June 26, 2024 • 37 mins
In this heartfelt episode, Laurie shares her recent experiences reconnecting with old friends and delves into an inspiring message about how God uses ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things.
Through the biblical story of Gideon, she illustrates how God chooses and empowers those who may feel underqualified. Despite Gideon's initial doubts and fears, God's guidance and strength enabled him to lead Israel to victory against the Midianites.
God doesn't look for the most qualified individuals but the most willing hearts. She encourages listeners to trust in God's plan and watch how He turns their ordinary moments into extraordinary testimonies.
It's a powerful one, so grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable and Let's Harp On It!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Hi, I'm Lori Harp, and this is my podcast. Like most women, I wear many hats.
I am a nurse, a wife, a mother, a friend, an encourager, but most importantly,
I am a child of the Most High God.
For many years, I believed the struggles I faced were because I was doing something wrong.
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I would hate myself for not being perfect.
Then one day someone told me God loves me where I am. Yes, we all face struggles
and we all have things to overcome, but with God, all things are possible.
In this podcast, I want to unpack the many issues facing women today.
There is nothing in this life, no mistake, no flaw, no scar that is too much for God.
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So grab a cup of coffee, sit back, let's discuss real life issues through the
lens of God's love. Get ready. Let's harp on it.
Music.
Hey, guys. Welcome back to Harp On It podcast. I'm your host,
Lori Harp. I hope that you have had a great week this week.
I have had a really exciting week. I was able to catch up with my girlfriends
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that I went to nursing school with.
Some of these women I have not seen for almost 30 years,
and it was such a blessing to catch up with them and find out how God is using
them in their lives and about their families that they have and all of the many
things that God is doing through their lives.
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And y'all, it just encouraged me because when we got together,
it was like we had never been separated.
And so we were able to just flow in conversation, and it was just beautiful.
It touched my heart, and I was so delighted to have that time with them.
And I'm so honored and so blessed to still have people in my life from way back
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30, 40, 50 years ago, and God just blesses me with these friendships.
This week, I am so excited to bring the message to you because this is such
a heartfelt message for me.
The truth is, I want to be a dynamic person in God's kingdom.
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I want God to use me mightily. I want to make a difference. I want to make an impact. But.
There are times that I really feel underqualified to do that job.
The good news is that God uses broken people.
The good news is that the Bible is riddled with stories about how God has taken
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somebody who is ordinary and made them extraordinary in his kingdom.
Let's think about David for a minute. David became the king of Israel,
and yet David started out as a shepherd boy.
And when Samuel went to anoint David's head to be the king, his father,
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Jesse, was so surprised about the person that God chose.
What we feel like are qualifications for being chosen to be used in God's kingdom
is not like gym class when you're the last one to be picked,
because God sees your your purpose, and your value based on your heart,
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not based on other principles like how strong you are, how pretty you are, how articulate you are.
But he comes in and he looks at the attitude and the intent of your heart and
understands that, oh, that person is willing to serve me with their whole heart.
And I'm going to take him from this point into being a tremendous,
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mighty warrior in my kingdom.
Moses, who led the people out of Egypt, had a stutter, and he couldn't speak.
And he argued with the Lord at the burning bush that he couldn't do the job
because he had this speech impediment.
And yet God said, well, I'll send your brother Aaron with you.
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And God led Moses through a series of events.
And by the end of Moses's life, he was a powerhouse.
He's a attributed as one of our big cornerstones of Christian faith.
We talk about Peter who denied Christ. He was raw. He was impulsive.
He was flawed to many, many areas, but God used him because Peter wanted to
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serve the Lord, and Peter became one of the cornerstones of the Christian church.
Y'all, it is such a beautiful thing when you go into the Word of God,
and whether you go Old Testament or you go New Testament,
you can see story after story of how God uses broken people to do His work.
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Now, my mom used to always say that God doesn't always use the most qualified,
but He uses the most willing.
And that, I believe, is the most important part of things.
Things but sometimes God comes into
your life and you have a moment where you
God tells you you're going to do xyz and
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you think in your to yourself and you you ponder it for a moment and you're
like there is no way on God's green earth that I'm going to be able to do xyz
I am so underqualified and ill-prepared that there is no way that I can do what
he's calling me to do But guess what, guys?
God never calls us to do something He's not ready to prepare us to do.
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This week, as I prepared for the podcast, I was so excited to bring you this
message because it talks about
how God uses someone ordinary and does extraordinary things through them.
I want to go to Judges chapter 6 and chapter 7, and I want to talk about a man called Gideon.
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Now, just to give you a little bit of backstory.
God had led the Israelites out of Egypt, and they were delivered from Egypt,
and then as we come into this scripture here,
we see that the Israelites did the very thing that God had told them not to,
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and they started paying attention to the people around them and adopting some of their practices.
One of those practices is worshiping idols.
So if you think about it, they were delivered from Egypt and then they were
brought into this area and they were to love God and worship God.
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But what happened was they forgot who God was and turned to their neighbors
to see what their neighbors were doing to fulfill fill their lives,
and their neighbors were worshiping idols,
and so they began worshiping idols.
This is such a picture of things that can happen to us as well.
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If we forget or we leave that relationship with God and we start paying attention
to what's going on around us, we can get lost in what culture tells us is right.
And I think it's even more apparent today than it was before because it's so
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easy to slip into some of the things that seem so okay.
We pick up habits from people around us that God never intended for us to have.
