Judges 1-4
Judges 5-6:24
Judges 6:25-7
Judges 8-9:20
Judges 9:21-57
Judges 10-11:27
Judges 11:28-12:15
Judges 13
Judges 14-15
Judges 16
Judges 17-18
Judges 19-20
 
 

(Please read the scripture that accompanies this study.  In this on-line Bible study, we cover bits and pieces of information contained in the scripture, but there are so many topics that are not covered.  Don’t miss a blessing, read God’s word! )

While reading the book of Judges, chapters 1—4, God began to not only speak to me, but also to break the scripture down to ‘my’ understanding. 

Judges 1-4 tells of a period in which the people fell away from their forefather’s generation in which they worshiped and served God.  Sounds much like our generation, doesn’t it?  In Judges 1:1 (author paraphrases), after Joshua died, the Israelites whined and complained, “Lord, who will be the first to fight for us, because there is a gang that wants to invade ‘our stuff’”.  Is this not much like us, when we disobey God and get caught up in sin?  It is not always the ‘big’ sin, for sin is sin whether you consider it big, small, medium, red, green or purple; it is all sin in the eyes of God.  We then want to go before the altar and cry ‘Lord, what are you going to do about ‘my mess?’  God does not say to cry to Him, rending or tearing our clothes. He wants us to give Him our broken hearts!   Joel 2:13-14, NIV—Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God. 

Do we seek God’s will and direction before the mess?  The Word of God says in Proverbs 3:6, NIV— "In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." If we would first come to God and seek His wisdom about a matter, then we would avoid the pitfall of a stubborn and disobedient spirit. 

As we continue to look at Judges 1:2, the Lord responded to the children of Israel, (author paraphrases) ‘praise (Judah) is to go, for when you praise me, you shall have the land, that which you seek for.’   Judah is derived from the Hebrew word, meaning Praise. In Psalms 78:4 NIV, “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done."  What God was saying is ‘I will send My praise, My strength before you, so that you will know in and of yourself that you had nothing to do with the victory.  But you do have something to do with how you praise Me and the level of your praise.’  In short God was saying Praise moves Me, it empowers Me, I am only moved after the praise, not before.

Notice that the victory was given after Judah, not before!  In verse 3 of Judges 1, the Praise team (Judah) said to the Simeonites (who represent the church down the block, your co-worker, your neighbor, mother-in-law, etc.), ‘If you guys will help us with this problem, we will then assist you with your problem.’  I like the way Ephesians 4:16, NIV states it— "From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

We must work together as one, not the Baptist here, the Pentecostals there, the blacks here and the whites there—the only thing division has ever accomplished is more division.  Because the ‘Praise team’ (Judah) and the Simeonites (their brothers ‘in Christ’) worked together for the good, they were able to ‘strike down ten thousand men at Bezek’ (verse 4).   When we are able to come together in spite of our denomination, color or gender for one common goal of serving Christ and reaching the lost, we too can conquer the enemy and bring tens and thousands to Christ.   In Judges 1:19, ‘the Lord was with Judah (praise team)’. God says in Psalms 22:3, NIV—"But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." 

In verse 22 we see that the house of Joseph attacked Bethel.  Joseph means ‘may he add’, and Bethel means ‘house of God’.  Bethel was formerly known as Luz; when you look up the Hebrew term Luz, it not only refers back to Bethel, but it also states: ‘The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them’.   That sounds like God was not pleased with ‘the church’.  I did not say His church, but ‘the church’.  When the house of God (or Bethel) was no longer the ‘true’ house of God, it ceased from receiving the protection of the Lord.  When we compromise the Word of God, especially in the pulpit, in our lives, and behind closed doors, God is no longer in ‘that’ Bethel, and we leave ourselves wide open for attack, whether the attack is from the enemy or from God … whether it is to straighten us up, wake us up, or to get us back into the right standing with God. 

