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2002: GOD’S MESSAGE TO
GIDEON
Turning the Threshing Wheel from Evil to Good
12/29/01
Hi Loved Ones,
A couple weeks of ago the Lord woke me in the middle of
the night and I heard Him say that He had a message for
Gideon. And so … in the middle of the night I read
Gideon’s story in Judges 6-8. It is quite a prophetic
story of God choosing the humble and the weak to defeat
demonic oppression for His glory, and for Israel’s
victory. Deeper inside the study is a prophetic glimpse
of where we are today in overcoming the oppression of
Islamic terror. The Lord is going to use weak vessels to
turn the tide.
THE MIDIANITE OPPRESSORS
The backdrop to Gideon’s story are the Midianites. The
word Midianite means brawling, contention, discord,
strife, quarrel, contest. It comes from a root word
meaning to execute or minister judgment. (Strongs #4079,
4066, 1777) At the time of Gideon the Lord had given
Israel over to the hand of the Midianites for 7 years
because Israel had sinned and turned to foreign gods.
The Midianites came from the seed of Abraham, his 4th
son through his concubine Keturah. They were the
merchants who thought nothing of buying Joseph as a
slave for 20 pieces of silver and selling him in Egypt
to Potiphar. Later they joined with Moab to bribe the
prophet Balaam (into attempting) to curse Israel. They
also seduced Israel into worshipping their god Baal-Peor
during the time of Moses. Sometimes the word Midianites
and Ishmaelites are used interchangeably in scripture.
These people were nomads wandering in the Arabian
deserts with camels and golden plunders. These are like
our modern day tribes in the same region, which are
Islamic. (Gen 37:25,28,36 NLT, Num 22:7, 25:18 NLT, Jud
7:12)
MIDIANITES IN GIDEON’S TIME
By Gideon’s time, as he looked out over the valley where
they had settled, he saw the overwhelming odds. He said
these oppressors were so numerous that they appeared
like locusts on the valley floor and their camels were
so numerous they were like the sands of the sea. They
and their camels were so numerous, that like locusts
they had successfully devoured all of Israel’s crops and
taken all of their animals. Israel was now hiding in
caves and dens, in poverty and in hunger. Israel was
greatly outnumbered, oppressed and under judgment. (Jud
6:1-5 NLT)
MIDIANITES ARE A PROPHETIC TYPE
In prophesy when Israel is surrounded by great darkness
and death, they see the great light of the Lord during
harvest time and He promises: "For God will break the
chains that bind his people and the whip that scourges
them, just as he did when he destroyed the army of
Midian with Gideon's little band." (Isaiah 9:4 NLT) In
this passage, Gideon’s defeat of these oppressors is
mentioned as a type: just as the Midianites had been
destroyed by Gideon, so shall it be in the last days
with Israel’s yokes and oppressors. In like manner of
prophetic type, we shall also see who the Lord uses in
the last days to defeat the oppressors — It is mighty
Gideon. And where is this mighty man? He is hiding in
the bottom of an empty winepress, attempting to thresh
his harvest.
GIDEON’S BACKGROUND
Gideon’s name means a tree cutter or hewer. I have had
several dreams and visions of giant trees falling. In
prophetic terms and in scripture, the cutting of a tree
represents tearing down idols and/or generational
strongholds. To hew means to chop, cut, hack, sever,
fall. These are warrior terms. (I have also noticed
these verbs are warrior movements through misc.
prophetic intercessors when under the unction of the
Holy Spirit!) According to his given name at birth,
Gideon was called to be a warrior.
Gideon is on the family property called Ophrah, which
means female deer. The foundation of the name Ophrah
means pulverized dust, powder or ash, the deer being
named for its color of such. (Strongs 6084, 6083)
Gideon’s father’s name was Joash. The foundation of the
name Joash means Jehovah is hot, fiery, burning,
flaming. (Strongs 3101, 784) Joash came from the
descendants of Abiezrites, which means to aid or to
help. (Strongs 33, 5828) These Abiezrites were
descendants of Manasseh, Joseph’s firstborn. Joseph
named Manesseh "causing to forget", as his son was a
joyful sign that the pain of his past was forgotten.
