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God
answered Gideon's prayer
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[ Judges 6:36 ]
Gideon said
to God, ¡°If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised
[ Judges 6:40 ]
That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was
covered with dew.
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God made Gideon the judge of the Israelites. God gave
Gideon two orders.
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As the first command, God said to destroy the altar of
the idol built in Gideon's father's house. Then, in the second order, Gideon
was ordered to build an altar to sacrifice to the highest place and offer a
burnt offering.
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Gideon took this command with ten of his servants. At
night, the altar of Baal's idols was torn down, and the wooden idol of Asherah
was destroyed. Then he built an altar on the highest place and offered a
burnt offering to God.
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6
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After that, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other
people from the east gathered together. They set up a camp in the ¡°Valley of
Jezreel¡± to attack Israel. The valley was full of enemies.
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7
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The Spirit of God came upon Gideon. In Gideon's heart,
the will to save Israel from difficulties arose with fire. He blasted the
trumpets to gather soldiers to fight them with God-given courage.
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After hearing Gideon's trumpet, people began to gather.
Gideon sent people to Manasseh and other parts of Asher, Zebulun, Naphtali,
and others to gather them. Many people followed Gideon.
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However, fear remained in Gideon's heart before the
war. He wanted to see solid evidence that God was with him. So he prayed for
a miracle that only God could do.
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10
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First, Gideon prayed. ¡°God, I will place a bunch of
wool in the threshing floor. Dew only on the fleece, dry all the other land.
Then I will believe that God said that He would save Israel by using me.¡±
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After this prayer, he placed a bunch of wool in the
threshing floor. And he got up early the next morning and went to the place
where the wool was. And when he picked up the fleece he had placed, the wool
was soaked in dew.
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Gideon squeezed the water from the fleece into a bowl.
There was a lot of water in a bowl. And there was no dew on the outside of
the fleece. God said that He was with Gideon by answering Gideon's prayer.
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However, Gideon still remained afraid. So I prayed for
a second miracle again from God. ¡°Please do not be angry with me. Let me try
one more time. Let the fleece dry this time, and the ground around the fleece
wet with dew.¡±
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Gideon once again brought a bunch of wool to the
threshing floor. Early the next morning, Gideon went to the fleece. As he
checked the fleece, this time again, as he prayed, the fleece was completely
dry without any moisture.
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However, dew was drenched everywhere outside the wool.
God answered Gideon's second prayer. Only then Gideon was convinced that God
was in this war.
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God answered Gideon's two prayers. He showed the two
miracles Gideon demanded. He responded without reproaching Gideon's lack of
faith and helped Gideon to have faith. Gideon won the war. He did a great job
of saving Israel from the hands of Midian.
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As we go
through life, today, like Gideon, we sometimes face fear.
Sometimes
faith in God who loved us weakens until God gave us his own Son.
At that
time, remember God who answered Gideon's prayer with two miracles.
Please pray
to God like Gideon. The Holy Spirit will
give us faith to believe in God and help us do things that please God.
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(This
is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the
conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)
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