Today, we need to re-establish our covenant with God and man, both horizontal and then vertical - the sign of the cross.  We have to go up and establish a connection with God before we can go out to others.  To ascertain the covenant blessings, you and I have to get back in covenant with God.  He never got out of covenant with us, for God never sinned; but when we sin, we tie Gods hands from blessing us as a covenant member.  God made covenant with us and it was never based on what we did or did not do; His covenant with us is un-conditional and non-refundable.  He is a covenant keeping God.  He hears our cries and He delivers us again and again and again, because the covenant was not based on our ability, but based on our inability to do what only God can do!  God knew that in ourselves, we did not pose the capability to live holy and righteous lives.  So He established a covenant, based on His mercy, His grace, His love, and His ability and desire for a people to call His own,   In spite of our sins and our disobedience to Him and His Word.  God says, you are the limit, but I am the unlimited; you have boundaries, but I am above and beyond boundaries. 

In Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, the term “covenant” means “a coming together”.  It presupposes two or more parties who come together to make a contract, agreeing on promises, stipulations, privileges and responsibilities.  The preferred meaning of this Old Testament word is ‘bond’; a covenant refers to two or more parties bound together.  Because a covenant confirmed between two human parties was bilateral, some scholars have concluded that the covenant Yahweh established with human beings is also bilateral.  This is not the case.  God initiated, determined the elements and confirmed his covenant with humanity.  It is unilateral.  Persons are recipients, not contributors.  They are not expected to offer elements to the bond; they are called to accept it as offered, to keep it as demanded, and to receive the results that God, by oath, assures will not be withheld.   Because of this covenant, God showed His mercy and His forgiveness to the children of Israel, that regardless of how many times they sinned, He still forgave and took them into Himself and delivered them, from their own mess, after they called.  He showed them mercy, grace, love, compassion and His pain. 

In Judges 2:2, “The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?  Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.” God asked this question to express His grief, His pain, and His sorrow.  He was saying, why have you hurt me like this, with all that I have done for you, in spite of your sin?  God said, I am hurt, I am angry, I am wounded, because My lover, My love, My beloved, has betrayed Me yet AGAIN! 

In Judges 4, God raised up Deborah, a prophetess.  When Deborah told Barak (son of Abinoam) what the Lord said, Barak did not want to follow through; he wanted to negotiate with God.  “Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”  “Very well,” Deborah said, “I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman.”  God always sees the end, before the beginning, unlike man.  God saw before Barak existed that he would be a great man of faith. In Hebrews 11:32-34, NIV— “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.” Just as God saw before Barak, He has also seen before you and me, and says, ‘come back My beloved, look to me for what you need, not man, for only I can do what needs to be done’. 

God is still asking the question, why have we done this thing or that thing; after all He has done and is still willing to do for us.  He is still saying, where are you?  Why do we look to man to fight our battles when the Lord says clearly “the battle belongs to Me”.   Why do we look to man to see what only God who foreknew us can see?  Why do we look to men as the judge of what is good and what is right rather than looking to God?

The first four chapters of Judges are an example of what is still happening over two thousand years later between man and God.  Man still refuses to accept responsibility and ask another to carry the load, to “carry me in my storm, pray for me, suffer for me, not with me, but for me”.  It is still man’s rebellion against a loving and merciful God; we continue to run to sin and not to God, until the sin overtakes us.  God still hears and delivers, yet we have swayed so far from God.  It is still the cry of a loving Savior that says, ‘where are you, why have you done this’? 

In Judges 3:9—“But when they cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a deliver…” The only thing that is different between us and the children of Israel is Jesus! For the sin has not changed, the disobedience has not changed; the evil things have not changed!  You and I have an opportunity that the children of Israel did not have and could not have.  We not only have a merciful Judge, but a Judge (High Priest) that is touched with our infirmities, our weakness, but yet did not sin.  Jesus understands what you and I go through each day, but He also knows if we look to Him, from whence cometh our help, we can overcome and be re-instated back into covenant relationship with God.  (Psalms 121) God did not revoke the covenant, but when we sin, we move away from the covenant or outside of the covenant, or the covering.  It does not matter how many churches you go to or how many pastors or seers (prophets) you are still running too; man cannot do what only God is capable of doing.   Man cannot cover you. 

In Judges 4:17-21 (NIV), "Sisera, however, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there were friendly relations between Jabin king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don't be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she put a covering over him. “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up. “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say ‘No’ “ But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.” 