And so in prophetic language, Gideon’s heritage comes
from a family of those who have so panted after God,
that they have become like dust and ashes while seeking
His hot fiery Presence. With God’s help, they are the
ones who seek to help or aid in releasing spiritual
prisoners from their painful past. These Gideons will
partner with God to accomplish this through cutting down
the spiritual Midianites. (Psalm 42, Hab 3:7)
GIDEON AS A MAN
Gideon is a grown man because he has a son. He is
physically fit enough to thresh his own harvest of wheat
in the bottom of the winepress. He is mature enough to
lead an army, and is fit enough to fight with weapons of
war. He is determined enough to pursue even in the state
of exhaustion without food. And he is strong enough and
courageous enough to pull down the family altar to Baal,
and cut down the tree/pole of Asherah (the goddess of
fertility) standing next to it. (Jud 8:20, 7:15, 8:12,
8:5, 6:11, 6:25, I Kings 16:31) [FYI: Both Baal and
Asherah were/are the powers behind Jezebel.]
CONDITIONS IN THE WINEPRESS
Gideon is in the bottom of the winepress. The vat is
empty of wine and grapes. The walls are stained with
use. The smell is pungent with vinegar like potency. The
season to make fresh wine is yet to come in September.
Gideon is threshing wheat sometime in the June heat. He
is hiding his wheat and himself from the Midianites
while working, so it is probably a deeper winepress and
of course without windows. He probably has no visual
sight outside his fermenting "tomb" except straight up.
THRESHING WHEAT - THE BAD AND THE GOOD
Threshing is beating or knocking off the head of a grain
from the stalk. This was done by sharp metal toothed
sledges drawn by oxen. It was also done by the wheels of
a cart. Some grains like dill were more fragile and
required beating with a stick. Since this was wheat at
the bottom of the winepress, Gideon was either dragging
a heavy sledge or cart himself, not being able to get an
animal into the hole. It was tough work.
There are several places where threshing is mentioned in
scripture. They are used in context to both the enemy
threshing God’s people because of their sin and also God
(and His people) threshing the enemy for enslaving them.
There were times when the enemy had the upper hand and
times when God’s people had the upper hand. (Isa 21:10,
28:27-28, 41:15, Jer 51:33, 1 Cor 9:9-10, 2 Kings 13:7,
Amos 1:3)
Threshing literally means to trample out. (Strongs 1758)
This is what the Midianites and their livestock had done
to Israel’s land and crops. There remains a warning for
the church today through the word "trample out". Jesus
said that if the church lost her salt, which is her
ability to preserve the earth through her flavorful
walk, then she is not good for anything but to be
trodden under the foot of man. This theme of being
trodden under foot runs into the book of Revelations and
Daniel. This is painfully prophetic. (Matt 5:13, Rev
11:2, Dan 7:19)
However the Lord is not interested in destroying His
crop, He is interested in nurturing and preserving it.
He is our Sovereign Farmer Who is in complete control of
each stage of His harvest. He is the Lord of the
harvest. (Luke 10:2)
"The farmer knows just what to do, for God has given him
understanding. He doesn't thresh all his crops the same
way. A heavy sledge is never used on dill; rather, it is
beaten with a light stick. A threshing wheel is never
rolled on cumin; instead, it is beaten softly with a
flail. Bread grain is easily crushed, so he doesn't keep
on pounding it. He threshes it under the wheels of a
cart, but he doesn't pulverize it. The LORD Almighty is
a wonderful teacher, and he gives the farmer great
wisdom." (Isa 28:26-29 NLT)
TURNING THE THRESHING WHEEL FROM BAD TO GOOD
Where Gideon is, and what he is doing is not the most
pleasant of environments; and yet through Gideon, the
Lord turns the threshing wheel from evil to good.
Prophetically speaking, to summarize or interpret the
conditions, he began threshing in a time where he had no
vision or hope outside of looking straight up to heaven.
