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IsraelIsrael sinned;

God judged.

Prophet preached repentancrepentanc

ee

God called GideonGideon to deliver His people.

Gideon destroyed Baal.

Judges 7 1 Then Jerub-baal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

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4-5 miles between them.

Israelites

Midianites

2 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too manytoo many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, mine own hand hath saved me.

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Gideon had 32,000 men [V3]

The Midianites had 135,000 [8:10]

Gideon was outnumbered over four to oneover four to one.

Yet God said, "The people that are with thee are too many."

lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, "mine own hand hath saved memine own hand hath saved me."

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Too oftenToo often people get in trouble, cry out to God,

And then when He delivers, they discountthey discount the Hand of God in the situation.

"I'm sure glad I thoughtI thought of doing that."

"What a coincidencecoincidence that things came together."

"I workedworked hard and managedmanaged well, and look what I haveI have as a result."

James 1 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

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To God be all the gloryTo God be all the glory!He is our Savior and Lord.

We cannotcannot save ourselves, nor turn our own lives aroundaround.

We must be born againborn again in the Spirit of God.

Our sins must be washed awaywashed away in Jesus' Bloodin Jesus' Blood..

The Lord is HealerHealer of all our diseases.No matter how well we eatwe eat and exerciseexercise,

We can't addcan't add one minute to our lives.

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He is ProviderProvider of all our needs.No matter how hard we workwork nor

how carefullycarefully we manage, We can lose it alllose it all in one day.

The Lord is our Protector in time of danger.

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We cannot protect ourselves nor our loved ones from harm.

Comforter in time of sorrow.

We can never drown our sorrows nor take enough pills to be comforted.

The Lord is our very present HelpHelp in time of need.

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In the midnight hour, when you can't comfortcan't comfort

yourself, God is God is therethere.When you have problemsproblems

that you can't solve,

God is thereGod is there!

Acknowledge the Hand of God.

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Proverbs 3 5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Himacknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.

1 Chronicles 16 34 O give thanks unto the Lordgive thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His Mercy endureth for ever.

Don't take credit for the good things in your life.

Don't credit luck or circumstance.

Gideon's army was outnumberedoutnumbered over four to one.

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God said, "You have too many men."

That defies logic!God would not allow IsraelIsrael to take credit for

their victory and deliverance.

They neededneeded Him.They needed to remember Himremember Him.

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2 Corinthians 10 4-5 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through Godmighty through God to the pulling down of strongholdsstrongholds;) Casting down imaginationsimaginations (logismos = reasoning), and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thoughtevery thought to the obedience of Christobedience of Christ;

We are not limitednot limited to carnal weapons and carnal methods.

We have the Almighty Power of GodPower of God.

Bring every thoughtevery thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

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Whether it seemsseems logical or not, we must learn to hearhear and obeyobey our Lord in all things.

CommuneCommune with the Lord until we knowknow His Voice,

Then simply obeyThen simply obey.

3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousandthere remained ten thousand.

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Faith and fear can not coexist.

The faithless are fearfulfearful and can not fight the battle.

The faithful will obey God fearlesslyfearlessly and can not lose.

22,000 did not trust God and were afraid.

10,000 remained

4 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet yet tootoo many many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 5 So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; like-wise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.

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6 And the number of them that lapped, puttingputting their their hand to their mouthhand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 7 And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.

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Some suggest that God God chosechose the more watchful;

others suggest that He chose the lessless watchful.

Still others say it was simply an arbitrary testarbitrary test to eliminate most of the men.

God didn't need man's man's abilityability in any way.

HeHe was going to give the victory!

Will you be one of the chosen warriorschosen warriors?

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Be not fearfulfearful, but faithfulfaithful.

Don't stoop at standing timestanding time.

Acknowledge God and give Acknowledge God and give thanksthanks.