Friday, March 21, 2008

comforting presence

i was listening to Gideon: Trusting God Against All Odds by pastor elwin, new hope.

as i listened to the life of Gideon, i was laughing literally. God is mad! He called someone that was already timid to gather people to go against 135,000. and he finally gathered courage to take up God's calling and fixed some stuffs in his life and he gathers 32,000 men to fight the 135,000 which was tho already is not alot, its enough for God's miracle to take place!

or so.. we thought. but God told Gideon that 32,000 men was too big an amount! and so He told Gideon to tell the ppl that if they are fearful its ok to leave. and 22,000 men left. leaving just 10,000 men! and now Gideon turn back to God and told God, "there i've gt 10,000 men nw im ready to go for war".(nt exactly wad Gideon said in judges but roughly is like this.) but God told Gideon again, there was too many people still! and told Gideon to bring the 10,000 to the river and to ask those who kneel down and drink water from the river to go back home.

and guess what was the remaining amount? it was 300! JUST 300 men against 135,000?! it is like around 1 youth service fighting against stadiums of people. tt is around 450:1 ratio. 1man has to kill at least 450 to win the war. and ok nx what Gideon does is that, he gives all his 300 men a trumpet and 1 pitcher with a torch in it. they werent even given a sword! they were supposed to blow the trumpet when Gideon blows the trumpet and they will win the war with God!

ok haha, isnt this just pure madness? this is totally senseless and hilarious. but Gideon trusted God for who God is and obeyed God instead of what the situation is. and what happened? they won the war. when they blew the trumpet, all 135,000 men started killing one another and the remaining men ran away. they won the war just like that! without a single weapon in their hands.


what struck me in the podcast was this sentence. what the midianites(the enemy) ran away from wasnt the 300 men. but what they ran away from was the awe-mighty presence of God!


this is what exactly happens when we choose to take up God's calling and trust it into God's hands! the problems and what we are called to do that seems big, isnt as big anymore when its in God's hands as God settles the hard part for us. the parts where we cant control or handle, in CG08 it would be the heart conditions of our non-believer friends and contacts. God says that when we trust our events and situations onto His hands, He settles all of these for us.

im really amazed at what God has in store for us when we trust God with what we are doing.


and i realised the reason why i really enjoy listening to podcasts. other than being able to learn from the word of God. its cos im able to just put away everything for around 45mins and just sit down and listen to God speak into my life. its so enjoyable to be in God's presence.. so comfortable.. so peaceful.. and really. i would never trade 45mins of doing anything else for that 45mins of being in God's presence.

you should take some time to do the same if you haven tried it before or haven tried it for a long time. to spend some quality and quiet time with God in the midst of a busy day. haha tts hw i spend quality and quiet time when im out of my house, you may have ur own style tho =)


God thank You for ur overflowing love in my life, that at every end of my day i experience and realised the amount of love You have put into my life, the infinite amount of love that is always overflowing in me. God help me to be more like You and help me to take up Your challenges and to face the challenges with You. all this i pray in Your Name. Amen.

[Easter service is 1 day away, and today is the last day. im going to take up the challenge of bringing people to God in a new perspective=) praise God!=)]

aloy; 3:19 AM