What is God saying?  God says, ‘I am going to cover you’.  He is saying if you have anyone other than whom He has commanded to cover you, anyone other than the Pastor after His heart, the man/woman He chose, the friends, etc., then you are not covered by covenant; you are not covered by one that keeps covenant with Him.  As Christians, we can’t just let anyone cover us simply because they are handsome, or because they ‘preach’ good, or because they seem to be a buddy.   Instead, you need to find out what the Lord has to say: Is that person(s) first in covenant relationship with God!  The only person(s) that has the right to cover you is a person that is first in covenant relationship with God. 

Let me break it down to you a little more, Webster defines Covenant as — a binding agreement.  Why would you bind yourself to anything or anyone, that is not FIRST bound or in covenant with God!  It matters not what he/she looks like, what they drive or how they preach, but that they are first in covenant with God.  If they are not in covenant with God, then they are in covenant with the devil!  And you cannot be in covenant with God today and tomorrow in covenant with the devil (or ‘self’) — news flash, if it isn’t God, the only option left is the devil.  We have got to re-establish our covenant relationship with God.  And once we do this, all His blessings will fall on and overtake us.  In closing or in short, NEVER SEND A MAN TO DO WHAT ONLY GOD CAN AND WILL DO!
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Judges 5 starts off with a song, “The song of Deborah”.  The song was after just one of God’s many mighty deliverances for the Israelites (4:23-24).  The song of Deborah says, ‘when we the people willingly offer ourselves — praise the Lord,’(5:2)!  It did not say offer up praise.  Yes, we should do this, but it says, …when we (say its talking about me) willingly offer ourselves (say its talking about me AGAIN)—then praise the Lord!  God wants you and me. He wants us in obedience to His Word, His Will, and to those whom He has put over us as spiritual leaders.  He wants us to willingly offer ourselves. Then in doing that we give praise to the Lord.  Praise the Lord in your songs and your worship. 

But we cannot offer God praise in any form if we do not willingly give ourselves unto Him, for His service; not our service or our opinion of what His service in our lives should be.  In short, God is asking for you to willingly lay down your life, as His Son did.  For Jesus said, “No man takes my life, but I willingly, (freely) lay it down, and I will take it up again.” (John 10:18)

When we ‘willingly’ are obedient, that in itself is a sweet incense or fragrance that goes up before God.  When we willingly do this, then on Sunday’s and Tuesdays or whatever day of the week you have bible study, you will not have to be pumped up by someone else because you will come already pumped up, and ready not only to give to God but to give to others around you.  You are just moving from a realm of intimate worship (your personal time with God) to a corporate worship (with the other church members), when we, from our hearts, praise God and His wonderful works (Psalm 107:24; 139:14; 145:5), or in short, when we pump His ‘ego’ up.  I believe God has an ego, not like man, but one that loves to hear His children praise and magnify Him. For David says that, “He inhabits the praise of His people.”  Isaiah 43:21, says, “The people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”

God loves to hear us worship and magnify and adore Him and His works.  The verse then states in Judges 5:4, that the earth shook and the heavens poured down out of the clouds.  The clouds represent His presence, His manifest presence.  The rain represents His anointing, for in Joel 2:23—“Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.”

When the children of Israel went out again and chose other gods, war came to them and not a shield (shield refers to God’s protection) or spear (means to hurl or throw; to hurl or throw the Word of God back at the enemy) was seen (5:7-9).  The shield and the spear represents God’s protection and divine provision.  In verse 10-11 of Chapter 5, “You who ride on white donkeys, sitting on your saddle blankets, and you who walk along the road, consider the voice of the singers at the watering places. They recite the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous acts of his warriors in Israel. “Then the people of the LORD went down to the city gates.” A donkey is a sign of humility, for Jesus rode a donkey into Bethlehem, while in Mary’s womb, as a to-be born babe, and as Savior riding in again as all man and all God in the form of our Savior.  He humbled himself on a beast of burden.  The blanket represents a covering (be careful of whom you allow to cover you, as we discussed in Judges 1-4).  The road represents the path that we all must take and the things that we will come across on this road. The voices of the singers represent our praises and the water is the anointing. 

