DAILY HOPE DEVOTIONAL: AUGUST 5 YOU ARE NOT WHO YOU THINK (1) SCRIPTURE: JUDGES 6: 12 -13, 15, 24
I remember a day I visited a family passing through serious difficulties way back 2009 or so. The insults from the wife on the husband were too damaging. The wife did not economize any vile word, but insulted and blamed every misfortune she had ever met on the husband. As a Pastor, I tried to calm her down but to no avail. She was too bitter living in rented apartment of two rooms and a parlor with four children excluding she and the husband. I interjected her at a time and said: “Madam, what if you see yourself living in three-bed-room-flat very soon by the virtue of God’s miracle?” The lady shut me down, that even God will not do that. Few months after the debts owed the husband was paid and the man bought a four-bed-room-flat built to a roofing level. Soon the house was upgraded to five-bed-room-flat and they packed into it.
Many people who find themselves in hopeless situations behave like this woman. They allow the extreme hard time around them believed they are nobody, who can become anybody even if God tells them that they are born great. These kinds of people, if you preach miracle they resort to saying: “where is my miracle?” In the Bible, many saw themselves nobody based on how they think of themselves. Today’s devotional brought out one of them whose name is Gideon. Gideon was born with inner strength, but kept seeing himself belonging to the weakest tribe of Manasseh and himself, the least in the family (Judges 6: 15). The people of Judah were besieged for months by the Midianites. Nobody went out. The Midianites destroyed their crops and farms. But Gideon sneaked out one day into the father’s farm to gather wheats. An angel of God appeared to him and addressed him as “Mighty Hero” or “a man of valor”. He asked Gideon to go with the “might” in him to deliver his people.
Gideon, after some hours of argument with the angel of God took the command, built an altar and called it “The Lord Is Peace” or “JEHOVAH SHALOM” (Judges 6: 24). He later became a great warrior, army commander and Judge over his people. Today my beloved, I might not know who you have taken yourself to be. God is not seeing you as one with wrecked background. He is not seeing you as bastard or an offspring of slaves. God does not work with family background when it comes to His time to turn you to who He created you. Today’s devotional comes to encourage you to stop behaving how you think of yourself. You are allowed to enter that “god forsaken family” so that you will create history. Please and please, the beloved in Christ, just stop arguing with the promises of God concerning yourself. You will soon be celebrated.
PRAYER:
JEHOVAH-SHALOM, your presence with anyone gives peace to that person. I cast my mind on your presence around me today. Grant me peace in the midst of my troubles in Jesus name.
POSITIVE CONFESSION:
I am peace personified; I am not abandoned by God. Hallelujah
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