DianeM

Hi!!! My name is Diane and I am from Michigan. I came to the Lord through the internet, Jan 1, 2000. God works in mysterious ways!!! Praise God!!! I am looking forward to this study. I am finishing up the Gideon bible study. It was an awesome look at Gideon and how God sees us. I hope to get to know all of you through the responses and feel free to contact me if I can help with anything!!!

The rolling barley loaf represented Gideon and his small army. The Lord shows Gideon the dream to show him what the Lord saw in him. That through the Lord, Gideon would win this battle. It enforced what God wanted Gideon to do.

The significance of the lapper and the kneelers. I believe that the lappers were keenly aware of their surroundings, and were ready for battle.

We demand that God's directions make sense to us, because a lot of times what He is asking for or of us, seems so out of our character. We say, we can't do that, or how can we do that, but God knows what each of us have the ability to do and I am awed at what God has done with me. God sees in us what we can not see. The spiritual danger is that we need to trust God and believe what we don't understand right now, will later on in our walk, come together. We can balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through others spiritual discernment that we trust by acknowledging that others have been where we are today. And that God will speak through others to relay a message from Him. He places people in our path ways for many reasons.

God felt that Gideon's army was to be to prove to the other Israelites that God was among them. The shrinking of the army size was important to have them realize that whatever God leads you into, He will provide everything that is essential to Glorify and Magnify the One True God!! No one is stronger or mightier than God! The kinds of pressures Gideon would feel would be, fear that he would lose and that his men would be wiped out. That his leadership ability would be one of failure, but gratefully Gideon trusts God. Gideon was able to obey God because he trusted Him and knew that God was in control and would know the outcome.

We should ask for a sign from God when we want to be sure that we are heading into the direction that He wants to lead us into. Demanding a sign is a danger because it takes our focus off of God by not having faith and by understanding the He knows what is best for us all.

Gideon put out a fleece before the Lord because he wants assurance that he is doing what God has commanded him to do. This a sign of belief, because Gideon just wants to make sure he is doing what God wants him to. This is not testing God, because it is to see if this is what God wants Gideon to do, not to test His power or to see what God could do for him. It differs from the other sinful testings, because Gideon is looking for directions, not demanding God for anything or seeing what they could get from God.

The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon to blow the trumpet. What Gideon had in common with other judges and leaders, was that the Spirit of the Lord, came upon them and became their power and strength. God overcame them to show His Glory and Majesty and that without Him, they could do nothing.

Gideon's father Joash's leadership was to a false god. Gideon's actions spurs his father to test the god he worshiped. No, Gideon wanted to be obedient to God. And yes he feared what his father would think of what he had done, but he knew God would know the outcome and had to trust God. Joash is a follower because he trusted Gideon with what he was doing. Joash also noticed that nothing happened to Gideon when he destroyed the other gods.

Yes, we all can be a disobedient disciple. We all are called to be disciples and sometimes we disobey what God wants us to do. Yes, being a disobedient disciple is an oxymoron. Yes, Gideon has a choice here. God has given us free will and because of that, we choose whether we are obedient or disobedient. Yes, we all have choices.

We are to obey our mothers and fathers in Gideons situation by respecting and honoring them, but the Lord has to come first. We are to obey God first regardless of what our fathers and mothers want. Gideon's justification is that the Lord told him to do this and Gideon was faithful to obey and complete what God wanted him to do.

God tells Gideon to tear down the Baal altar and the Asherah poles because they are false gods and in order for Gideon to be truly obedient he must follow the command of God. The positive thing he must do with the because he tore down the false gods, is to build an altar for the one and only true God. The reason Gideon did this at night was because Gideon was afraid of what his father and the townsmen would do to him if they saw him doing it. The risks are being asked to leave and death. The night mission is both a sign of weakness and of faith. Weakness because of his fear, but of faith because he accomplished what the Lord asked of him.

Gods answer to Gideon self image is that God sees Gideon destroying the Midianites in one battle, but with the strength of the Lord. Yes this does apply to our lives as Christians, because we fight a battle everyday with ourselves and with the evil one. An appropriate prayer: Lord God, you have shown me through this lesson that you are with me in every battle I encounter. Lord, I ask that you take away the fear and any other form of bondage that blinds me to the path that you have created just for me. Bring out in me the characteristics that make me uniquely yours. And as you bring these out, let me be a candle to those who are in the dark, because I believe that you put deep inside of me, the ability to reach others for you!! I ask this in the Precious Name of Jesus, AMEN!!

God saw Gideon as a mighty warrior. Gideon saw himself as the least in his family. God's perceptions are accurate. Our self perceptions can prevent us just like Gideon. Gideon saw himself as weak and fearful. We all struggle with things that "MAN" and the world have put into our minds. Such as lazy, shy, weird, stupid, and many other things that have been afflicted by others. Those words and our own self perceptions mingle together, creating in ourselves that those words are true. Because of this, we tend to be fearful, insecure, angry and more destructive things.

The reason for the oppressed state was because of their worshipping of the Amorities gods. They broke the commandment about having no other gods, but the Lord God Almighty. This affects Christians today in many ways. Watching too much TV, eating, computer usage, workaholics, anything that keeps us from spending time with the Lord. The Lord should be number one in priorty. He should get the first of each day. Unfortunately, myself included, many of us don't give God the time needed to build a greater and better relationship with Him. I always think that other things are important, but I pray that my time is spent in a better way. Getting to know my Savior better and desiring that my relationship with Him will grow deeper