When we look at this again, we see that God is saying we must come to Him humbly, knowing and trusting that He is our covering.  That we must be willing to walk the path of righteousness. On this path or road, there will be rocks, potholes, the stumbling stones etc., (trials, tribulations, storms). But we must walk it in praising Him, regardless of the road or what is on the road.  But along this humble, covering, righteous path, His anointing will be not only with us, but also in us.  As we recite His righteous acts, (His Word) and the many wars He conquered, and the righteous warriors that He used. (Not that they were righteous, but God and now the blood of Jesus makes us righteous.  It is His righteousness that covers (blanket) us.  Through Jesus’ humbling (riding the donkey) Himself, and Him walking where we could not walk (Calvary—the Cross) and pouring out His anointing (blood) for us.  God is still using righteous or holy warriors today.

In verse 15, it says ‘The princes of Issachar were with Deborah’, the keyword here is ‘Issachar’, [Hitchcock’s, Smith and Nave’s Bible dictionary describes the meaning of this name as ‘Reward and Recompense’.]  For God was about to reward and restore (recompense) back to the princes of Issachar.  In verses 15 and 16, twice it is mentioned; there was much searching of the heart.  God is always searching the heart of man, for no man knows the heart of man, except God (Jeremiah 17:10).  The princes of Issachar found favor in God, for He searched their heart and found Him there. God is still doing the same today. He is searching our hearts, not to find out the name of your church, your mate, your agenda, your denomination, but to find His name written on and in your heart. 

In verse 17, the question was asked, ‘why did Dan linger by the ships? And Asher remained on the coast and stayed in his coves.’  It sounds like they were afraid to move out of their comfort zone, pretty much like the church today.  While there is still a remnant that is willing to go beyond their comfort zones and even to risk their very lives, not for their cause, but for His (verse 18) purpose. In Verse 20, it states “from the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.”  When men and women are willing to fight, not against one another or this doctrine or that doctrine, but for that which God deems important, lives will change, groves of people will be saved, healed and delivered, and then heaven will fight beside us.

When we refuse to fight, (ex; to prayer, intercede, consecration, fasting and feeding on the Word of God, minister to the saints, etc.) against the enemy, we are cursed to the Lord, verse 23. In other words, we are no use to God and become tools for the devil.  Regardless of what man says, there is no middle ground, you are either on God’s side, or against Him. God used ‘a most blessed of women Jael’ (verse 24, and Hitchcock Bible dictionary describes ‘Jael’ as he ascends, the God in her.  Jael gave Sisera the general of the Canaanites, her choicest buttermilk, when he required water, to put him at ease, because he was so thirsty he could not sleep. 

Now the city Meroz means, “a refuge a place, (Judges 5:23) denounced because its inhabitants had refused to take any part in the struggle with Sisera; a cursed place of refuge; Possibly it was destroyed in the obedience to the curse.” Jael did not give him water (the anointing) as he asked for, but she gave him buttermilk, so that he would feel at ease.  So that Sisera could sleep or rest, then she took her right hand (represents power, authority), in verse 24-27, and crushed the enemies (serpents) head.  For God has given us the power and the authority to tread upon demons and serpents (Luke 10:19). 

For those who walk in and with God, and abide according to His will and Word, He will give them strength (sun/SON) and we will rise in His (sun/ SON) strength.  God gave His most blessed women in the princes of Issachar’s restoration for what the enemy had done to them.  He used the woman Jael and rose up within her His strength to do what she in her own ability could not do.  God is still doing this today, when He finds a willing vessel, that will allow His strength to ascend up in us, and reward and restore back to us, that which the enemy has stolen. 

In chapter 6:1, the Isralites, once again, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, like you and I constantly do.  So God turned them over to themselves or over to their wicked ways.  He turned them over for seven years, seven means completeness. They made shelters for themselves, not God.  They made the shelters in the mountain clefts and caves and in STRONGHOLDS. You should never make your house (a dwelling place, habitation) into a stronghold.  For that which you make as your house would ultimately either become your sanctuary or prison. A stronghold can be anything that is opposite of the Word and Will of God, thus sin; ex.; drugs, alcohol, pride, rebellion, etc.  When that sin is covering you (stronghold) verses God covering you (His grace, His mercy, His strength, His provision), nothing good can come from it.  As we talked in the last lesson, be careful of whom or what you allow to cover you.

