(Monkeys check each other for lice too!)
Fear of what others would think about what God was telling me had overtaken me and I kept my mouth shut.
In Judges 7 God tells Gideon that there are too many men with him to fight the Midianites. First of all Gideon was unsure and unconfident in God using him to rescue the Israelites and then God says there are too many men! But God tells Gideon that with that many men the Israelites would think that it was by their own power that they were rescued. So Gideon tells the people that are afraid or timid to leave and 22, 000 men go home.
What does that say about the warriors that were going to fight for the Israelites? 22,000 of the soldiers left because of FEAR! After these men left there were 10,000 left, meaning that 2/3rds of the soldiers were scared and afraid.
So with no ministry in our hands we continue to pray. I tell my teammate as we went to bed Thursday night that since Wednesday God had been putting three numbers in my head. I had no idea what it meant, and I asked her to pray for God to reveal what this meant or to confirm it as we slept. I asked God for confirmation because of my doubt and fear. We wake up the next morning and I ask my teammate if God showed her anything or spoke to her in any way. She said no. We then meet as a team to pray and seek direction before we go out on a step of faith. I ask God to once again confirm with someone else on the team; I even go so far to specifically name the exact person I want him to speak to. A teammate says God showed him water bottles. And I ask the specific person if God showed them anything. My teammate says no, that all God said to him was to have faith in what God was speaking to the team.
(Monkeys like eggs, who knew?)We look inside a woman cleaning rice, a man fixing jewelry, another woman cleaning rice, a couple working a desk, and a woman sowing outside as her son waits to go to school. We began talking to a man named Dr. P who spoke English. He asked us how long we were in Cambodia for, our names and then what we did for jobs. We told him we didn’t have jobs but that we were here to share with people about Jesus. He didn’t recognize the words Jesus or the Bible.
As the men on our team talked with the young man who was outside by his mother, we women helped the ladies clean rice.
Our team left there a few hours later and we all thanked and praised God for the ministry HE had given us.
I can’t imagine the fear and panic as Gideon is telling soldiers to leave and yet God tells him again to divide the men into groups. 300 men go to fight in the battle against the Midianites. And God gives Gideon and the Israelite soldier’s victory over the Midianites.
God needed the soldiers, the Israelite people, and Gideon to know that the VICTORY would only come when the source of their strength and all their dependence was on God.
God needed our team, us as individuals, and me to know and REMEMBER to be DEPENDANT on HIS EVERY WORD and that HE ALONE is the source of VICTORY!
Thank you God for the ministry you brought us to 297 Ministry