And so as we go into the story, keep in mind that Israel,
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in the Old Testament, tends to turn back to God when it's really,
really hard, and then as things are more at ease or less striving,
they turn back to their old ways, and they start to do what they're not supposed
to do, and God allows them to be brought back into captivity.
And then as they're in captivity, they cry out to the Lord, and the Lord is
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like, if you would just stay on on point and do what I'm telling you to do,
we wouldn't have to go through this.
Now, I can totally relate to
this because there are so many things in my life that I don't want to do.
I don't want to slip back into old habits. I want to always keep God first in my life.
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But there are times that things get easier and it's easy to slip back into those fleshy habits,
like sleeping an extra 20 minutes instead of getting up and having a quiet time
with the Lord, or just ignoring those urgencies that tell you,
gosh, you really shouldn't be doing this, or maybe you should do this.
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And so I find for myself, I can relate to these Israelites because I feel like
I cry out to the Lord the most when I'm in trouble.
But when I'm not in trouble, it's easy to let go of what I know and start paying
attention to stuff that's outside God,
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that's outside of our situation, and listen to some of those things that culture
tells you or things that your friends tell you, albeit they may be great friends,
but they're telling you things that you shouldn't do.
As we go into this, remember, we're not that different than these Israelites
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in how we operate, but God is always faithful to his kids.
So in Judges chapter 6, starting about verse 7, I'm going to read this if it's okay with you.
When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian,
he sent them a prophet who said, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says.
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I brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians, and I delivered you from the hand of your oppressors.
I drove them out before you and gave you their land.
I said to you, I am the Lord, your God. Do not worship the gods of the Amorites
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in whose land you live, but you have not listened Listen to me.
The angel of the Lord came and sat down under an oak in Oprah that belonged to Joash the Abizarite,
where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press to keep it from the Midianites.
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So back then they had wine presses that were kind of like a big hole in the ground.
So rather than threshing his wheat or processing the wheat for food out in the
open where the oppressors could see him, he was hiding in the winepress.
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.
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How often does God call us by what He knows us to be instead of what we feel like?
Gideon does not feel like a mighty warrior here, guys.
He's hiding from his enemies and processing food so he doesn't starve.
There is nothing in him that feels like a mighty warrior right here.
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And Gideon responds, he says in chapter, excuse me, in verse 13,
pardon me, my Lord, Gideon replied, but if the Lord is with us,
why has all this happened to us?
Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said,
did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?
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But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.
And the Lord turned to him and
said, go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand.
So right here, I can totally relate to this situation because there's so many
times that we feel like we're being bullied or we're being picked on or our life is unfair.
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And we go to the Lord and we're like, Lord, do you not see what's happening?
Like, why am I not having more signs and wonders in my life like they did back
in the New Testament, second chapters of Acts.
Why am I not seeing cloven tons of fire? And why am I not experiencing these things?
And the Lord says to you, well, you're about to, because I'm going to use you
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to do what you're complaining about. I'm going to use you to fix this.
So he's telling Gideon that like, well, you know, the reason that you're You're
in the mess that you're in is because you didn't listen to me.
And your fathers and your grandfathers didn't listen to me.
They did what they wanted to do. And they started worshiping idols.
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But Gideon, this isn't my fault.
But I'm going to use you to deliver them from this oppression that you talk about.
I do not believe that this was Gideon's intent.
I really think that Gideon was saying, hey, God, can you fix this for us, please?
Nowhere did he say, hey, can I be used by you so that we can fix this problem?
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So the Lord turned again in chapter in verse 14, the Lord turned to him and
said, go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?
And pardon me, Lord, Gideon replied, but how can I save Israel?
My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.
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Remember, we're not qualified. We're underqualified here.
He's telling Jesus, you can't use me. I'm not strong.
I'm not important. I don't have any value you in this world.
So how are you going to use me?
The Lord answered, I will be with you and you will strike down the Midianites, leaving none alive.
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So he's telling Gideon, you are going to do amazing things. Hold on to your hat, Gideon.
Gideon replied, if now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that
it is really you talking to me.
Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.
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Gideon recognizes that this is the Lord. And so he is going to go and get an offering.
So Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah,
a flour, he made bread without yeast.
Putting the meat in the basket and the broth in the pot, he brought them out
and offered them to him under the oak.
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And the angel of the Lord said to him, take the meat and the unleavened bread
and place them on the rock and pour out the broth.
And Gideon did so. Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened
bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand.
Fire flared up from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread,
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and the angel of the Lord disappeared.
And when Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed,
Alas, sovereign God, I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.
The Lord said to him, Peace, do not be afraid, for you are not going to die.
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So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it the Lord is Peace.
To this day, it stands in Oprah of the Abizarites.
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Lord your God on top of it and using the wood from the Asherah a pole that you
cut down after the second bull and offer the second bull as a burnt offering.
How many times do we have things in our lives that we've allowed to creep in?
And God is cleaning house here.
He's telling Gideon, Gideon, I'm going to use you. I'm going to make you a mighty warrior.
But Gideon, we got to do some house cleaning first. We got to get rid of this
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garbage that you have hanging around that's distracting you.
And we have to eliminate this possibility of anything else outside of me.
Causing this change to happen. So he tells Gideon to take down the altar that
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was built to the idol and use the very wood that they had by the idol to make
the fire and do a burnt offering of a bull to God.
Now remember in the Old Testament, they used offerings, the shedding of blood
to cover the sin as a preparation for Jesus the Messiah to come.