Therefore the enemy will always steal, kill, destroy (John 10:10) anything ‘you’ erect or try to build, plant or raise.  Sin will only oppress you, where God desires to deliver you (6:1-2). Sin will never spare anything that is alive or that has life in it. It is like a swarm of locusts, it will devour you and all that you have.  Then we will cry out to the Lord, because of what we have allowed sin to do in our lives.  God sent a prophet (Jesus, or perhaps your pastor) to tell them (us) what to do to get out of that which we allowed sin to cover us, verses His Word. 

The Word, no matter what vessel God uses, will always remind you of what the consequences of sin are, because we are rebellious, prideful and refuse to repent and turn from our sin (2 Chronicles 7:14-15). But when we do, He who is faithful will forgive us and bring us back to Him, verses 7-10.  But the flesh always wants to blame God or others for ‘our’ sin, instead of saying, it is me Lord, standing in the need of prayer, forgiveness, (verse 13).   We have to be willing to make the first step, for God will require that of us, (verse 14).  Man’s flesh (verse 15), always wants to question God, in fear, doubt, and in ‘mans’ wisdom.  What man deems is the weakest, God can empower with His strength, and He will always be with us (verse 16).

As soon as we get a word from the Lord, the devil will always come to try and steal the Word (John 10:10). The devil will have you saying,  ‘how do I know it is you, Lord?’ or ‘give me a sign that it is you’, (6:17).  Notice Gideon was bringing an offering unto the Lord, for what the Lord was GOING to do!  Gideon means; he that cuts down.  He that cuts down fear, doubt, etc.  Gideon giving and offering BEFORE the manifestation of his miracle, forever Lord is your Word settled.   In other words, even though Gideon (you, me) wavered on the Word of God he received in the beginning or even in the middle, that faith seed was planted and nurtured.  From the Sunday services and bible study and our own quiet times with God in prayer and reading the Word, that faith begins to rise up, and reminds us what the Word of God says about this or that situation.  For God’s Word is a solid rock (Psalms 18:31—78:35), God changes not and neither does His Word (Psalm 110:4).  God’s Word is a word in season, out of season and for all season.  Gideon’s faith rose up and said, I will offer God not just a praise, but and offering of what He is about to do not only for me, but in and through me.  For the issues of tithe have already been settled from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

For faith says, it is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things YET seen (Hebrews 11:1) Gideon was thanking God, BEFORE there was a victory, his offering was sealing that Word, that covenant, which is the same between him and God.  Now notice in verse 18, the first word ‘please’, Gideon was saying, Lord, this is so important of what is about to transpire between me and thee.  It is a heart felt thing, my soul is rejoicing or magnifying over what You are not only willing to do, but choosing to do.  Not only are you doing it in me, but for me.  Please Lord, wait here while I go to prepare an offering worthy (not just any old offering, but a righteous and Holy offering, for a righteous God). To express how grateful and appreciative I am to You. How many of you, BEFORE God has answered your prayers, have given unto God and or His mouthpiece and offering of thanks for what God is about to do?

Let me show you what that does when we give an offering before the manifestation of the word that was given or spoken.  In verse 20, Gideon prepared meat; Easton’s Bible Dictionary describes ‘meat’ as (Heb. minhah), originally a gift of any kind. Gideon prepared this meat on the rock (Christ) and poured out the broth (un-natural thickening, fattening—adding to the Word).  Then the Angel of the Lord (Christ) with His staff (power, authority), (for all power and authority was given unto Him (Colossians 2:10). The Angel of the Lord touched the meat and unleavened bread. (His Body, the bread of life, the Word) and fire (Holy Spirit) flared from the rock and consumed the worthy offering.  God consumed the offering and sealed the covenant, His Word, His promise to Gideon, it was a covenant between Him and Gideon.  Then the Lord disappeared (verse 22). 

When we offer a worthy offering to the Lord for His Word, however the Lord chooses to give the word or whomever He chooses to use to bring the word, God then consumes your offering, as a seal that this is a covenant between Me and you.  That I SHALL perform that which I have promised, for I sealed it by consuming your offering.  It then becomes God’s responsibility, not ours to perform His Word, in short He needs no assistance.  But in verse 21, the Lord disappeared, Why?  To perform that which His covenant, His Word sealed.  Gideon then said, after realizing, ‘Ah, Sovereign Lord.’ 

