“Glory to the Precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ”

Psalms 70: 5 But I am poor and needy; make haste to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen

Hallelujah 

If our soul, the bride, the church should change as the altar of Christ, from our old life the altar of Baal has to be broken down.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the portion of the Bible that we meditated upon in the past days, we meditated that our heart, the bride, the church should be an altar of peace.

Next, what we are meditating is that Judges 6: 25 – 40 Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it; 

and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.” 

So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night.

And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. 

So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they had inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” 

Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it.”

But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!” 

Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar.”

Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. 

But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. 

And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said— 

look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” 

And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. 

Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” 

And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.

When we meditate upon the above-mentioned verses, after Gideon built an altar and named it as Jehovah Shalom, the same night the Lord said to him, take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down. From this, we come to know that the place where Gideon has built the altar was his father’s field and we can understand that.

Then Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they had inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash. Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it.”

But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down! Because he said in this manner its name became Jerubbaal. Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said— look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.

My dear people, if we will meditate upon the facts regarding this the pattern of the altar being built in our soul is that the traditional deeds of Baal that were there first should be destroyed and all the deeds that are there surrounding it should be utterly destroyed and we must grow in the word of God and prayer and our soul should always be a place where God is worshipped. When we come forward to walk in this manner, many people mainly our forefathers, our relatives and the people surrounding us who worshipped Baal, will rise up against us. But we should not become weary and backslide and if they rise up in this manner firstly, we must secretly sit at the feet of God.  But still if they follow us, as a surety that God will not forsake us to Gideon’s father, the people of the city and relatives came and when they told him to bring his son out we are reading the words that Joash said boldly.

My dear people, the reason for this is that God met Joash at that time. My dear people, we must understand one thing, that is, our God at the right time will come during trouble and will deliver us. He will come with great speed and he is the one who will protect us and we must not forget this. 

Also, three kinds of Gentiles came and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. When we look at this many people are scared to come out of traditional worship. The reason is that if you ask them they will say that their gods will trouble them and they will spoil themselves and they will go in their own way. Not only that, but they will also hinder to break down the idols. This is because they think that their previous gods will do something to them and will be hesitant. But God is saying in Isaiah 41: 10 – 16 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

“Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; They shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish.

You shall seek them and not find them— Those who contended with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing.

For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’

“Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you,” says the Lord and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

“Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, and make the hills like chaff.

You shall winnow them, the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; You shall rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The facts regarding the above-mentioned verses is that we must not fear anything and for God with our whole mind if we be as those who fight with our enemies then God will stand with us and there is no doubt regarding this. Because Gideon was in this manner, when the Gentiles encamped the Spirit of God descended upon him. Then he is blowing the trumpet and he is calling the people and everyone he called are following him. What this signifies is that we must leave the traditional gods and by the precious blood of Christ we must receive redemption and when we unite with Christ to pull our soul backwards enemies will encamp strongly against us in our soul. But we must not get scared regarding this and with the strength that God has given us  along with faith and with boldness we must reach to the throne of grace.

Then God will fight for us and will save us. But Gideon is asking God for a sign. God is showing him that sign. But the second time when he is asking for a sign, we must think slightly what he is saying that do not be angry with me. But our sign is that always in our soul Christ is there. Therefore regarding that only his teachings as dew God is showering them always in our soul.

Therefore, my dear people when we remove our traditional walks like the deeds of Baal from us, they go away completely such that we are not able to see the place that they were there. Then in our soul in all circumstances the teaching of God will descend down as dew. In this manner, let us submit ourselves to be filled with the true teachings of God.

Let us pray. May the Lord bless you all abundantly. 

- To be continued