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It was to remind them that there was no remission of sins without the shedding
of blood, but it was to remind them who they are and what their relationship was to God.
So when they made a burnt offering, that in and of itself was not salvation,
but it led to the salvation that was to come.
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It kept their eyes focused on the Lord.
And when we have things in our life that we need to get rid of,
we need to stop idolizing things that aren't important.
Money, wealth, the perfect car, the perfect house, the perfect family,
the perfect kids, whatever it is.
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Sometimes it's an unhealthy idol. Sometimes it's alcohol, pornography.
Or adultery, or looking at something and longingly coveting it.
Sometimes our idols become things that we don't realize are idols in our life
because anything that takes a position over the Lord and occupies your attention
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and your adoration is an idol.
When things in your world become more important than God, you need to check
it and see if it's an idol.
So Gideon took 10 of his servants and did as the Lord told him.
Now, remember, Gideon's being obedient.
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But it says, but he did this at night because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople.
And if he did this during the daytime, he could be in serious danger.
You guys, Gideon is poking the bear.
How many times do we have to go against the current of culture?
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And how many times do we have to stand where we know that we're supposed to
stand? But but it's not easy.
It's not an easy process to say, nope, I don't believe in premarital sex.
No, I don't believe in having relationships outside of my marriage.
It is something that the Lord has told us to do. And so when we stand in this,
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sometimes we get criticism or even more serious threats.
And this is no different for Gideon. Okay, I'm in chapter 28.
In the morning, when the people of the town got up and there was Baal's altar
demolished, with the Assyria pole
beside it cut down and a second bull sacrifice on a newly built altar.
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They asked, who did this? When
they carefully investigated, they were told Gideon, son of Joash, did it.
And the people of town demanded Joash to bring out your son.
He must die because he has broken down Baal's altar and cut down the Aserah pole.
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But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him.
Now, remember, Joash had an altar that was built to the idol.
So Joash is like flipping here and realizing what is happening and what is going on.
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And so So, Joash is going to defend Gideon.
And he says, they tell him to bring out his son. But Joash replied to the hostile
crowd around him, Are you going to plead Baal's case?
Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning.
If Baal is really a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his
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altar. So because Gideon broke down Baal's altar, they gave him the name Jerubal.
That day saying, let Baal or Baal contend with him.
His father is really smart here,
but I think he also has a revelation that I need to get back where I belong
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and I need to get right with God because the only God that is going to do any
damage or protect anyone is Jehovah God.
Because if Baal was truly a god and he was truly angered by this idol being
demolished, then Baal could handle it himself.
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So Joash used his logic to protect his son.
But ultimately, you see God's protection of Gideon.
Gideon was obedient to God and God provided protection for him for the consequences
consequences of standing where he was told to stand by the Lord.
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There are times we go into this life and we do things that we know are going
to be really difficult, but if the Lord is calling you to do it,
one, he's going to be with you, and two, he's going to provide you protection as we see in the story.
Now, all the Midianites and Amicalites of the eastern peoples joined forces
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and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the valley of Jezreel.
Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet,
summoning the Abizarites to follow him.
He sent messengers through Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher,
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Jebelum, and Naphti, so that they too went out to meet them.
Gideon said to God, if you will save Israel by my hand as you promised.
How many times do we come to the Lord with a condition? This is a condition.
Look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor.
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Now, threshing floor is where they process the wheat. So it's just a big, flat piece of ground.
And I will place fleece on the threshing floor.
And if there is dew only on the fleece and all of the ground is dry,
then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.
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And that is what happened.
Gideon rose early the next day. He squeezed out the fleece and run out the dew a bowl full of water.
And then Gideon said to God, do not be angry with me, God.
Let me make one more request.
Allow me one more test with my fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and
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the ground wet and covered with dew.
And that night God did so, only the fleece was dry and all the ground was covered with dew.
God is demonstrating his power and his authority for Gideon to understand who he is serving.
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Now he is moving Gideon from faith to faith, to glory to glory.
He is moving him from one battle to a victory, back into a battle, back to a victory.
And God is proving himself faithful and increasing Gideon's faith,
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not only in God, but understanding who he can be with God on his side.
Early in the morning, Jerubal, that is Gideon, and all the men camped in the
spring of Herod, The camp of the Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Morah.
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The Lord said to Gideon, You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into
their hands, or Israel would boast against me.
My own strength has saved me. Now announce to the army, anyone who trembles
with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.
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So 22,000 men left, while 10,000 remained. Okay.
Imagine if you will, Gideon's going up against this huge army.
So he's gathered all the men that he possibly can. He called them from everywhere
to come and fight with him.
Obviously the one with the most men is going to do the most damage, right?
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But God is telling Gideon, look, I'm going to deliver these people into your
hands, but you can't go with this many soldiers because if you go with this
many soldiers and you guys win, you're going to, at the end of the day say, look what we did.
Look how powerful this army is, and look what happened because of what we did.
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God is eliminating the possibility of human success, and he is moving in the
possibility of spiritual success.
And God is moving so that it is evident that God did this, and nobody else gets the glory but God.
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So Gideon has gone from 32,000 down to 10,000, okay?
Still a reasonable amount of people to fight with, but hold on, it gets better.
But the Lord said to Gideon, there are still too many men.
Take them down to the water and I will thin them out for you there.
If I say the one shall go with you, he shall go.
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But if I say this one shall not go with you, he shall not go.
So he's giving Gideon direct instructions.