Webster defines Sovereign as — one that exercises supreme authority.  God wants us to know this in all and everything that He IS sovereign.  Gideon then realizing that he saw the Lord face to face, was afraid.  But the Lord said, (verse 23), “Peace! Do not be afraid…” So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it ‘The Lord is Peace’.  Do you have an altar erected up for God? Not an altar of your issues, problems, grocery or wish list, but an altar that says, ‘The Lord is (your) Peace.  Not in your house, your church, but in your heart, that says, ‘The Lord is (my) Peace?  You see if you do, then no matter where you are, The Lord’s Peace is with you, because it is in you! Do you understand what it means to have an altar within your heart, that says, ‘The Lord is ‘your’ peace?  It means that no devil in hell on this earth can sway or stop the God, the Peace in you.  Because for every situation, circumstances that arise, it is His Peace that steps up and says, Be Still!  No matter what the storm may be, what the situation is, The Lord is (my) Peace!  To this day the altar of peace stands in Ophrah of the Abizzrites.  The Lord’s peace will stand, after the storms have passed, your ‘friends’ have fallen away (not covenant friends, for they endure the storms with you), your family has cast you aside.  His peace will stand, but you first have to erect that altar up for Him—in your heart, and then daily visit that altar. 

So that when your family or friends betray you, the altar of the Lord, the Lord is (your) Peace, will shine through, through your hurt, your pain, the betrayal.  Through it all, and say because I am your peace, My peace says be still. 
In writing this study, I thought that I would go through chapters 5-8, but the Holy Spirit had His own agenda and I am always willing to be on His agenda and not my own.  For the ones who are struggling in ‘your’ peace, and ‘your’ might and ‘your’ strength, the God of Sovereign, says, it is only in HIS Peace, HIS might and in HIS strength will you have the victory.  As we have been studying thus far in the book of Judges, it matters not how many times you and I have fallen, but what matters is that you get up, and we get up in Him.  For in Him we have our being, Acts 17:28, then we must build or go back to the altar that we erected in Him, that altar called, ‘The Lord is YOUR Peace! 

When God sends that man, woman or the Holy Spirit to impart His Word unto you, give unto that vessel, ‘your best’ offering as unto the Lord, and seal that covenant between you and God.  Not the man or woman or the vessel He used, for all they are is the mouthpiece of Him.  He is the power that moves the vessel, and we should erect in our hearts and altar unto the Lord and visit it DAILY to remind our self, ‘The Lord is (My) Peace.  So when the storms come and the wind blows, the altar of God will shine through and say, He is your peace and quiet the ragging storms.  When the devil comes to you with lies and fears, the altar of the Lord will shine through with Peace and diminish that fear.  When the devil comes to you with lies, the altar of the Lord will shine through with Peace and uncover the lies to reveal His truth.  For at the altar of the Lord, where the Lord is Your Peace, fear and doubt has to flee. If you have remembered nothing else from this, remember this, For THE LORD IS ‘OUR’ PEACE!
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In this chapter, the same night that the Lord told Gideon (6:25) to take a second bull of seven years, (seven meaning complete), He told Gideon to tear down ‘his fathers altar, and then build a PROPER altar to the Lord and offer the second bull for sacrifice.’  There can only be room enough in our lives for one God, for God will not share us with another.  Sometimes you have to go against ‘tradition’, what the family thinks, has always done, what is on the church program.  In other words, you may have to go against mans way of thinking and doing things, and stand on the side of the Lord.

There will be times in the natural, you will be standing alone, because you have chosen to step out in faith and trust and believe God.  But if God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31). Gideon did ‘obey’ the Lord, but he did it in secret for fear of what everyone else would say or think of him.  Does any of this sound familiar in your life?  I know it does in mines.  But the Word of God says that there is nothing hid that will not be revealed (Luke 12:2, KJV). So the next morning when the people arose (6:28), they questioned among themselves, who destroyed the altar, or ‘who did this (v.29)?  Or in today’s terminology; who said when you go to church you can dress like that, shout like that, do this and do that. Who told you to destroy what ‘we’ deem is how God should move.  Man will always erect an altar of some sort and say it is God, the altar could be a dress code, the agenda, how the Holy Spirit should or should not move, what should or should not be preached and still say, it is unto the Lord, but in truth, it is unto man.  For God gets no glory and no honor out of self-altars, He will not take a back seat to our agenda. For He is the first and the last, the alpha and the omega (Rev. 1:8, KJV).  I could go on and give examples of manmade altars, rules and doctrines that have been written and stamped ‘in the name of God’, but are not of God.  Did Jesus not tell the Pharisees, ‘you know the law’, (or the written words.)  But not the heart of the Law, the heart is what makes the Law beat, or work.  If your heart is not joined to God’s heart,  how will you understand what makes the Law of God—God! You hear, but do not understand…(Matthew 13:13).