He worked in an environment of gall with smelly and
bitter difficulties. His people were hungry and
impoverished, and enduring through a time of judgment
from devourers and plunderers. Gideon was working
against sobering odds.
The hope of Gideon’s story is that it is time to turn
the tide and begin threshing the enemy. For inspite of
the fact that the Midianite’s threshing covers so great
a plunder, Gideon is now threshing for himself. He has
taken his little harvest on the land of his family
inheritance and he begins to thresh. And he may be
groaning under the weight on his shoulders and he may be
smelling vinegar, but he has started to thresh. Here is
the awesome promise and Word of God over Gideon’s
prophetic parable:
"See, all your angry enemies lie there, confused and
ashamed. Anyone who opposes you will die. You will look
for them in vain. They will all be gone! I am holding
you by your right hand--I, the LORD your God. And I say
to you, `Do not be afraid. I am here to help you.
Despised though you are, O Israel, don't be afraid, for
I will help you. I am the LORD, your Redeemer. I am the
Holy One of Israel.' You will be a new threshing
instrument with many sharp teeth. You will tear all your
enemies apart, making chaff of mountains. You will toss
them in the air, and the wind will blow them all away; a
whirlwind will scatter them. And the joy of the LORD
will fill you to overflowing. You will glory in the Holy
One of Israel." (Isa 41:11-16 NLT)
DELIVERANCE COMES TO GIDEON
So in the midst of all this stress, where Gideon is both
hiding from his enemies and threshing his family
harvest, the angel of the Lord shows up inside the
winepress to bring good cheer to Gideon: "The angel of
the LORD appeared to him and said, "Mighty hero, the
LORD is with you!" (Judg 6:12 NLT)
"The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!" (Judg
6:12 NKJV)
"The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior." (Judg 6:12
NAS)
I find Gideon’s response particularly interesting.
Gideon doesn’t acknowledge that he even heard the angel
call him a mighty, valiant, heroic warrior. He probably
thought it was a weird greeting, but never considered
that it might really be true. I don’t think it even
phased him, because he probably did not believe it. If
he had believed even a smidgen and had memories of
earning the title and favor, he might have said,
"Me????? Are you SURE? Wow, thanks!" But Gideon had
watched Israel be trodden under foot and he was as brow
beaten as the wheat he was threshing. Here is his
response:
"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." Then
the LORD turned to him and said, "Go with the strength
you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am
sending you!" "But Lord," Gideon replied, "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 LORD said to him, "I will be with you. And you will
destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against
one man." (Judg 6:13-16 NLT)
A HUMBLE HEART
When I read that passage and the Lord opened my eyes to
Gideon’s response, I heard Him tell me that the keys to
Gideon’s heart were humility and weakness. These
important factors are WHY the Lord chose Gideon. To the
Lord they are the perfect ingredients for a successful
campaign. Gideon’s self esteem was very low. He did not
feel qualified to be a leader, having come from the
weakest clan and being the youngest in his family. This
caused him to feel weak. And this too is the Word of the
Lord… do not let any man despise your youth, your gifts,
your weakness, your position, your maturity, your
placement in the greater body. If the Lord has called
you, your gifts will make a way for you, and He will
supernaturally place His leadership anointing upon you
and turn the hearts of man. The key to being weak or
feeling weak is to lean upon Him in our weakness, then
we become strong in the Lord. (I Tim 4:12, Prov 18:16, 2
Cor 12:9)
There is another aspect of humility that I see in this
story. When one is faced with or clearly sees, or
experiences the demonic odds against him, it becomes
very humbling, very quickly. If one has had a lengthy
season of such (and the Lord’s Gideons have) then
humility is a natural byproduct of such a time. We learn
that we are nothing without Him, have no possible hope
to overcome such great odds without Him. This teaches us
to LEAN, and lean strongly upon Him. It brings us onto
our faces before Him. The best part about becoming weak
in warfare is that it kicks presumption out the door and
we learn to take everything we hear and see right back
to Him, Who is our Source. This keeps us from striking
out on our own and making messes!