I'm going to tell you who stays and who goes. And so Gideon is still being obedient.
He's still following. Now, if I was Gideon, I'd be looking around going,
God, are you seeing what I'm seeing?
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Because I'm seeing a big old army that we're going up against.
And you keep thinning out who I got helping me.
And Lord, I'm trying to be obedient here, but it's getting a little tense.
It's getting a little scary, Lord. You want me to do what?
Come on. What are you doing? But Gideon is still being obedient to God.
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So Gideon took the men down to the water, and the Lord said,
Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.
Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs,
and the rest got down on their knees to drink.
And the Lord said, with the 300 men that lapped, I will save you and give the
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Midianites into your hands and let the other ones go home.
So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home, but kept 300 who took over the
provisions and the trumpets of the others. Y'all, they went from 32,000 men fighting for him to 300.
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Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend of his dream.
I had a dream, he was saying. A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the midnight camp.
It struck the tent with such force that it overturned and collapsed.
When Gideon heard the dream and the interpretations, he bowed down and worshipped.
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God's still talking to him. He's still leading and directing the situation.
He returned to the camp of Israel
and called out, The Lord has given the Midianite camp into our hands.
Dividing 300 men into three companies, he placed the trumpets in empty jars in the hands of all them.
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Watch me, he told them. Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.
When I and all who are with me blow their trumpets, then from around the camp
blow yours and shout for Lord and for Gideon.
Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp and beginning
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in the middle watch, just after they changed the guard, they blew their trumpets
and broke the jars with their hands.
And the three companies blew their trumpets and smashed the jars.
Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding it in their right hands,
the trumpet, they began to blow, and they shouted, A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.
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And while each man When man held his position around the camp,
all of the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
God delivered the Midianites into Gideon's hand, and they didn't even have to fire one shot.
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God gave them a plan and how they were going to do it, and he used Gideon to
do what God had called Gideon to do.
He delivered Israel from the Midianites, and he delivered the army into Gideon's
hand with 300 men, clay pots,
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trumpets, and torches.
Now, there's no weapons there, guys, but God did it.
And so, at the end of the day, when all of this happened, There was no question
of who was to receive the glory.
God can use anybody He wants, no matter what their qualifications.
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Guess what, guys? That means He will use us.
He'll use Lori Harp to do His service and to do what He's called me to do.
I don't have to worry about my qualifications because the Lord called me.
And you know what? But according to this story about Gideon,
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he's going to equip me and he's going to lead me to the next step that makes
me stronger in my faith so that I can take the next step and be stronger in
my faith so that I could take the next step.
So then when I continue stepping in faith, all of a sudden I see the manifestation
of the anointing and the calling on my life that God told me I was going to have.
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I didn't realize that God was going to do what God did, but he does what he's
going to do because God is faithful to his word.
And the Bible says that he is faithful to complete a good work that he's begun in you and in me.
And when he says that he's going to do that, he does what he's going to do.
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God is with us every step of the way.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but it is stepping into a situation despite your fear.
In Joshua 9, it says, Be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God is with
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you, and he will keep you wherever you go.
Why can we be strong and courageous? Because God's on our team.
God is going to use us to do mighty things in his kingdom, but we have to submit
to his authority and allow him to work through us.
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And we have to recognize who's really the strong one here.
It's not because I'm all that and a bag of chips, but when I submit myself to
the Lord, When I give myself over to the Lord and allow the Lord to be the Lord of my life,
to be the ruler over my things and over my abilities and my life that I am living,
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God can do amazing, incredible things through us.
The Bible says that he does things that are beyond our imagination because God
is so much bigger than we are.
So we don't have to be.
The biggest and the strongest and the best in order to be used by God's kingdom.
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He just showed this with Gideon. Gideon was the weakest in his family,
and his family was the weakest tribe in the nation.
But God chose to use him to deliver the oppressors of Israel into his hands. Why?
Because Gideon was faithful and he was obedient.
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Obedience is more important than strength.
If we are obedient to the Lord and what he has called us to do and the purposes
he has for us in our lives, there is no telling what can happen.
I am baffled at times when God chooses to use me in certain situations.
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Because y'all, I'll be honest, there are so many people that are so much more qualified.
There are more people that have more value in the world's ideas.
But y'all, Well, my heart is to serve the Lord, and that's what He requires.
He requires a heart seeking after Him, to follow after Him,
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to be able to submit under His will and put our desires into His will so that
when we work and we work on His behalf,
He can come in and make up the differences for our weaknesses, for our inadequacies.
He takes grace and sprinkles it into the crevices of our inabilities.
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And he takes our ordinary things and makes them extraordinary.
Y'all, I hope this gave you a fire in your belly to get out there and do God's work.
Take the time to share the love of Jesus with people around you.
And if you don't know of a situation,
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ask God to show you a situation that you can be part of, that you can give your
gifts and your talents and your time to, that God can use you mightily in his kingdom.
But all of that is based on a relationship with Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior.
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And if you haven't accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you need to.
You need to have that relationship with the Lord so that you can have those moments.
Taking your ordinary things and making them extraordinary in God's kingdom.
I hope this helps. I hope it puts a fire in your belly.
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I hope that you guys have a great week, and I am excited to hear about the amazing
things that you are doing in God's kingdom.
But remember, just like Gideon, just because you're not perfect doesn't mean you're disqualified.
God uses broken people for His glory all the time. I love you guys. Have a great week.