There will always be that group, that person that will say, ‘this cannot be God, for God does not move like this.’  ‘We never did it this way before.’ Understand when we set our rules and regulations on how God can move, when He can move and what time He can move, we are attempting to put Him in a box and set Him on our altar (whatever that altar is).  But when the Spirit of God comes in like a flood, He will upset your apple cart (as my pastor’s wife would say).  When the Spirit of the Lord comes in, there will be liberty (2 Cor. 3:17, KJV), not for our agenda, but for His!  When the religious Pharisees and Sadducees see this, they will try to kill you (v.30) or that which God is birthing not only in you but also through you.  Understand it is never, nor ever will be about you, but that which you are carrying, that baby, that Word of God that is in you. 

In verse 31, Joash (Means: whom Jehovah bestowed) stood up for Gideon and basically said, ‘what Gideon did was under the direction of the One true God.’  And if the god ‘you’ serve, really is god, let him fight His own battle.  “For the battle is not yours, but it belongs to God” (2 Chron. 20:15, NIV).  Now when it was time for Gideon to do battle, fear crept in and it brought along ‘Cousin Doubt’, not ‘Cousin It.’ Understand, Gideon had just met the Lord face to face and did not die.  He built an altar to the Lord, calling it ‘The Lord is Peace.’  He and the Lord earlier had made a covenant, and now Gideon was having conversations or at least listening to ‘Brother Fear’ and ‘Cousin Doubt’, for ‘Cousin It’ had left the building.  But Gideon is not unlike most of us, when we get a Word from the Lord.  He shows up in our marriages, relationships, jobs, finances or health in a mighty way and when God tells us to step out on faith and move, instead of remembering that which God had already said, did and most of all, that He is a Covenant keeping God, we entertain conversations with ‘Brother Fear’ and ‘Cousin Doubt’.

So Gideon asked God for a ‘sign’, you know, ‘was it really you Lord, did you really mean what You said, are you sure You want to use me, are You sure this can be done?’  So Gideon says, ‘show me a sign Lord’ (6:36-40). Because God is Sovereign and Merciful and full of Grace and Love, He knew exactly where Gideon (we) lived.  He knew where Gideon’s ‘present’ faith was, but He knew most of all where his ‘future’ faith would be.  So in Judges 7, the Lord decided to show Gideon, I AM, THAT I AM (Ex. 3:13, NIV);(WHO I AM, KJV). So God tells Gideon in Chapter 7 verse 2, ‘Gideon, you have too many men/women (homeboys, church crew, etc.) for me to do what I need to do.’  In other words, they would just get in the way, they would hinder what I am trying to not only do in you, through you, with you and ultimately get to you.

In verse 3, God told Gideon to announce that if anyone was afraid, to tell them to turn back and leave Mount Gilead. For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7, KJV). So twenty-two thousand men left.  Have you ever had a group of people, whether family, friends, or church members to say they believe in you and what God has spoken to you, but only to turn away and leave you, when God does not show up on ‘their’ schedule or ‘their’ way?  Or even when what is being required of them means that they actually have to exercise their faith, instead of saying that it is their lack of faith or the ability to utilize what God has ALREADY placed within them.  For the Word says… “but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you (Romans 12:3, NIV).” But we have to learn to hear only that which God has spoken to us, regardless of what it looks like, what people will say. ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things NOT seen’ (Hebrews 11:1, KJV).

