RISE YOURSELF!

Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press to hide it from the Midianites, part of the oppressive routine he and his people had been enduring for seven years. His heart was so eaten away that when the angel of the Lord appeared to him, he couldn't help but burst out in anger against that situation.

Gideon's reply was a rather impolite way to speak to God. But, God called his attitude "strength". There and then the Lord knew He had found the right person to save Israel. "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand."

I believe the only way to change a difficult situation is by staging a personal revolt.

Are you caught up in a cycle of problems? Do you find yourself living your life only to sort out problems? Are you working only to pay bills? Praying but not seeing results? Everyone comes to you for help but when you need help no one cares?

Are you doing everything to find joy but all you get is depression and dissatisfaction? Do you feel time is passing, you're getting old, and you haven't accomplished anything so far?

Well, here's the blunt truth: You won't get out of that cycle unless you revolt against your situation.

What I call a "personal revolt" is the feeling of not accepting to believe in a great and Almighty God and yet have a life full of shame. That's what was eating Gideon away. He had been told about the great miracles God had performed in the past, but in his own lifetime he had seen only disgrace and misery. "Where are all those miracles?" he asked.

It's the same today. If we Christians get together only to praise God for what He did in the past, for the miracles we read in the Bible, then what's the point?

If God is the same today, that means His power is the same, and He still can do the same miracles. If not, then we are doomed to be just like everybody else, and our God is just another god in this world, and Christianity just another religion on this planet.

Zebah and Zalmunna, the two Midianite kings that Gideon captured, said to him, "Rise yourself..." This was because Gideon was telling his son (who was afraid) to go and kill them. So they were saying to him, in other words, "Don't send a boy to do a man's job! Aren't you going to finish what you started? Come and kill us yourself! Don't send others to do what you have got to do!"

These two kings may have been Midianites, enemies of God's people but... they knew what they were talking about! And they practiced what they preached. They were kings and could have stayed home in Midian just waiting for their armies to return from war – but instead, they were right there, leading their soldiers into battle.

The essence of what they said is this: You must rise yourself, get up and do what you've got to do. If you wait for others to do it for you, you will never overcome.

Let's have the same spirit of Gideon. Let's come out of our caves. Let's not be angry at God but at the devil. Let's make sure we are with God so He may also say to us, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!" And above all, let's fight because victory is not to the good but to the strong!

Have you been rising yourself?