Battleground Earth 9: Gideon-Part 1 - David Mitts


"The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior."" Jdg 6:12

Click here to listen to "Gideon - Part 1"

In these prophetic times, people are gradually losing confidence in their security. Our next judge Gideon deals with the scenario of an attack on our livelihood. What we often do not realize is that an attack on our faith is an attack on our livelihood. In the case of Gideon, the Midianites were raiding and destroying the crops and livestock of Israel.

For it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go against them. So, they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it. (Jdg. 6:3-5 NASB)
This is an attack on the provision of the Lord for the children of God. In today’s terms, it parallels the current attack on the provision of the Lord for our small businesses that do not have the resources and favor of the larger ones. This is truly an attempt by the enemies of God to steal, kill, and destroy the sources of provision. 

We are seeing the activation of an ancient enemy of God and the covenant. It goes by many names. In the story of Judges, it is called Midian. Who is Midian? Midian is the child of Abraham by Keturah. Midian is a sworn enemy of Isaac and the seed.

"Be hostile to the Midianites and strike them; for they have been hostile to you with their tricks, with which they have deceived you in the affair of Peor, and in the affair of Cozbi, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was slain on the day of the plague because of Peor." (Num 25:17-18 NAS77)

It is interesting that the Midianites are associated with both an attack of the provision of God for Israel and for a plague. We are in the midst of a plague and an attack on provision. Cozbi was the Midianite woman who seduced an Israeli and led him into Baal worship. Look with me at Numbers 25:1-

While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the LORD was angry against Israel. And the LORD said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel." So Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you slay his men who have joined themselves to Baal of Peor." Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked. (Num 25:1-8 NAS77)

Baal Peor is the god of the Moabites and Midianites. This “god” is worshipped with open sexual acts. The Apostle Paul spoke about this: 1Cor: 10:1-11

For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved. And do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, "THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY." Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. (1Cor. 10:1-11)

I know this is a lot of scripture to digest. The main point I want to make is that the attack on Israel that was dealt with by Gideon is an attack on provision and an attack on our morality that is related to a plague. We have become desensitized to moral pollution and many of the things that would have been outrageous a generation ago, are now mainstream in our society. Abortion, divorce, and remarriage, open sexual distortions like pedophilia, etc. are just treated as preferences like food choices. We choose to terminate pregnancies. We choose to not be married any longer. We choose to have sex with children. The list goes on and gets darker and darker. 

The thing that many don’t realize is that making these choices are acts of worship. The fallen angels of Genesis 6 are behind these agendas. If we read on what the Apostle Paul states to the Corinthians in Chapter 10, we see this laid out:

"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry." 1Co 10:12-14 (NASB)

There is an intimate connection between that which we consume and that which we worship. Our “god” is revealed by our consumption, our desires, our temptation. There would be no temptation if there was no desire.

""For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate." Gen 3:5-6 (NASB)

What is also revealed is our worship. Read on in 1 Cor 10:15-21

"I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons." 1Co 10:15-21 (NASB)

Our consumption reveals our worship. As a friend of mine once told me, “I can tell what a person worships by their checkbook”. Drinking and eating is just a subset of our consumption.

There is one type of consumption that is the most dangerous to our soul, sexual consumption.

Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, "THE TWO WILL BECOME ONE FLESH." But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body. (1Co 6:16-20 NAS77)

Once we realize that our body is a worship center, in fact, THE worship center, then we need to be especially mindful of how we care for the worship space, the dwelling place of God’s Holy Spirit. Sexual consumption, bringing a foreign sexual union, non-covenantal union, becomes an act of demonic worship. The offspring spiritually is demonic as well, whether there is a natural seed or a spiritual one.

In the account of Israel with the Midianites, the Lord sends His voice through a prophet:

"Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the LORD on account of Midian, that the LORD sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery. 'I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land, and I said to you, "I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not obeyed Me." Jdg. 6:7-10 (NASB)

This is the foundation of faith. Faith comes by hearing or shema, and the shema is activated by the Word of God. Notice the prophet is not named. This is the first time a prophet is spoken of as a separate office of the Lord. The prophet appears before the savior and deliverer, Gideon is chosen and commissioned.

God is more concerned with the condition of our hearts than our circumstances. The greater, our heart contains the lesser, our circumstances. The prophet reminds Israel of the testimony of God in their lives. Often, we doubt and are in a panic because we lose touch with how much God loves us and has always been there for us. We tend to look at how big our “problems” are and how small and powerless we seem in our condition.

The prophet declared two issues: the fear of the gods of the Amorites and secondly the lack of obedience of the voice of Lord. In actual fact, these are both one issue, the voice of the Lord. I believe the reason the prophet is unnamed here is not to disrespect the prophet but to emphasize the condition and the solution.

The condition is the fear of the gods of the Amorites. What does that mean? The word Amorite is from the Hebrew word “amar” which means to speak. The Hebrew states that Israel feared the many voices from what the Amorites worshipped. This tells me that there was an active presence of the Nephilim in the Amari. Like today, there was a spiritual climate full of confusion and many divisive voices were clamoring for the heart of Israel. Fear was the result and an inability or a lack of attempt to Shema, to listen to God and hear His plan, remember His greatness, His faithfulness.

God is always there to deliver us but that is NOT His ultimate strategy in our lives. His ultimate strategy is to speak to us and lead us into His plans for good and not evil. We have but to listen.

This unknown prophet was the last choice of God. It was a sign that even in our furthest apostasy He is still in love with us and will send His voice, even if He has to use a prophet.

Activation: Let’s pause our study of Gideon and the coming deliverance and reconnect with His voice in our hearts. Let’s quiet ourselves and silence the voice of fear and the many speakings, the Amorites of our day, the news media, Facebook, videos, and even our friends. Let’s ask our loving Father:

What do you want me to hear?

What do you want me to speak?

What do you want me to do?

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