God was looking at the remnant left with Gideon, that which was set apart, for many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14, KJV).  God told Gideon to take the portion of men that were left down to the lake (7:5), and those that lapped the water like a dog, to choose them. For God will choose the foolish things to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27).  God was and still is looking for some radical people that will believe in a radical God.  People that will believe that I AM, that I AM, whatever we need, I AM, whatever we need done, I AM.  God is looking for some men and women that are willing and unashamed to worship Him and step out when He says step out on that ocean of faith.  Even though the winds and the water may be raging around us, but know that if He calmed the sea over two thousand years ago, He is still able to calm the sea of our problems and situations now.  Has God ever asked you to do something radical?  Has God ever asked you to lap water like a dog?  When you get to the point in your life that it no longer matters what the church people say, your friends say, or what your family says, but all that matters is what I AM says, and has said about the matter and or situation. 

The number of men God chose was three hundred.  In verse nine, God tells Gideon to “Rise up, go down to the camp, for I have given it into your hands.” Now understand, Gideon and the three hundred ‘water lappers’ have not in the natural even began the battle. Yet God said, ‘Rise Up…I have given it into your hands.’  You see God saw through His eyes of faith and His ability to do in and through man what man could not do.  All Gideon (we) had to do was, RISE UP, and trust and obey God.  It does not matter what our situation is or what it looks like.  It does not matter who is against you, I will go one step further, it does not even matter HOW many are against you.  For if God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31, NIV).  All we need to do is, ‘RISE—UP’, for the King of Glory is on our side.  Gideon believed in God, he believed in a battle that was yet won, that he already had the victory.

And you and I as children of God, have a more excellent assurance and way, through Jesus Christ, for He has already finished the work, on the Cross of Calvary.  For the battle is not ours, but it belongs to the Lord, (2 Chronicles 20:15, KJV).  All we need to do is, ‘RISE—UP’.  God allowed Gideon in verse 14-15, to hear what the enemy was saying, their fears.  And he then knew that God was Sovereign, and he came back to tell the three hundred men to ‘rise—up’.  This is what God is telling the Body of Christ today, in this hour, this season, to ‘Rise—Up’.  Gideon divided the three hundred men into sections of three - a hundred men for each section - to surround the enemies’ camp. Each section was covered by a hundred men, one section representing The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost. Whatever your fears are, whether they are smaller or greater than Gideon’s, the same God that met Gideon where he was (spiritually, mentally and emotionally), is able to meet you where you are. The same God that told Gideon to tear down the false altar and erect a proper one for Him, is asking the same thing of you and me, whatever our ‘altar’ is.  The same God that told Gideon, ‘you have too many distractions, too many people around you, get rid of them and the distractions, so that I can move in and through you’,  is speaking to us today and telling us to lay aside every weight, every entanglement that so easily besets us (Romans 12:1, KJV).  God is saying, when you do, watch what I can do with a few, with a little.
The first thing Gideon had to do, was to ‘Rise Up’, (rise up from whatever level you are, rise up from your sin, rise up from your pride, rebelliousness, self-centeredness) he then had to ‘go down to the camp’.  The camp represents your battlefield or ground, your unconquered storm.  Whether the storm is alcohol, drugs, stealing, pride, even if it is fear from stepping out into the ministry that God has called you. 

In other words, God is saying ‘Rise Up’ and face the battle - don’t run from it.  But to know that He has already given the victory into our hands.  All we have to do is rise up and face the battle, knowing that ‘battle is not ours’, but the victory is!  How can the victory be ours?  Because the Word says the battle is not ours, it belongs to the LORD!  If the battle is the Lord’s, then I do not imagine Him being defeated by the enemy, so therefore, we already have the victory.  But if we do not do the first two things, which is to RISE UP and then GO DOWN TO THE CAMP, God cannot hand over the victory to us, for we have not earned the right to say we are victorious in Christ, if we do not Rise Up and go down to the camp.  You cannot possess the land if you don’t travel through the land, through the valley, you will never get to the other side, where there is victory waiting for you. The same God that asked Gideon to do something foolish and trust God’s wisdom is asking the same of you and me.  And most of all, the same God that told Gideon to ‘Rise—Up’, for I have already given you the victory (whatever area we are needing the victory in), is the same God who is telling you and me to ‘RISE—UP’, not in our strength, not in our wisdom, but in His, so together, let’s Rise—Up in Him!

Lynn