Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-15
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Today we continue My instructions on how to know My Will for your life with Life Lesson No. 12: “Always go forward, never turn back.”
Always go forward never turn back. If you know what a GPS is for directions when you drive, you will have found out that when you miss a turn or you go off in the wrong direction, the GPS direction never sends you back to where you were to start over but recalculates from where you are. It always directs you to go forward to get back on the right track.
I told Abraham, then Abram, that he and his wife would have a son, but Sarah, then Sarai, doubted that she could have a son, as she thus far had not conceived, and thought she would help Me out by offering Abraham her maid as a surrogate mother. They did not consult Me on this but went ahead with their own plan to achieve My plan. And for thirteen years Abraham put his life and that of Sarah on hold. But at the time Ishmael was thirteen years old, I told Abraham it was time he moved forward and got his parked car into gear, so to speak. What I said to him, I now say to you, “I am God Almighty (El Shaddai); walk before Me and be blameless.” Genesis 17:1. I then told him I would make a covenant with him and multiply him exceedingly. In other words, I told him to move forward, walking before Me. I told My prophet Isaiah years later, “Your ears will hear a Word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.” Isaiah 30:21. I will direct your paths, but you must go forward or there are no paths to direct you on. I have given you a GPS within you, “God’s Powerful Spirit,” to lead and guide you to all truth.
When Moses let his anger overtake him and murdered the Egyptian who was abusing the Hebrew slave, he ran for his life and then put his life on hold for forty years. But I came and told him to go forward, not back to seek his position of power in the house of Pharaoh, but to take the people out of Egypt to the land I had promised to give the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was a move forward to get to the goal I had set with Abraham more than four hundred years before.
But now let us turn to the story of Gideon and you will see how a man stuck in his misery and weakness went forward to become a mighty champion that delivered Israel from the oppression of their enemies.
After Joshua and all who had known him died, the Israelites stopped reading, listening to, and obeying My Word. They went backwards instead of forward from where they had been under the direction of Joshua. They worshipped idols and the gods of the neighboring unbelieving nations. They had put themselves out of My jurisdiction into that of the devil. Consequently they had no protection against their enemies. At the time of Gideon, the Midianites were oppressing the Israelites by taking all their harvests by force, for it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go against them. So they would camp against them and destroy as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it. So Israel was brought very low. They called to Me and I sent them prophets, but they would not repent. So I Myself came to a man named Gideon. Judges 6:1-11.
When I came to speak with Gideon he was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. In other words, he was hiding from the enemy like a coward. Furthermore, right in his yard outside the winepress there was an altar to Baal and an Asherah (pillar erected to this “goddess” of fertility) that Gideon’s father had built. My messenger appeared to him and gave him My greeting, “The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior.” Judges 6:12.
Stop here a moment. To go forward and have the courage to do My Will for your life, you must know what I call you. And I call you more than a conqueror. Here I called Gideon, and the same I call all of you who believe in My Son, a gibbor hayil, which in Hebrew means a hero with the strength of an army. Isaiah My prophet told you that the child born to you and the Son given you would be called Wonderful, Counselor, God hero (El gibbor), Father forever, Prince of Peace. A gibbor. Let the weak say “I am a gibbor.” And My Son is Adonai, God and Man, the Lord.
At that greeting, Gideon stopped what he was doing and replied, “O my Lord (Adonai), if the LORD (YHWH) is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” Judges 6:13.
Stop here again. Do you see what is going on, this is one reason he has not moved forward and is still hiding from the enemy, which never stops the enemy from continuing his mission against mankind to steal, kill and destroy all you are, have or will be? Gideon was stuck in blaming me for his troubles and is feeling helpless in them, like it has to be a move from Me while he continues in his sins of worshipping idols and doing nothing but grumbling. This will not get you going forward but in reverse.
And Gideon continued in his self-justification for lack of action, “And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” Judges 6:13.
