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STAYING AT OUR POST IN ENEMY-HELD TERRITORY!

Early in the morning, Gideon and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men plus one left, leaving ten thousand behind without a leader.
So reads Judges 7:1 - 3, with a slight twist of my own added at the end of the third verse. You see, Gideon was told to make an announcement, an announcement that was approved by the Lord. He was to announce that anyone who trembled, anyone who was afraid, anyone who was fearful could go home. They could pack up and return to their families.

The men looked at each other, whispered to one another about the sheer foolishness of facing unbelievable odds, and then more than two-thirds of them went to their tent and started packing their belongings. Now from all we know about Gideon at this point, I’m surprised he wasn’t among those who headed home. In fact, I’m amazed that he wasn’t leading the pack.

But, and perhaps this is the greatest miracle within the story, he stayed at his post. He stayed in the place where God had called him to serve. He stayed when more than two-thirds of his men returned to their families. He even stayed when the remaining one-third was whittled down to a mere three hundred men!

Why? Was he crazy? Or perhaps he was so full of pride, today we refer to it as being macho, that he wasn’t about to admit that he was shaking in his boots. No, his staying power can’t be attributed to either his mental state or his manly pride. Though timid by nature, he stayed because he believed, against all appearances to the contrary, what the Lord had told him; that the victory was his for the taking.

But suppose among the three hundred their was a handful of naysayers. Suppose a few pretenders had infiltrated this tiny band of men with the sole purpose of discouraging them. Their negative attitude, their subversive comments, may well have infected the spirit of Gideon and his men. And given sufficient time, they may have even been able to countermand, nullify, the Lord’s plan for Gideon and his men.

This was what concerned the writer of the tiny book of Jude. He was fearful that the faith of believers would be so undermined by pretenders among them that they would abandon their post. So as he concluded his short letter with these words:
But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Here in Jude’s closing remarks, the imperative, the mandate, is to “keep ourselves in God’s love.” Obviously, this can’t mean we’re to do something like spiritual calisthenics to make sure God keeps loving us. For God, according to John 3:16, already loves us. Additionally, Jude is addressing believers who, as believers, are especially loved by God.

No, the construction of the Greek in v. 21 is such that it refers to a sphere or a particular location. In other words, Jude is telling up to stay at our post. He is telling us to stay in that place where God is blessing us and is using us to bless others. He is telling us to stay where God has planted us. He is encouraging us not to abandon our post.

This imperative, this mandate, is surrounded by some clauses that tell us what we are to do while we man our post. First, we’re to remember the nature of our enemy. In Jude these are those who are among us, but who are not of us. They do not have the Holy Spirit within them for they simply look out for themselves. They may be wearing camouflage, they may look like you and me, but we can recognize them for who they are because they are the ones who cause division. Instead of bringing a spirit of unity to a congregation they bring strife. We are to be wary of these people.

In Ephesians, we are reminded that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” The real enemy is not so much the misguided souls among us as it is the spiritual forces of darkness behind those souls. Yes, we may have to rebuke and confront those who cause division among us, but we are also to draw them into the love of God. For our real struggle is not against flesh and blood.

Second, we are to build ourselves up in the most holy faith. We are to stay in shape spiritually. We are to study the Word. We are to meditate it on day and night. We are to not merely listen to the word, but be doers of the word. And as we are doers of the word, we will find ourselves being built up in it.

This is what happened to Gideon. This is why he didn’t turn back when the twenty-two thousand turned tail and went home. He had been built up in the faith. In patience the Lord gave him time to receive and digest all that he had been told. Then, he had Gideon tear down his father’s altar to Baal, cut down the nearby Asherah pole, and replace both with an altar to God. In this, Gideon timidly took a public stand that expressed his commitment to the Lord. Then, in the aftermath of the town’s wrath the Lord, through his father, protected Gideon. Through this experience, Gideon’s faith was strengthened.

Then, in patience the Lord allowed his patience to be tried as Gideon assured himself through a series of test that it was indeed the Lord’s will for him to take on the mighty Midianites. Consequently, on the verge of attacking the Midianites Gideon had staying power because he had built up his faith, or more accurately, God had built it up through him.

