Gideon

Judges 6:12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!

Judges 6 begins with an angel talking to Gideon saying, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor!" However, in this passage Gideon isn't feeling very valiant — he's consumed with his circumstances — how poor his family is and how he's the least of his fathers' house. He doesn't feel he's done anything worthy of being called valiant, yet the angel still addresses him "mighty man of velour!"

Gideon is not the only one who struggles with feeling anything but valiant, though, is he? All of us struggle with feelings of failure and defeat from time to time. But we must remember that we are part of the Lord's army — and in the Lord's army we do not depend upon our own strength. We depend upon the power of the Lord. We depend upon the victory that He has already won.

I’ll admit, I’m feeling somewhat ‘Gideon-ish’ this morning. My body feels as weak as a newborn kitten rather than that of a warrior. It is in times like this I rest in the knowledge of His assurance and victory over sickness because I sure do not feel like a mighty woman of valor on any front. People, this is why I encourage you so often to spend time reading and studying the Bible because we need to stand on what we KNOW over what we FEEL. I know Christ bore those stripes for my healing and that trumps the way I feel every this time.

Our feelings are wishy-washy. They change with the wind, or at least circumstances and we cannot depend on our feelings to be rational or unbiased or mature or wise. This makes it all the more important that we know where we stand in Christ and what the Word says about who we are in Him rather than listening to how we feel.

Call out to Jesus. He stands anxiously awaiting our call. He wants us to walk in His power, not our own. Let's give him our circumstances today and strive to rely on His strength to conquer them!