to change and keep things just the way they are. We think this is the easiest path, to not make waves or upset things. In the meantime the enemy comes in and out of our, personal lives, family, churches, etc. at free will! We may not like it, but have grown accustomed to hiding!
Come on Church stop hiding and get in the fight! With God with us there is a Mighty Hero ready to rise up! He declares in Romans 8:30-31, “And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” (NLT) Gideon had a Hero within him waiting to come out! God see’s within you the Mighty man or woman that will rise up when He is with you! The question is do you see it? Gideon would go down as one of the greatest Heroes in History! However, the first thing he had to do is come out of HIDING! “The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” “Judges 6:12 (NLT) Just remember this, "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." (2 Timothy 1:7 ESV)
So let us rise up and fight for our independence! The independence that Jesus gave us. Independence from sin, death and hell! Have a happy 4th of July.
God Bless,
Pastor P.
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