Third, as we stay at our post we are to pray in the Spirit. It is instructive to note that the two places where this phrase is found deal with spiritual warfare. In Ephesians Paul speaks of putting on the full armor of God in light of our struggle with the spiritual forces of darkness. Then, as we head out the door to man our post he tells us to pray in the spirit. In Jude, we’re at our post but are in danger of being bewildered by some who have infiltrated our ranks.

You see, in the heat of battle, in the midst of conflict, it is easy to become confused – at a loss of how to respond to what is happening around us. Hence, we may end up not responding at all. We may end up sitting on our hands or with our head buried in the sand. Or, we may respond in the flesh only to discover that we have created a situation within the body that minimizes our effectiveness or even sidelines us.

For example, someone here at Bethany is really discouraged. They have lost heart and are near to throwing in the towel. We’re close enough to them to know they are down and almost out. But we’re not exactly in step with the Spirit ourselves and so while we are aware of their plight we don’t know how to help them. Or maybe, we look at their situation and we want to tell them: “Quit being a baby, everybody who has been in church for any length of time gets hurt. You need to toughen up and quit being so sensitive. After all, when Jesus was hurt he went right on serving others.”

Well, maybe they do need to be a little bit tougher. But, being brutally blunt with them isn’t going to strengthen them to do the work of the ministry. If you or I are going to come alongside of them and really help them, we are going to have to be sensitive to the Spirit and pray for them in keeping with the Spirit’s heart.

Or consider the following two paragraphs taken from the most recent letter put out by Frontiers, a ministry to the Muslim world. The three paragraphs read:
Late last year, T.J.’s language teacher, a Muslim named “Khurshed,” told his American student about a strange illness that had infected his 14-year old daughter, “Farzona.” Three months before, ( ) an overwhelming fear came upon her while walking in the dark of night. Since that time, Farzona could barely get out of bed, as her body was full of soreness, and she grew progressively weak. T. J. asked if he could visit and pray for Khurshed’s daughter, and his teacher readily agreed.

After observing the normal customs, including a meal, T. J. and a local Muslim-background believer, “Iihom,” prayed for the sick girl. In her room, the air was very hot, though the windows were open. After T. J. asked the Holy Spirit to come in power and said, “Amen,” a breeze swept through the room. Farzona stood up and walked out of the room. She was crying.
Later, when T. J. asked Farzona’s father, Khurshed, how she was feeling, he said she was 100% better. She testified later that, after the prayers, she had felt all the fear drain out of her body.

I suspect that those who prayed for this young lady sensed that she was being harassed and oppressed by the spiritual forces of darkness. If so, they must have prayed what some call an Authoritative Prayer. This is where we pray authoritatively that the resources of Heaven will be brought to bear on a particular situation. It is where our prayers serve as the conduit through which power from heaven is brought to earth. It is where we pray not because we are helpless, though we are, but because God is almighty.

This may have been what Paul had in mind when he told the Ephesians to pray in the Spirit. In the context of Ephesians this would make sense. For in chapter one Paul tells us that after God raised Jesus from the dead he seated him at his right hand. In Ephesians 1:19b - 21 we read:
“ That power (the power which is made available to us) is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the age to come.”

Then, in chapter two, you and I are brought into the picture. God, says Paul, has taken those who have been saved by grace through faith and raised us up as well. In Ephesians 2:6 - 7 we read:
“ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
In chapter 3 Paul made it clear those who are in Christ, through the church, are on universal display, as if in a showcase. In Ephesians 3:10 - 11 we read:
“ His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Then, in chapter 6, after looking at the horizontal implications of all that has been done for us Paul returned to this matter of what is happening in the heavenly realms where the spiritual forces of darkness operate. But in the heavenly realms Christ has authority over all things and we, in a very real sense, have been raised with Christ. In us God’s power is on display for all the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms to see and behold.

This means that in order to advance the kingdom of God, authoritative prayer can be used against the principalities and powers of the present darkness. However, the use of this type of prayer calls for discernment and prudence. Discernment is needed to see what is actually going on and to know what needs to be done in a given situation. If someone is ill, are they ill due to simply living in a fallen world or are they ill due to demonic activity?

Prudence is simply old-fashion common sense. It means we don’t go around commanding this and that simply because we have authority in Christ. Jesus never did that. He knew when to exercise authority and when to submit to the authority of his Father. Prudence means praying in the Spirit only when it is right and good.

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