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Thank you all so much for tuning in today. If you want to stay in the know for
all things Harp Ministries, check out our website at harpministries.org.
In there, you'll see the latest episodes of Harp On It, upcoming events,
and our newly released book entitled, How Can I Leave Tall Buildings When I Can't Get My Tights On?
Thank you again for tuning in today. See you all next week.
Hi, I'm Lori Harp, and this is my podcast. Like most women, I wear many hats.
I am a nurse, a wife, a mother, a friend, an encourager, but most importantly,
I am a child of the Most High God.
For many years, I believed the struggles I faced were because I was doing something wrong.
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I would hate myself for not being perfect.
Then one day someone told me God loves me where I am. Yes, we all face struggles
and we all have things to overcome, but with God, all things are possible.
In this podcast, I want to unpack the many issues facing women today.
There is nothing in this life, no mistake, no flaw, no scar that is too much for God.
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So grab a cup of coffee, sit back, let's discuss real life issues through the
lens of God's love. Get ready. Let's harp on it.
Music.
Hey, guys. Welcome back to Harp On It podcast. I'm your host,
Lori Harp. I hope that you have had a great week this week.
I have had a really exciting week. I was able to catch up with my girlfriends
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that I went to nursing school with.
Some of these women I have not seen for almost 30 years,
and it was such a blessing to catch up with them and find out how God is using
them in their lives and about their families that they have and all of the many
things that God is doing through their lives.
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And y'all, it just encouraged me because when we got together,
it was like we had never been separated.
And so we were able to just flow in conversation, and it was just beautiful.
It touched my heart, and I was so delighted to have that time with them.
And I'm so honored and so blessed to still have people in my life from way back
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30, 40, 50 years ago, and God just blesses me with these friendships.
This week, I am so excited to bring the message to you because this is such
a heartfelt message for me.
The truth is, I want to be a dynamic person in God's kingdom.
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I want God to use me mightily. I want to make a difference. I want to make an impact. But.
There are times that I really feel underqualified to do that job.
The good news is that God uses broken people.
The good news is that the Bible is riddled with stories about how God has taken
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somebody who is ordinary and made them extraordinary in his kingdom.
Let's think about David for a minute. David became the king of Israel,
and yet David started out as a shepherd boy.
And when Samuel went to anoint David's head to be the king, his father,
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Jesse, was so surprised about the person that God chose.
What we feel like are qualifications for being chosen to be used in God's kingdom
is not like gym class when you're the last one to be picked,
because God sees your your purpose, and your value based on your heart,
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not based on other principles like how strong you are, how pretty you are, how articulate you are.
But he comes in and he looks at the attitude and the intent of your heart and
understands that, oh, that person is willing to serve me with their whole heart.
And I'm going to take him from this point into being a tremendous,
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mighty warrior in my kingdom.
Moses, who led the people out of Egypt, had a stutter, and he couldn't speak.
And he argued with the Lord at the burning bush that he couldn't do the job
because he had this speech impediment.
And yet God said, well, I'll send your brother Aaron with you.
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And God led Moses through a series of events.
And by the end of Moses's life, he was a powerhouse.
He's a attributed as one of our big cornerstones of Christian faith.
We talk about Peter who denied Christ. He was raw. He was impulsive.
He was flawed to many, many areas, but God used him because Peter wanted to
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serve the Lord, and Peter became one of the cornerstones of the Christian church.
Y'all, it is such a beautiful thing when you go into the Word of God,
and whether you go Old Testament or you go New Testament,
you can see story after story of how God uses broken people to do His work.
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Now, my mom used to always say that God doesn't always use the most qualified,
but He uses the most willing.
And that, I believe, is the most important part of things.
Things but sometimes God comes into
your life and you have a moment where you
God tells you you're going to do xyz and
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you think in your to yourself and you you ponder it for a moment and you're
like there is no way on God's green earth that I'm going to be able to do xyz
I am so underqualified and ill-prepared that there is no way that I can do what
he's calling me to do But guess what, guys?
God never calls us to do something He's not ready to prepare us to do.
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This week, as I prepared for the podcast, I was so excited to bring you this
message because it talks about
how God uses someone ordinary and does extraordinary things through them.
I want to go to Judges chapter 6 and chapter 7, and I want to talk about a man called Gideon.
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Now, just to give you a little bit of backstory.
God had led the Israelites out of Egypt, and they were delivered from Egypt,
and then as we come into this scripture here,
we see that the Israelites did the very thing that God had told them not to,
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and they started paying attention to the people around them and adopting some of their practices.
One of those practices is worshiping idols.
So if you think about it, they were delivered from Egypt and then they were
brought into this area and they were to love God and worship God.
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But what happened was they forgot who God was and turned to their neighbors
to see what their neighbors were doing to fulfill fill their lives,
and their neighbors were worshiping idols,
and so they began worshiping idols.
This is such a picture of things that can happen to us as well.
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If we forget or we leave that relationship with God and we start paying attention
to what's going on around us, we can get lost in what culture tells us is right.
And I think it's even more apparent today than it was before because it's so
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easy to slip into some of the things that seem so okay.
We pick up habits from people around us that God never intended for us to have.
And so as we go into the story, keep in mind that Israel,
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in the Old Testament, tends to turn back to God when it's really,
really hard, and then as things are more at ease or less striving,
they turn back to their old ways, and they start to do what they're not supposed
to do, and God allows them to be brought back into captivity.
