top of page

Part 5 - Entering the inheritance God has for you. Move out of your position – Part 2

  • May 17, 2020
  • 7 min read

Part 5 - Entering the inheritance God has for you.  Move out of your position – Part 2

Joshua 3:1 “Early the next morning Joshua and all the Israelites left Acacia Grove and arrived at the banks of the Jordan River, where they camped before crossing.”

We focused on the following 3 steps to enter into the inheritance God has for us.

  1. The Acacia Grove Mindset – Renew Your Mind

What you feed your mind with becomes a mindset. What you feed your mind with becomes a mindset.

  • Move to the edge of the Jordan River – Focus on God

We Focus on God through a life of Prayer. We put God first in our lives when we trust Him to take care of us. We put God first in our lives when we seek Him because we know He cares—when we go to Him for comfort on a tough day. We put God first when we seek to find His direction and ask Him to change our hearts. Putting God first in our grief is allowing Him to be in control of our circumstances. God has a good plan for those who love Him. When there is hardship, we put our hope in Him.

  • Lodging at the river. Spend time with God

Before we can enter the promise of God, we need to lodge before crossing the river.  We need to spend time with God.

  • Look at your problem and know that God is greater than it.

Know that God is always greater than your problem.

  • Move out of your positions

Joshua 3:2-4 (NIV) 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.

Today we are going to focus on step 5.  Move out from your position.  Before we can move from our positions, we need to

  1. Receive instructions – Three days later the officers went through the camp, giving instructions.  We must start hearing the voice of God.  Like never before we must receive instructions from God. 

  2. Need to see - When you see the priests carrying the Ark of the Lord. We need to see the move of God. 

  3. Act – Move out from your positions and follow

Why? Since we have never travelled this way before. Never in our lifetime have we experienced something like this.

I am not sure in what position you are finding yourself today.  Maybe you are finding yourself in a position of trouble, problems and the wilderness. Maybe you have a river that   is uncrossable.  It is time to move out from your position.

In Judges 6 we see that the children of Israel were handed over to the Midianites for seven years. 

Judges 6:6b says, “Then the Israelites cried out for help.”  You see when you are in desperate need of help, there is only one solution, cry out to God.

The moment they cried out to God something happened.  Judges 6:7 “When they cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites.

In Judges 6:11 we see the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon; he was secretly trying to thresh some wheat in a winepress in order to provide some food.  During this time, the angel of the Lord appears to him.

The Lord reminded Israel of what He had done. 

  1. Remember what the Lord has done. – Standing on the promises of God.

Past

Judges 6:8 the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt. 9 I rescued you from the Egyptians and from all who oppressed you. I drove out your enemies and gave you their land. 10 I told you, ‘I am the Lord your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

God reminded them that:

  1. He brought them out of Egypt

  2. He brought them out of bondage

  3. He delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians

  4. Delivered them from all oppressors

  5. Gave them the land

  6. He is their only God

God reminded them that He has done everything from His side, but Israel did not listen to God.

The Present

Remarkably interesting to see that suddenly once God reminded Gideon of what He had done, He immediately moves into the present, declaring that the Lord is with Him.

Judges 6:12b “The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”

Like most people, Gideon connect see God in the present.  He is looking at the current situation, they are left with nothing, for seven years they are hiding in the mountains, caves and strongholds.  Israel was left with nothing to eat, they were left to starvation.  Gideon receives a word from God, Mighty hero the Lord is with you.

Now Gideon asks the Lord in Judges 6:13 “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

Gideon asks the following:

  1. Where is the Lord? v13

  2. Why is all of this happening? v13

  3. Where are all the miracles from the earlier days? V13

  4. Had the Lord really brought them out of Egypt/slavery? V13

  5. Why has the Lord abandoned them? V13

  6. Why have they been handed over to the enemy? V13

God promises him the following:

  1. He is a mighty hero. V12

  2. The Lord is with Him. v12

  3. He must go with the strength he has – God uses us as we are. V14

  4. God is sending him. v14

  5. God will destroy the enemy. V16

  6. They will be like one man. V16

  7. I will stay here until you return – I will wait for you v18

  8. Not to be afraid; he will not die v23

  9. I will give you victory over them 7v9

Gideons response to God’s promise:

  1. How can I rescue Israel v15

  2. My clan is the weakest v15

  3. I am the least in my family v15

  4. If you are truly going to help me show me a sign to prove that it is God speaking v17

  5. Don’t go away, wait v18

  6. If you going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, prove it to me. v37

  7. Gideon asked for a second time that God that will prove to him that he will be with him. v39

  8. Receive instructions from the Lord, by asking God what to do?

The Future

Judges 6: 6b “Then the Israelites cried to the Lord for help”

Look at Gideon’s reply, in verse 15, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family. 

The problem here, Gideon is placing him against the problem and not God.  The Lord immediately moved from the now to the future, placing Himself next to the problem. God promises that God will go with him, and that the Midianites will be destroyed.

Gideon needs to fight the enemy.  After the promises that he received from God and the proof that God is able, Gideon wants to overcompensate. 

The Lords instructions to Gideon

  1. Go and rescue Israel. Judges 6:14

  2. Pull down the altar of Baal. 6:25 Baal in Hebrew means “owner” Pull down the owner.  God is the only one.

  3. Build a new altar for the only God. 6:26

  4. You have too many warriors 7:2 (32000, 22000 left, 10 000 remained)

  5. There are still too many 7:4 Reduced from 10 000 to 300

  6. Go with the 300. 7:7 (Meaning of 300 in the Bible - God Will be Victorious Over all His Enemies)

  7. Get up! Go down into the camp of the enemy. 7:9

  8. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah – means fruitful or glorify - This comes from (paras), to break (through), (paras and parash), to spread out or declare.  Therefore, take breakthrough with you.  Declare Breakthrough. 7:10

  9. Listen to what the enemy is saying, and you will be greatly encouraged 7:11 This is what the enemy said:

Judges 7:14 His companion answered, “Your dream can mean only one thing—God has given Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite, victory over Midian and all its allies!”

  • When you see the Ark moving

Judges 7: 15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship before the Lord. Then he returned to the Israelite camp and shouted, “Get up! For the Lord has given you victory over the Midianite hordes!”

Judges 7:17 Then he said to them, “Keep your eyes on me. When I come to the edge of the camp, do just as I do. 18 As soon as I and those with me blow the rams’ horns, blow your horns, too, all around the entire camp, and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

  • Once you have heard the voice of God, it is time to act.

Judges 7: 19 It was just after midnight, after the changing of the guard, when Gideon and the 100 men with him reached the edge of the Midianite camp. Suddenly, they blew the rams’ horns and broke their clay jars. 20 Then all three groups blew their horns and broke their jars. They held the blazing torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, and they all shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”

21 Each man stood at his position around the camp and watched as all the Midianites rushed around in a panic, shouting as they ran to escape. 22 When the 300 Israelites blew their rams’ horns, the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords.

  • Once you have tasted victory the glory still belongs to God.

Judges 8:22 (NLT) Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Be our ruler! You and your son and your grandson will be our rulers, for you have rescued us from Midian.” 23 But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The Lord will rule over you!

 
 
bottom of page