The story continues as the angel begins to build
Gideon’s faith in several and unique ways. If you are
not familiar with the story, be sure and read it. It is
very encouraging to realize that the Lord is going to
rescue His Gideons who are hiding from the enemy while
attempting to feed their family. He is going to give
them some awesome promises and then raise up their faith
to meet the immediate challenge! Go God!
HOW GIDEON DEFEATS THE SWARMING ENEMY
The Lord is very interested in defending His ability to
provide for Israel: "The LORD said to Gideon, "You have
too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight
the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that
they saved themselves by their own strength." (Judg 7:2
NLT) And so the Lord eventually culls their armies down
to 300 men. When facing the giant multitude of swarming
enemies, He wants weak instruments. This is very
encouraging!
Yet remember, that the angel told Gideon to "Go in the
strength you have." The Lord did give him a portion of
physical and emotional abilities, then equipped him with
the faith to go forth. He always asks us to use what we
have and not what we do not have. (I Pet 4:11, Acts
11:29, Matt 5:15)
"It was just after midnight, after the changing of the
guard, when Gideon and the one hundred men with him
reached the outer edge of the Midianite camp. Suddenly,
they blew the horns and broke their clay jars. 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 shouted, "A sword for the
LORD and for Gideon!" Each man stood at his position
around the camp and watched as all the Midianites rushed
around in a panic, shouting as they ran. When the three
hundred Israelites blew their horns, the LORD caused the
warriors in the camp to fight against each other with
their swords." (Judg 7:19-22 NLT)
WEAK INSTRUMENT - A BROKEN CLAY JAR
The instruments that the Lord used to defeat these
Midianites are amazing. They carried hidden fire inside
clay jars which they brought into the enemy’s camp. It
was not until these jars were broken that their torches
blazed. Of course the jars of clay are us and the light
is Jesus Christ and His fiery passion within us. When we
are broken and vulnerable before the Lord and before our
enemies, we are in the place where God wants us to
SHINE.
"And yet, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and
you are the potter. We are all formed by your hand."
(Isa 64:8-9 NLT)
"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of
darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God
and not of us." (2 Cor 4:5-7 NKJV)
Notice that it was night when they broke their jars of
clay. They were laying themselves bare and vulnerable
before the spirit world, but at the same instant, this
revealed the light of Jesus Christ hidden inside. It is
the light that caused confusion in the enemy camp, it is
the light that caused alarm, and caused them to panic
and fight among themselves. The enemy did not see the
broken and weak people, rather heard the prophetic
declaration and saw their light. Our humility and
willingness for Him to use broken vessels is all that He
asks.
WEAK INSTRUMENT - A HORN
And in the right hand they held not a sword, but a horn.
Horns were used to blow like a trumpet, and they were
also used to carry the anointing oil. Horns represented
power in the scriptures. We blow our horns by declaring
the Word of the Lord into the enemy camp. This
declaration releases His power and His anointing into
the spirit world.
"There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have
ordained a lamp for mine anointed." (Ps 132:17 KJV)
"In that day will I cause the horn of the house of
Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of
the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that
I am the LORD." (Ezek 29:21 KJV)
FINISHED THE JOB
And we see in the rest of the story that some Midianites
escaped and so additional Israelites joined Gideon and
they pursued. The 300 were like forerunners to the war.
Their brothers did not see the night the 300 revealed
their light and declared the Word of the Lord. So
Gideon, though already sent, had to overcome the
challenge of his brothers and also their rejection. (Jud
8:1-8) He stayed focused and pursued until his job was
completed.
TIME LINE
I perceive that this season, however long it may be,
will be the time when: 1) the Lord turns the wheel from
evil threshing to good threshing. 2) the Lord captures
Gideon’s attention and rebuilds his faith.
Allegorically, Gideon has already had some strong
training to build his spiritual muscles, (and that
building comes through resistance.) Gideon is no puny
man. But Gideon has been so browbeaten that HE thinks
so. The Lord is about to rescue Gideon, but in so doing,
He is also going to launch Gideon into the rest of the
story. How that plays out in a timeline, I have no idea.