And then as they're in captivity, they cry out to the Lord, and the Lord is
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like, if you would just stay on on point and do what I'm telling you to do,
we wouldn't have to go through this.
Now, I can totally relate to
this because there are so many things in my life that I don't want to do.
I don't want to slip back into old habits. I want to always keep God first in my life.
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But there are times that things get easier and it's easy to slip back into those fleshy habits,
like sleeping an extra 20 minutes instead of getting up and having a quiet time
with the Lord, or just ignoring those urgencies that tell you,
gosh, you really shouldn't be doing this, or maybe you should do this.
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And so I find for myself, I can relate to these Israelites because I feel like
I cry out to the Lord the most when I'm in trouble.
But when I'm not in trouble, it's easy to let go of what I know and start paying
attention to stuff that's outside God,
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that's outside of our situation, and listen to some of those things that culture
tells you or things that your friends tell you, albeit they may be great friends,
but they're telling you things that you shouldn't do.
As we go into this, remember, we're not that different than these Israelites
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in how we operate, but God is always faithful to his kids.
So in Judges chapter 6, starting about verse 7, I'm going to read this if it's okay with you.
When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian,
he sent them a prophet who said, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says.
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I brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians, and I delivered you from the hand of your oppressors.
I drove them out before you and gave you their land.
I said to you, I am the Lord, your God. Do not worship the gods of the Amorites
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in whose land you live, but you have not listened Listen to me.
The angel of the Lord came and sat down under an oak in Oprah that belonged to Joash the Abizarite,
where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press to keep it from the Midianites.
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So back then they had wine presses that were kind of like a big hole in the ground.
So rather than threshing his wheat or processing the wheat for food out in the
open where the oppressors could see him, he was hiding in the winepress.
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.
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How often does God call us by what He knows us to be instead of what we feel like?
Gideon does not feel like a mighty warrior here, guys.
He's hiding from his enemies and processing food so he doesn't starve.
There is nothing in him that feels like a mighty warrior right here.
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And Gideon responds, he says in chapter, excuse me, in verse 13,
pardon me, my Lord, Gideon replied, but if the Lord is with us,
why has all this happened to us?
Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said,
did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?
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But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.
And the Lord turned to him and
said, go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand.
So right here, I can totally relate to this situation because there's so many
times that we feel like we're being bullied or we're being picked on or our life is unfair.
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And we go to the Lord and we're like, Lord, do you not see what's happening?
Like, why am I not having more signs and wonders in my life like they did back
in the New Testament, second chapters of Acts.
Why am I not seeing cloven tons of fire? And why am I not experiencing these things?
And the Lord says to you, well, you're about to, because I'm going to use you
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to do what you're complaining about. I'm going to use you to fix this.
So he's telling Gideon that like, well, you know, the reason that you're You're
in the mess that you're in is because you didn't listen to me.
And your fathers and your grandfathers didn't listen to me.
They did what they wanted to do. And they started worshiping idols.
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But Gideon, this isn't my fault.
But I'm going to use you to deliver them from this oppression that you talk about.
I do not believe that this was Gideon's intent.
I really think that Gideon was saying, hey, God, can you fix this for us, please?
Nowhere did he say, hey, can I be used by you so that we can fix this problem?
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So the Lord turned again in chapter in verse 14, the Lord turned to him and
said, go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?
And pardon me, Lord, Gideon replied, but how can I save Israel?
My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.
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Remember, we're not qualified. We're underqualified here.
He's telling Jesus, you can't use me. I'm not strong.
I'm not important. I don't have any value you in this world.
So how are you going to use me?
The Lord answered, I will be with you and you will strike down the Midianites, leaving none alive.
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So he's telling Gideon, you are going to do amazing things. Hold on to your hat, Gideon.
Gideon replied, if now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that
it is really you talking to me.
Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.
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Gideon recognizes that this is the Lord. And so he is going to go and get an offering.
So Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah,
a flour, he made bread without yeast.
Putting the meat in the basket and the broth in the pot, he brought them out
and offered them to him under the oak.
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And the angel of the Lord said to him, take the meat and the unleavened bread
and place them on the rock and pour out the broth.
And Gideon did so. Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened
bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand.
Fire flared up from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread,
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and the angel of the Lord disappeared.
And when Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed,
Alas, sovereign God, I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.
The Lord said to him, Peace, do not be afraid, for you are not going to die.
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So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it the Lord is Peace.
To this day, it stands in Oprah of the Abizarites.
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Lord your God on top of it and using the wood from the Asherah a pole that you
cut down after the second bull and offer the second bull as a burnt offering.
How many times do we have things in our lives that we've allowed to creep in?
And God is cleaning house here.
He's telling Gideon, Gideon, I'm going to use you. I'm going to make you a mighty warrior.
But Gideon, we got to do some house cleaning first. We got to get rid of this
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garbage that you have hanging around that's distracting you.
And we have to eliminate this possibility of anything else outside of me.
Causing this change to happen. So he tells Gideon to take down the altar that
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was built to the idol and use the very wood that they had by the idol to make
the fire and do a burnt offering of a bull to God.
Now remember in the Old Testament, they used offerings, the shedding of blood
to cover the sin as a preparation for Jesus the Messiah to come.
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It was to remind them that there was no remission of sins without the shedding
of blood, but it was to remind them who they are and what their relationship was to God.
So when they made a burnt offering, that in and of itself was not salvation,
but it led to the salvation that was to come.
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It kept their eyes focused on the Lord.
And when we have things in our life that we need to get rid of,
we need to stop idolizing things that aren't important.
