FOLLOW MY LEAD
Judges 7:17,18 “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”
Gideon had a good plan that worked perfectly thanks to the Lord. While the Midianites were asleep in their tents, Gideon and his 300 men divided up into three companies and spread out around the Midianite camp. Gideon had his men lite torches, and put them inside jars so they could not be seen. When Gideon blew his trumpet or horn, then all his other men that had spread out around the Midianite camp smashed their jars exposing the lit torches, blew their trumpets or horns and shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.” Then the Lord did his part, and he caused the Midianites to awake from their sleep so confused that they began to fight with each other. As the Midianites began to flee, Gideon called for the tribes of Naphtali, Asher, Manasseh and Ephraim to help pursue and kill the Midianite army. That night Gideon became the mighty warrior that the angel of the Lord called him to be. Gideon drew the attention of his men and certainly the Midianites that the battle was for the Lord’s glory, but he was also dangerously close to not. All the praise and glory belong to the Lord. Even in our best efforts the very best can not be done without the help of the Lord.
If you are a football fan chances are you have seen a player make a good play, and then look up and point to the Lord. Now, I don’t know if they are thanking Jesus, God in general or what, but I do know they are not pointing at themselves.
It is a good thing to give thanks and give God credit where credit is due. Even among Christians and sometimes pastors, there is a temptation to draw attention to oneself rather than point others to Jesus. I guess it is a flaw in all of us to want to be liked and praised. I don’t believe it was part of our creation, because we were created in God’s image and as we see with Jesus he was always pointing people to his Heavenly Father. It was his passion to glorify his Heavenly Father in every aspect of his life and being. I believe that it still is! Self glorification comes from the fallen nature that sin brings into our life. It does not have to be there even for non-Christians. It is really a matter of desire and commitment. The motivation for it comes with love. Jesus loves his Heavenly
Father and the Holy Spirit, so it is not a struggle or imposition for him and shouldn’t be for us either.
I believe one of the quickest ways to stop God from answering prayer is not to be thankful to him for doing something and not to give him the glory for it. Because of this I cringe when I hear people give thanks and credit for answered prayer to their pastors, prayer chains, scripture verses.their amount of faith, persistence, holy life style, or really anything else. Even the act of not giving thanks or credit at all makes me hang my head. God is worthy to be praised and thanked, and we should do it continually. You don’t have anything to pray about, or talk to God about? Well, try thanking him for the flowers, the trees, the grass, the lighting bugs! Psalm 22:3 tells us that God inhabits the praises of his people. That should tell us right away that praise and thanksgiving is important to him. He does not need it, but it is certainly the right thing to do. We appreciate it when we do something for people and they appreciate it. I heard some people talking on the radio about the new policy of not giving tips, but including it in the price of the food or service. A lady called in and said that she was a server and for her that tip was a statement of appreciation, and she appreciated it whether it was cash or verbally.
I am not encouraging you to make a show of it as if being a Christian is a holier than thou type of thing. There is a time and place for it, and certainly a proper way of even saying it so attention is not drawn to self rather than Jesus. The point is it sincere and from the heart? That is where it is meant to be form, because that’s where our love originates from.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, thank you for all you do for us! We can’t even put in words our true appreciation, or know all that we should thank and praise you for. We do know one thing and that is you are a wonderful God to us, and we don’t want to think what we would do without you. We love you so much! PS Thanks for the birds is saw back in our trees today after this long cold winter without them.
