Then the Lord said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you.” Judges 7:7.
After the overthrow of the Midianites, the tidings spread swiftly far and wide that Israel’s God had again fought for His people. No words can describe the terror of the surrounding nations when they learned what simple means had prevailed against all the power and skill of a bold, warlike race.
Wherever the news spread, all felt that the victory must be ascribed to God alone. Thus the Lord’s name was glorified, the faith of Israel strengthened, and their enemies were brought to shame and confusion.
It is not safe for God’s people to adopt the maxims and customs of the ungodly. The divine principles and modes of working are widely different from those of the world. The history of nations presents no such victories as the conquest of Jericho or the overthrow of the Midianites. No general of heathen armies had ever conducted warfare as Joshua and Gideon had done. These victories teach the great lesson that the only sure ground of success is the help of God, working with human effort. Those who trust to their own wisdom and their own skill will surely be disappointed. The only safe course in all the plans and purposes of life is to preserve the simplicity of faith. Humble trust in God and faithful obedience to His will are as essential to the Christian in waging spiritual warfare as they were to Gideon and his brave associates in fighting the battles of the Lord.
God’s commands must be implicitly obeyed, irrespective of the world’s opinion. This lesson should not be disregarded by those who occupy positions of responsibility among their fellow men…. All should earnestly improve every religious privilege and inquire of God daily to learn His will. The life and words of Christ must be diligently studied and His instructions cheerfully obeyed. Those who will thus gird on the armor of righteousness need not fear the enemies of God. They may be assured of the presence and protection of the Captain of the Lord’s host….
The Lord is willing to give His people a precious experience…. He would teach them to submit their judgment and their will implicitly to Him. Then will they see and know that of themselves they can do nothing; that God is all and in all.—Signs of the Times, July 21, 1881.
From the Heart p. 274
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Prayer Requests
—-Praise—-Ronnie Jay and Gean came through their surgeries successfully. Rose
—-I am requesting prayer for my two sons. They are adults now with families, but I still have concerns for some of their choices. Christine
—-We need prayers for God divine provision and wisdom. Erik
—-Need prayer for Tammy, she’s been in the hospital for over a month. They are checking for brain damage and needs a liver transplant. Please pray for healing. Karla
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Dear Friends,
Kate was a little girl who loved animals—all animals. If it was living, she loved it. One day she heard something in her closet. Very carefully she followed the noise until she found a little mouse. Most little girls would have screamed, but not Kate. She had no fear of the creature. She was happy to have a new friend.
Quietly she closed the door and went to the kitchen. She took a corner off from a slice of bread and found a jar lid in one of the drawers. Back to her room she went.
Kate opened the closet door slowly and put down the bread. Then she went to the bathroom and filled the jar lid with water. After placing the lid in her closet, she quietly closed the door.
The next day, she brought her new “friend” a little cake and gave him fresh water. Kate decided to make her mouse a little house. She looked around and found a shoebox and her sissors. She cut a hole in one end of the box and placed it upside down in one corner of her closet. Then she put the food beside the box.
Within days, she had tamed that mouse. It now had no fear of her and would run all over her. She was happy to have such a nice little pet right there in her own room.
One day while Kate was playing at a friend’s house, her mother decided to clean out Kate’s closet. There were some clothes that no longer fit Kate and there was the usual clutter on the closet floor. She began to pick up a few things—-including the shoebox. Mr. mouse was inside! How Kate’s mother screamed! Grabbing her broom, she got rid of the little creature. Then she saw the hole in one end of the box and the jar lid filled with water.
When Kate got home, her mother met her with a frown. Little Kate was heartbroken at the thought of what happened to her little pet, but mother helped her realize that making a pet of an animal that spreads so much sickness, was not a good thing to do.
How often we are like Kate. We have a “mouse in the closet” so to speak. We nurture it and pet it and hold it. That “mouse” seems so attractive and pleasing to us, but it will eventually hurt us. It may be daydreaming, intemperance, evil speaking, pride, lack of love for others, gossiping, covetousness, or the like. As we hold to that sin, it grows larger and stronger until it takes over our life and that “mouse in the closet” begins to take complete control of us. Suddenly we realize that we are chained to our sin. We cry out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Rom 7:24
Praise God! We have a Saviour Who will clean out our “closet” and get rid of the “mouse in the closet! Even though it is often as hard for us to let go of the “mouse in the closet” as it was for Kate, it is needful. Paul reminds us, “ For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Heb 12:6-11
“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. . . . He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.” Ps 103:12-18
May we allow Him to clean out the “closet” of our mind that we may be rid of the “mouse of sin and death” that we have fed for so long.
Rose