Money, wealth, the perfect car, the perfect house, the perfect family,
the perfect kids, whatever it is.
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Sometimes it's an unhealthy idol. Sometimes it's alcohol, pornography.
Or adultery, or looking at something and longingly coveting it.
Sometimes our idols become things that we don't realize are idols in our life
because anything that takes a position over the Lord and occupies your attention
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and your adoration is an idol.
When things in your world become more important than God, you need to check
it and see if it's an idol.
So Gideon took 10 of his servants and did as the Lord told him.
Now, remember, Gideon's being obedient.
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But it says, but he did this at night because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople.
And if he did this during the daytime, he could be in serious danger.
You guys, Gideon is poking the bear.
How many times do we have to go against the current of culture?
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And how many times do we have to stand where we know that we're supposed to
stand? But but it's not easy.
It's not an easy process to say, nope, I don't believe in premarital sex.
No, I don't believe in having relationships outside of my marriage.
It is something that the Lord has told us to do. And so when we stand in this,
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sometimes we get criticism or even more serious threats.
And this is no different for Gideon. Okay, I'm in chapter 28.
In the morning, when the people of the town got up and there was Baal's altar
demolished, with the Assyria pole
beside it cut down and a second bull sacrifice on a newly built altar.
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They asked, who did this? When
they carefully investigated, they were told Gideon, son of Joash, did it.
And the people of town demanded Joash to bring out your son.
He must die because he has broken down Baal's altar and cut down the Aserah pole.
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But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him.
Now, remember, Joash had an altar that was built to the idol.
So Joash is like flipping here and realizing what is happening and what is going on.
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And so So, Joash is going to defend Gideon.
And he says, they tell him to bring out his son. But Joash replied to the hostile
crowd around him, Are you going to plead Baal's case?
Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning.
If Baal is really a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his
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altar. So because Gideon broke down Baal's altar, they gave him the name Jerubal.
That day saying, let Baal or Baal contend with him.
His father is really smart here,
but I think he also has a revelation that I need to get back where I belong
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and I need to get right with God because the only God that is going to do any
damage or protect anyone is Jehovah God.
Because if Baal was truly a god and he was truly angered by this idol being
demolished, then Baal could handle it himself.
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So Joash used his logic to protect his son.
But ultimately, you see God's protection of Gideon.
Gideon was obedient to God and God provided protection for him for the consequences
consequences of standing where he was told to stand by the Lord.
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There are times we go into this life and we do things that we know are going
to be really difficult, but if the Lord is calling you to do it,
one, he's going to be with you, and two, he's going to provide you protection as we see in the story.
Now, all the Midianites and Amicalites of the eastern peoples joined forces
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and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the valley of Jezreel.
Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet,
summoning the Abizarites to follow him.
He sent messengers through Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher,
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Jebelum, and Naphti, so that they too went out to meet them.
Gideon said to God, if you will save Israel by my hand as you promised.
How many times do we come to the Lord with a condition? This is a condition.
Look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor.
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Now, threshing floor is where they process the wheat. So it's just a big, flat piece of ground.
And I will place fleece on the threshing floor.
And if there is dew only on the fleece and all of the ground is dry,
then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.
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And that is what happened.
Gideon rose early the next day. He squeezed out the fleece and run out the dew a bowl full of water.
And then Gideon said to God, do not be angry with me, God.
Let me make one more request.
Allow me one more test with my fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and
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the ground wet and covered with dew.
And that night God did so, only the fleece was dry and all the ground was covered with dew.
God is demonstrating his power and his authority for Gideon to understand who he is serving.
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Now he is moving Gideon from faith to faith, to glory to glory.
He is moving him from one battle to a victory, back into a battle, back to a victory.
And God is proving himself faithful and increasing Gideon's faith,
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not only in God, but understanding who he can be with God on his side.
Early in the morning, Jerubal, that is Gideon, and all the men camped in the
spring of Herod, The camp of the Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Morah.
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The Lord said to Gideon, You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into
their hands, or Israel would boast against me.
My own strength has saved me. Now announce to the army, anyone who trembles
with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.
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So 22,000 men left, while 10,000 remained. Okay.
Imagine if you will, Gideon's going up against this huge army.
So he's gathered all the men that he possibly can. He called them from everywhere
to come and fight with him.
Obviously the one with the most men is going to do the most damage, right?
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But God is telling Gideon, look, I'm going to deliver these people into your
hands, but you can't go with this many soldiers because if you go with this
many soldiers and you guys win, you're going to, at the end of the day say, look what we did.
Look how powerful this army is, and look what happened because of what we did.
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God is eliminating the possibility of human success, and he is moving in the
possibility of spiritual success.
And God is moving so that it is evident that God did this, and nobody else gets the glory but God.
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So Gideon has gone from 32,000 down to 10,000, okay?
Still a reasonable amount of people to fight with, but hold on, it gets better.
But the Lord said to Gideon, there are still too many men.
Take them down to the water and I will thin them out for you there.
If I say the one shall go with you, he shall go.
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But if I say this one shall not go with you, he shall not go.
So he's giving Gideon direct instructions.
I'm going to tell you who stays and who goes. And so Gideon is still being obedient.
He's still following. Now, if I was Gideon, I'd be looking around going,
God, are you seeing what I'm seeing?
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Because I'm seeing a big old army that we're going up against.
And you keep thinning out who I got helping me.
And Lord, I'm trying to be obedient here, but it's getting a little tense.