You may not realize this, but many believers do this exact same thing. They look at the miracles worked by Jesus, Peter, and Paul, and question Me why these are not happening in their lives and accuse Me of abandoning them. But I told you that you were to do the works Jesus did and greater, and that in His Name, I would do them THROUGH YOU. As you lay your hand on the sick, My hand reaches out through yours, you are the Body of Christ on earth, you know. And do not accuse Me of abandoning you, I have told you I never leave you or forsake you and that when you seek Me with all your heart you will find Me right there with you. Jesus promised you He would be with you always till the end of this age. Do you recall that even with Jesus right there in the boat with them when the storm hit the disciples accused Jesus of not caring that they were perishing? He rebuked the wind and the sea, and then He asked the fearful disciples where their faith was that they had not spoken out in the authority He had given them to calm the storm.
My response to Gideon was the same, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” Judges 6:14. As I sent Jesus, so He sends you, and you can do all things in Him who strengthens you. I had sent Gideon on this mission to deliver Israel and I would perform My Word in and through Him. But he, like Moses and so many others, did not see it that way, he only looked at his own abilities and wanted to retreat rather than go forward. You see that in his next response in this dialogue with Me, Gideon replied, “O Lord (Adonai), with what shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”
Stop here a moment. Here you see the problem, and this is the same for the majority of believers and why so many do not go forward to works of power and excellence but stay trapped in the parked car, so to speak. Too many see themselves as lacking in resources and weak in strength and wisdom. It is again the matter of how you are obtaining your self-image. If you are not looking for yourself in the mirror of My Word, you are looking in the wrong places. I have many powerful things I say about you that edify, encourage and exhort you to higher levels of success in life, it is time you read them and found out that you are precious in My eyes, that I have made Jesus wisdom to you, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, that in Him you are holy and blameless in My sight, more than a conqueror, and that My grace is sufficient and overflowing to give you the skill and ability you need to go forward to victory.
And as I assured Gideon, so I also assure you, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” Judges 6:16. I am the Most High. There is no god but Me. I know of no other. I created and now sustain, restore, and renew all. When I am with you, no one and nothing can come against you and win. Established in My righteousness, you will be far from oppression for no weapon formed against you can prosper and every tongue raised against you, you shall put down and prove false, for your righteousness and vindication come from Me. I train your hands for battle and your fingers for war. With My help you leap over a wall and take down an entire army. And Gideon did. After this Word from Me, he went forward to walk out his destiny with Me, it took awhile to renew his mind, and first I had him tear down the altar and pole to the idols in his yard and build an altar above it to Me. I renewed the burnt offering with him and so began an adventure that freed Israel from oppression, brought them back to Me, and changed Gideon’s life forever.
I would like to add one more thing for you to meditate upon. When Gideon called for men to join him to fight the Midianites, 32,000 men joined him. I counseled him to send all the men back to their homes who were afraid, so he told the men, “Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.” Judges 7:3. And 22,000 men departed. Cowards never make it into My Kingdom for not only will they not go forward, but they will try to put that same spirit of fear upon all in their company. You need faith to fight the good fight of faith. And Gideon got that by walking out his destiny with Me, hearing My Word to him, and acting upon it each step of the way until he became what I had called him—a hero with the strength of an entire army. And what was the battle cry he and the 300 men who finally went with him to defeat the myriads of the enemy shouted as they blew their trumpets and lifted their torches? “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” Judges 7:20. My Word is a double edged (literally a two-mouthed) sword, My Word in My mouth spoken by your mouth. Take up the Sword of the Spirit and you will win. You only overcome the devil by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of your testimony (testify in agreement with Me, that is, with My Word).
You have to feed to fight, in the natural and the supernatural. Well nourished soldiers fight stronger than malnourished ones. In Hebrew the word for “bread” is lechem (לחם) and the word for the verb “to fight” is lacham (לחם), same letters but different vowel sounds for one is a noun and one is the verb. But I think you see the meaning here. You have to feed to fight. Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from My mouth. My Word is real food for your spirit to grow thereby. Faith comes by hearing and hearing My Word. The ear tastes words as the palate does food.
I love you. Always go forward and never turn back. And then you will have peace. That was what Gideon named Me when he built the altar to Me, “The LORD is peace (shalom).” And this has been Life Lesson No. 12. Twelve is the number of government (12 tribes, 12 apostles) and doing My Will should be the way you govern your life. It is being under My jurisdiction. It is working in the government of the Kingdom and bringing that government to earth.
For a child is born to us, a Son is given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, God Hero, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:6-7.