Brag on God Friday

I'm so glad you are here! I hope during your visit you get a glimpse of God's heart for we become what we are gazing at. I pray that God refreshes you and gives you readiness to persevere in what He has for you today.  My desire is to be a blessing to you in helping you know God more and make Him known so I've made these Resources available to you and have the Missional Living blog tab for practical ideas of how to live on mission right where you are. If you are blogger come link up on Friday's for Brag on God Friday.   

And swing by my soapbox to read about stewarding Tim Tebow and the opportunity to capitalize on his platform to further God's kingdom.  

"During that night the LORD said to Gideon, "Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp." So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore. Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. "I had a dream," he was saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed." His friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands." When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, "Arise, for the LORD has given the camp of Midian into your hands." Judges 7:9-15

Rise and shine soldiers (if you didn't do the interactive mad-lib activity yesterday please go back and do it, then come on back for this to make sense.)

Now how are you feeling after a night of sleep? Well, today is the day of getting to see the Lord's salvation. But as a soldier camping in the field or a soldier sent home, you don't know that yet. You will be woken with the best news ever today.

But till then, let's focus on fearful turned courageous through the Holy Spirit Gideon. God wakes him up in the middle of the night and tells him to go down to attack. 

So how do you normally wake up in the morning? I wake up stumbling around a bit achy and unwilling to speak until after a cup of coffee and time with the Lord. If God woke me up, in the middle of the night no less, and told me to go fight 135,000 I don't think I would be as obedient as Gideon. The Lord might get an, "Ugh..." as I rolled over and went back to sleep. 

And then those beautiful words, "if you are afraid". That right there moves me to want to bow in worship to the Lord right here in the middle of Starbucks! He knows we are but dust doesn't He! He knows how immobilizing fear can be. He knows us so intimately and yet He is so compassionate, seeing our problem, seeing what we are up against and provides a way through the fear. He tells Gideon to take his servant Purah. What a privilege for this servant to be called by name, to be hand-picked by God. The Lord cares about our emotions and doesn't just say, 'Get over it.'

So here is Gideon and Purah. I can't help but think of the parallel of Jonathan and his armor-bearer in 1 Samuel 14. How wonderful the Lord doesn't leave us to go alone. 

Then, as Gideon is walking by faith he sees God's perfect timing. For Gideon and Purah to arrive at the exact time of this guy sharing his dream with his friend. Wow! What are the chances. Of all the 135,000 men, they arrive by this guys tent at this exact time. Don't you just love when God does that! His timing truly is amazing and way beyond what we think He should do on our time table.

Then because he got a glimpse of what God was up to, right there in enemy territory, he bowed in worship! 

When we are walking, in motion, being intentional about stepping out of our comfort zones to trust the Lord, we get a glimpse of Him and what He is up to.

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The Entire Series. 
What Have You Missed?

Chapter One
{Verses 1-3} Know-er 
{Verses 4-7} Reliance 
{Verses 9-11}  Bigger Picture 
{Verses 17-19} Prepare for Battle
{Verses 21-2:6}  No More 

Chapter 2
{Verses 7-11} Revealer 
{Verses 11-12} The Lord's Anger
{Verses 14-15} Love Conquers
{Verses 16-19} The Great Rescue
{Verses 22-3:4} The Big Test     

Chapter 3
{Verses 7-11} Willing & Available 
{Verses 12-14} Facing the Enemy
{Verses 15-30} Freedom 
{Verse 31} Comparison

Chapter 4
{Verses 2-3} Beauty of Bridled Strength  
{Verses 8-13} Tons of Nuggets 
{Verses 17-5:31} Where's the Trust      

Chapter 5
{Verses 2-31} Offering   

Chapter 6
{Verse 2} Running out of Darkness 
{Verses 7-8} God Responds 
{Verses 11-12}Redemptive Eyes  
{Verse 13} Questioning Goodness 
{Verse 14} What Strength?   
{Verses 15-16} Just not enough
{Verse 17} Is it really you? {Verse 18-22} Grace Upon Grace
{Verse 25-31 } Courageous Defender 
{Verse 33-40} Courage Giver 


Chapter 7
{Verse 1-8} Mad-Lib

Will you join us in bragging on God?

Each Friday, I love to give others and opportunity to ban together and tell about how incredible God is. If you'd like to "proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness" click the link below and follow the prompts to link up your post. 

Please let your readers know by including a link in your post or put my button code (found on the side bar) so they can find these other great people bragging about the greatness of God.

And will you leave some comments on these sweet peoples posts linked up. It sure can get discouraging sometimes and a kind word goes a long way.    

I'm joining The Beauty in His Grip and Spiritual Sundays