It's getting a little scary, Lord. You want me to do what?
Come on. What are you doing? But Gideon is still being obedient to God.
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So Gideon took the men down to the water, and the Lord said,
Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.
Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs,
and the rest got down on their knees to drink.
And the Lord said, with the 300 men that lapped, I will save you and give the
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Midianites into your hands and let the other ones go home.
So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home, but kept 300 who took over the
provisions and the trumpets of the others. Y'all, they went from 32,000 men fighting for him to 300.
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Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend of his dream.
I had a dream, he was saying. A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the midnight camp.
It struck the tent with such force that it overturned and collapsed.
When Gideon heard the dream and the interpretations, he bowed down and worshipped.
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God's still talking to him. He's still leading and directing the situation.
He returned to the camp of Israel
and called out, The Lord has given the Midianite camp into our hands.
Dividing 300 men into three companies, he placed the trumpets in empty jars in the hands of all them.
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Watch me, he told them. Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.
When I and all who are with me blow their trumpets, then from around the camp
blow yours and shout for Lord and for Gideon.
Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp and beginning
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in the middle watch, just after they changed the guard, they blew their trumpets
and broke the jars with their hands.
And the three companies blew their trumpets and smashed the jars.
Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding it in their right hands,
the trumpet, they began to blow, and they shouted, A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.
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And while each man When man held his position around the camp,
all of the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
God delivered the Midianites into Gideon's hand, and they didn't even have to fire one shot.
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God gave them a plan and how they were going to do it, and he used Gideon to
do what God had called Gideon to do.
He delivered Israel from the Midianites, and he delivered the army into Gideon's
hand with 300 men, clay pots,
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trumpets, and torches.
Now, there's no weapons there, guys, but God did it.
And so, at the end of the day, when all of this happened, There was no question
of who was to receive the glory.
God can use anybody He wants, no matter what their qualifications.
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Guess what, guys? That means He will use us.
He'll use Lori Harp to do His service and to do what He's called me to do.
I don't have to worry about my qualifications because the Lord called me.
And you know what? But according to this story about Gideon,
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he's going to equip me and he's going to lead me to the next step that makes
me stronger in my faith so that I can take the next step and be stronger in
my faith so that I could take the next step.
So then when I continue stepping in faith, all of a sudden I see the manifestation
of the anointing and the calling on my life that God told me I was going to have.
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I didn't realize that God was going to do what God did, but he does what he's
going to do because God is faithful to his word.
And the Bible says that he is faithful to complete a good work that he's begun in you and in me.
And when he says that he's going to do that, he does what he's going to do.
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God is with us every step of the way.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but it is stepping into a situation despite your fear.
In Joshua 9, it says, Be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God is with
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you, and he will keep you wherever you go.
Why can we be strong and courageous? Because God's on our team.
God is going to use us to do mighty things in his kingdom, but we have to submit
to his authority and allow him to work through us.
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And we have to recognize who's really the strong one here.
It's not because I'm all that and a bag of chips, but when I submit myself to
the Lord, When I give myself over to the Lord and allow the Lord to be the Lord of my life,
to be the ruler over my things and over my abilities and my life that I am living,
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God can do amazing, incredible things through us.
The Bible says that he does things that are beyond our imagination because God
is so much bigger than we are.
So we don't have to be.
The biggest and the strongest and the best in order to be used by God's kingdom.
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He just showed this with Gideon. Gideon was the weakest in his family,
and his family was the weakest tribe in the nation.
But God chose to use him to deliver the oppressors of Israel into his hands. Why?
Because Gideon was faithful and he was obedient.
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Obedience is more important than strength.
If we are obedient to the Lord and what he has called us to do and the purposes
he has for us in our lives, there is no telling what can happen.
I am baffled at times when God chooses to use me in certain situations.
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Because y'all, I'll be honest, there are so many people that are so much more qualified.
There are more people that have more value in the world's ideas.
But y'all, Well, my heart is to serve the Lord, and that's what He requires.
He requires a heart seeking after Him, to follow after Him,
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to be able to submit under His will and put our desires into His will so that
when we work and we work on His behalf,
He can come in and make up the differences for our weaknesses, for our inadequacies.
He takes grace and sprinkles it into the crevices of our inabilities.
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And he takes our ordinary things and makes them extraordinary.
Y'all, I hope this gave you a fire in your belly to get out there and do God's work.
Take the time to share the love of Jesus with people around you.
And if you don't know of a situation,
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ask God to show you a situation that you can be part of, that you can give your
gifts and your talents and your time to, that God can use you mightily in his kingdom.
But all of that is based on a relationship with Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior.
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And if you haven't accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you need to.
You need to have that relationship with the Lord so that you can have those moments.
Taking your ordinary things and making them extraordinary in God's kingdom.
I hope this helps. I hope it puts a fire in your belly.
(37:02):
I hope that you guys have a great week, and I am excited to hear about the amazing
things that you are doing in God's kingdom.
But remember, just like Gideon, just because you're not perfect doesn't mean you're disqualified.
God uses broken people for His glory all the time. I love you guys. Have a great week.
(37:26):
Thank you all so much for tuning in today. If you want to stay in the know for
all things Harp Ministries, check out our website at harpministries.org.
In there, you'll see the latest episodes of Harp On It, upcoming events,
and our newly released book entitled, How Can I Leave Tall Buildings When I Can't Get My Tights On?
Thank you again for tuning in today. See you all next week.
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