"Our sufficiency is from God." 2Co 3:5 NKJV

Gideon's army of thirty-two thousand men is enormously outnumbered by the Midianites when God tells him, "You have too many men." He instructs Gideon to release anyone who is afraid, and Gideon loses two-thirds of his army. Now he has only ten thousand men.

Again the Lord says, "There are still too many men," and reduces Gideon's army to three hundred men. At that moment, the odds had to be a million to one. And it even gets better!

God directs Gideon to attack the Midianites with trumpets and pitchers. Now for the real kicker: Israel wins! Why did God do it like that? Because if Gideon had attacked with thirty-two thousand men and won, the Israelites would have thought that God didn't provide much help, and God would have received limited credit. But God is worthy of more. God desires and deserves complete credit. And when three hundred men defeat a massive army with trumpets and pitchers,

God receives all the glory (See Jdg 7). Why? The reason is a victory like that overcomes all odds. Too frequently, our prayers revolve around requesting God to increase our odds of winning. We would like everything in our favor. But maybe God wants the odds to oppose us so we can encounter a miracle of divine proportions. Faith is trusting God no matter how hopeless the odds are. Our impossible circumstances are chances to experience a new height of God's glory. Are you facing a situation that, humanly speaking, is beyond your ability to cope with it? Read this: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God" (2Co 3:5 NKJV).

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NOV. 20, 2024

You will be rewarded for it.

"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Ro 8:18 NKJV

In 1857 David Livingstone gave this speech at Cambridge University: "People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa…..Away with the word in such a view and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger now and then with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life may make us pause and cause the spirit to waver and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us.

I never made a sacrifice." When you serve the Lord, you always get back more than you give up. And if you get back more than you give up, have you really sacrificed anything at all? "Then Peter began to say to Him, 'See, we have left all and followed You' So Jesus answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time-houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions-and in the age to come, eternal life'" (Mk 10:28-30 NKJV).

The only regrets you will have at the end of your life will be that you didn't seek and serve God more and seek and serve Him sooner.

You will be rewarded for it Seek and serve God more.

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"His older son...was angry." Lk 15:25, 28 NKJV

The parable of the prodigal son is about two boys and their father's love for each. The younger one dishonored his father and ended up in a pigpen. When he returned home, he had lost everything—except his father's love.

So no matter who you are or what you have done-God loves you and wants you in His family. Jesus made an amazing statement: "When he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him" (v. 20 NKJV).

Ancient Hebrew culture thought running was an undignified act for older men. Men wore long flowing robes, and had to pull them up around their waist to run, exposing their undergarments. But the father didn't care about what people thought; he cared about his wayward son.

Unfortunately, his older brother didn't feel that way. Do you understand why a lot of younger brothers are still out in the pigpen and don't want to enter the church? Because they're afraid older brothers will hit them with the mean hand of judgment instead of touching them with the welcoming hand of love.

• The older brother desires punishment, but the father provides pardon.
• The older brother requires guilt, but the father gives grace.
• The older brother wants revenge, but the father wants reconciliation.

Here is the good news: No matter how low you have fallen, know that as soon as you return, you will discover your heavenly Father facing you, extending open arms and a loving heart toward you.

Prodigal, come home! The welcoming hand of love

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