For now, the Lord’s message is, "The Lord is with you,
Oh mighty man of valor!"
PRAYER
Abba Daddy we pray for Your Gideons. We ask that You
begin to rescue them and rebuild their wounded hope and
faith. We loose Your Word to go forth into their lives
and deliver them, so that they may become deliverers.
And Lord we stand on Your Word that You shall turn the
threshing wheel from evil to good, so that Your army
will become threshing instruments with sharp teeth. In
Jesus Name.
~ THE CRACKED POT ~
2/2/02
Hi Loved Ones,
If you recall, in the Word
the Lord gave me for 2002 about Gideon (12/29/01), there
was a section about Him using weak instruments to defeat
our enemies, and part of that was a broken clay jar.
Here is a quote from that post for a reminder:
"WEAK INSTRUMENT - A BROKEN
CLAY JAR
The instruments that the Lord
used to defeat these Midianites are amazing. They
carried hidden fire inside clay jars which they brought
into the enemy’s camp. It was not until these jars were
broken that their torches blazed. Of course the jars of
clay are us and the light is Jesus Christ and His fiery
passion within us. When we are broken and vulnerable
before the Lord and before our enemies, we are in the
place where God wants us to SHINE. (Judg 7:19-22)
"And yet, LORD, you are our
Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We are
all formed by your hand." (Isa 64:8-9 NLT)
{end quote}
I would like to share with
you a story that was read at church a couple of weeks
ago. On the way to church I was arguing with the Lord. I
am sure the Lord was loving me with a twinkle in His
eye, as I was busy pouring out my heart. I am sure He
listened very carefully, but He said nothing. I told Him
I was feeling weak and totally unqualified for something
He had called me to do. I was reminding Him of all the
mistakes I had made. As I found my place to sit in
church, the following story was read the first thing,
even prior to worship!
THE CRACKED POT
A water bearer in India had
two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which
he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack
in it and the other pot was perfect and always delivered
a full portion of water.
At the end of the long walk
from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived
only half full. For a full two years this went on daily,
with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots of
water to his house.
Of course, the perfect pot
was proud of its accomplishments which was perfect for
the task for which it was created. But the poor cracked
pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable
that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had
been made to do.
After two years of what it
perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the water
bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself,
and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to
deliver only half my load because this crack in my side
causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.
Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work,
and you don't get full value from your efforts."
The water bearer replied, "As
we return to the master's house, I want you to notice
the beautiful flowers along the path. Do you notice that
there are flowers only on your side of the path but not
on the other pot's side?"
"That is because I have
always known about your flaw. I planted flower seeds on
your side of the path, and every day while we walk back
from the stream, you have watered them. For two years, I
have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to
decorate the table. Without your being just the way you
are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."
{end of story}
A BRIEF PICTURE VISION
Have you ever had someone
tell you a great story but you guessed the punch line
ahead of time? At the beginning of the story above, just
as I realized that the pot was only delivering a portion
of its water, I had a word of knowledge and I saw all
these flowers in its path. I think the Lord wanted to
emphasize to me that He was answering all my complaints
about how I was not measuring up. This story so hit me
between the eyes, I am still thinking about it 2 weeks
later and the Lord certainly had something to tell me.
When we have His calling upon
our life, we forget that He is Sovereign and He
perfectly lines up what we perceive as failings, with
those who need to hear them. Once we really accept that,
it releases us from all expectations except just to
cling to Him.
I perceive that there are
many, many people who have a calling upon their life and
they have yet to understand it or receive it. They are
actually running from their callings and a large portion
of the reason is because of their weakness and failures.
They feel unqualified or disqualified. We are all called
to be His witnesses and He uses everything we give Him.
"For it is the God who
commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have
this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of
the power may be of God and not of us." (2 Cor 4:5-7
NKJV)
And so as the angel told
Gideon, "Go in the strength you have." (Judges 6:14)
(I Pet 4:11, Acts 11:29, Matt
5:15-21)
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