Mon.’s Devo - From Fear to Victory

Read: Judges 7:1-8:17; Luke 23:13-43; Psalms 97:1-98:9; Proverb 14:7-8
Today we see Gideon transform from the frightened little farmer to the great and mighty warrior of the Lord.
Gideon had gathered an army of 22,000 men to fight the Midianites but God told him that he had too many. If He gave them the victory, they would boast that they had done it, so God had Gideon whittle his army down to 300.
If Gideon was afraid with 22,000 men, you can imagine how he felt with 300. God is so good to encourage us when he is asking us to do something impossible. He told Gideon that if he was still afraid he could sneak down to the Midianite camp and get some encouragement. How is that for advice? Gideon took his friend and they did just that. When they listened as one of the warriors was telling his friend about his dream. It was about a loaf of barley bread that tumbled down into the Midianite camp, hit one tent, and it fell flat. His friend interpreted it that it could only mean one thing - God had given Gideon the victory over Midian and all its allies. That was all the confirmation Gideon needed. He went back to his men and told them to get up because it was time to go and get their victory. With these 300 men, they killed 120,000.
They surrounded the camp, blew their ram’s horns and broke their jars to let their light shine. They woke the Midianites up in a panic. They ran around killing each other and scattered everywhere. Gideon called in other tribes to help him with the ones who escaped. He ran after the kings and chased them down. He came back to the towns who wouldn’t feed his warriors and beat them then killed them. Gideon took two of the Midianite kings along with many soldiers as prisoners.
In Luke, the lamb has been examined and was found spotless. Pilate announced he was innocent and was going to release him but the crowd yelled for Jesus to die and Barabbas to be released in his stead. Pilate fell to the pressure and released Barabbas to quiet the mob and ordered that Jesus be crucified.
Two others were to be crucified that day also. One of them mocked Jesus along with the crowd while the other knew who Jesus was and rebuked him for speaking against the innocent Messiah. He asked to be remembered when Jesus came into his kingdom but Jesus told him he would not just be remembered but he would join him in Paradise. In the Greek, “paradise” means “a park, an Eden, a place of future happiness”. Jesus was winning souls in the middle of his worse suffering.
Lord, thank you for all the suffering you bore just so that we could be saved. Jesus, you forgave all your murderers so help us to forgive everyone who rightfully or wrongly accuses us. May we win the fight against sin as a mighty warrior full of your Spirit.