Good Morning Gorgeous!

It’s a brand new day. A fresh new start! And all things are becoming NEW!

I have been battling some type of cold or allergy and lost my voice about a week ago. I’m still struggling with speaking and since I’m a teacher and a mom of 5 who is also active in a couple of ministries I speak ALOT!

I’ve pushed through most things this past week including a beautiful event at my school yesterday where just about 80 kids worshipped Jesus in my school cafeteria! I work in a public elementary school so isn’t Jesus just amazing!

And as my voice has been attacked, the Lord has restored my writing.

What the enemy plans for evil, the Lord will turn to good for those who love Him!

Thursday morning, I was jolted awake at 3am with a message and I began to write again.

This once super active blog has been quiet as I’ve been speaking more lately than writing. But I feel the Lord drawing me back to early wee hour morning writing. I feel a comfort in typing out the Words the Lord pours into me at the 3am, 4am, 5am hour.

The house is quiet in those early hours and it’s just me and Jesus as He pours and my fingers try to keep up!

Today I slept in and then when Iopened my bible to where I am in Judges and I saw my highlights, a message just jumped off the page at me!

This is an encouragement to the one who knows the Lord is prompting you forward.

This is for the one who feels ill equipped..

Less than, and unprepared.

You have felt the stir of the Lord telling you it’s time. You know He has more for you. He may have even given you glimpses of what He wants you to do, BUT you have been wavering between the call of God and how you perceive yourself and your current situation.

The odds seem unfairly stacked against you and it’s been that way for a long time. You don’t come from shiny and life has not been shiny, BUT God.

He is not moved by where you’ve come from, He looks at you and sees where you are GOING. Ahead. Forward. Step by step. Each bold brave step as your heart pounds brings you farther and farther away from where you came from and closer and closer to the promised land!

So here I am in Judges. I am devouring the Old Testament right now! Like something has come off of my eyes and ears and I see things in every page that I missed previous times!

Backstory:

It’s the time in Israelite History where they are ruled by Judges. They have entered the promised land led by Joshua. And they are all in their tribes settled into their land. Moses died before they entered.

Joshua led with courage and boldness and allotted the land and he has passed on now as well.

And the Lord has set up a justice system where the people are ruled by God appointed Judges who serve as prophets and judges and lead the people as God gives them wisdom. The judges are not appointed by man, but by the LORD Himself.

A pattern has emerged where the Israelites have begun to backslide and forget all of the miracles of God and the covenant they have with Him and they will do evil for a time, get tangled up in oppression by a neighboring King and then cry out to the Lord.

He will hear them and then rise up a judge to lead them to victory again. This happens over and over.

A vicious sin cycle of a nation, but God is merciful again and again.

The Lord comes to Gideon who is secretly threshing wheat and hiding it from the Midianites who are starving and oppressing them.

And the Lord’s greeting is so powerful, He addresses Gideon as a MIGHTY HERO!

He says, “Mighty Hero, the Lord is with you!’

Gideon questions the greeting because all he has experienced is oppression, hunger, and struggle. He asks the Lord, “How can the Lord be with me? Where are the miracles we’ve heard about from our ancestors? He has abandoned us and left us as slaves for the Midianites.

The Lord affirms him and sends him FORTH!

He tells Gideon who has never been in battle, who has never led an army, who is hiding in fear just threshing wheat. “Go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”

Gideon immediately sees only his own weaknesses and shortcomings… He cries out, “But Lord, 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.”

None of that matters to the Lord! He tells Gideon, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting one man.”

He calls YOU as He has destined you!

He calls you daughter or son of the Most High God.

He calls you a co-heir with Christ.

He calls you to partner with Him in carrying out the Great Commission.

And He promises, I will be with you even to the end of the age!

God is calling you today. FORWARD.

And just like Gideon you think you are the weakest of the weakest that He could pick.

You question is God is making a mistake in calling you.

But I want to encourage you today! You can really see the heart of God in this Biblical account. He calls Gideon not as he is but as he will be when he says yes to God! MIGHTY HERO! And God assures him that He won’t be alone. The Lord will go with him.

How much more can we say yes to God when we have Holy Spirit inside of us roaring like a lion?! He is Making us brave and courageous and equipped for every good work.

You woman of God. You man of God. ARE. READY to go forth into the assignment!

And. He will be with you. He will give you the victory every where your foot treads if He has called you there.

May you go forth strengthened today to say yes to what God has sent you to do.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Clarity is needed Lord. May we hear Your voice loud and clear. May we respond to what You say about us and move from that identity and NOT the identity the world tries to give us. May we NOT hyper focus on every weakness we have or where we’ve come from. May we focus on what YOU say and WHERE You say we are to go. May we be obedient and say YES to every Holy assignment!

In Jesus’s Name, Amen.

Blessings and obedient forward movement!

Vanessa Lynn