I am the least...

——O mighty man of valor——

Reading: Judges 6: 11-16

11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

I’ll just start straight with the main point:

——God doesn’t want super heroes. He simply wants someone who is willing——

Let’s face it. We don’t have a good view of ourselves. A lot of us compare ourselves to others who we see next to us, and now through social media. This is just amazing how the angel of God greeted Gideon. “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” God called him for who he truly is. Same for you too! God is calling you for who you truly are. But we often shutdown God’s blessings because we don’t feel like we deserve it.

Mighty man of valor? Who, me? How can You call me for a huge purpose? “Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” There’s no way I’m the person you want for this. NOTHING about me is good!

People, here me out on this one….WE NEED TO STOP DOING THIS!! We need to stop shutting ourselves down. We have been made for greatness! We have been made for the sake of others! Sounds weird right? You were made for someone’s sake? Think about it. There are people that you meet that you’ve changed. People have been impacted by YOU. Don’t you understand yet? I’ll say it like this…

——YOUR EXISTENCE IS IMPORTANT——

The most important thing to get a hold of is the beginning part of the greeting,”The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” God is with you. In all the speaking that Gideon did about him not being so great and how he’s the lowest and his clan isn’t so great either……God said, Go in this might of yours….do not I send you?…I will be with you…” God didn’t ask you for your qualifications. He simply wants you do go with what you have. He’s sending you. You won’t be alone because He’s going with you.

Be encouraged today. This has helped me so much in being comfortable with who I am. I don’t need to try to impress anyone or try to prove myself to anyone. God just wants a willing heart. Who will go? Who will take that first step?

God bless you