It is important that you look upon yourself as God looks at you! I will now go deeper into the issue about how God views you, and how you can look upon yourself the same way.
How does God view you? Does he look at you as a grain of dust amongst many others? No, absolutely not! He views you as something precious, something He can use. “But”, say some “I so often fail, I feel I am nothing and I am so weak.” You were created from dust; He made something valuable from something that was worth nothing. He, who made you out of dust, is also able to give you the power you need to be used by Him. Many have a tendency to look at how weak they are, not at how mighty God is! In Him you can do anything.
Phil 4:13
3I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
We should not forget that without Him we can do nothing, but if we focus on what we are in ourselves, we will be on the defensive, and then the enemy has a benefit over us.
Gideon was a person in the Bible that the enemy managed to get on the defensive. In the beginning Gideon had no faith in himself, or that God could use him. The enemy seemed to be too enormous for him and the Israelites felt they were impossible to conquer. He also felt insignificant. How could he overcome the enemy?
In Judges 6 we read about the time the angel of the Lord came to Gideon in a wine press, where he threshed grain and was hiding from the enemy.
Jud 6:12
12When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."
God saw a potential in Gideon that he failed to see. Gideon was a coward and frightened, but God did not see this. God focused on the mighty warrior he saw in Gideon. Gideon just needed to have faith in this, too.
This is what God wants to show you, even though you are not perfect, (who is?) So, God can use you, he wants you in His army. He has great plans for you.
Many have difficulty finding out what God wants for them, what kind of plans He has, but to find this out is not as complicated as you may think. If you have a dream to do something for God, it is most likely what God has put in your heart. (For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Phil 2:13)“But how can we know that this is not from the devil or from our own thoughts?” What are the plans the devil has for your life? He doesn’t want you to do anything for God, so dreams about doing something for God can’t be from him. The devil’s desire is to strangle the dream.
There is a test you can do to find out if the dream is from you or from God. Does the dream contain ideas about being popular and receiving honor, or ideas about a desire to help others, to set them free so that the name of Jesus gets glorified? You can be tempted to misuse your position so you get glory, but here I am talking about what kind of basic attitude you have. If your basic attitude is to love God and your neighbor as yourself, you are on the right track.
From the time I was a kid I had a dream to be a preacher. When I was around eight years old I had a house meeting for my grandmother and her neighbor. I really liked having this meeting, so at times I even practiced my dream. This dream became very distant in my teenage years, but it was still there. I remember that I dreamt about standing in front of youth and speaking about Jesus with confidence, or holding a Bible teaching. But at that time it seemed impossible for me to do something like this, because I was focused on my weaknesses, bad experiences and how small I was. This was Gideon’s problem, too.
Judges 6:13
13"But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, `Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."
When Gideon blamed God for all the things that had happened in Israel, God didn’t go into a defensive mode and say, “It was you that turned your back against me, so don’t blame me.”
When we experience opposition, by having a hard time and going on the defensive we easily feel self-pity and start to blame others or even God.
God didn’t give Gideon encouragement to think this at all; He just continued to tell him what He wanted to use him for.
Judges 6:14
14The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"
What we notice here is that God wanted to get Gideon’s focus away from the problem to see the ministry that God had for him and to see the greatness of God. Even though God told him this good news, once again, Gideon said no.
Judges 6:15
15"But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."
Gideon still didn’t understood God’s promise that He was with him. God had to remind Gideon about it again.
Judges 6:16
16The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."
This story plus many others confirm that even though we can turn our back on God, focus on the problems, or disobey the voice of God, God still has faith in us and He won’t let us go. It also shows that even though we feel weak and small, God can still use us, even more so if we give Him the credit for the strength He provides. Gideon saw this.
When Gideon renewed his mind so that he understood that God was with him and that He would use him, he became the great warrior that God said he was.
Did you know that Gideon conquered more enemies than any other person in the Bible? In other words, God used Gideon mightily.
You might say: “Gideon was just a person that God chose, this doesn’t happen in ordinary people.” This is a lie from the devil saying that God has an exciting plan for everyone’s life but you, or what happened in Bible times is not happening today. This is really a lie! If you dare to walk with God, He has the most exiting life you can imagine, and you will make a great impact in peoples’ lives. I have seen this in my own life.
You are a Gideon! God sees a person with great courage in you; you just need to discover it yourself!
You can make a difference in your home, at work, in your church, in other peoples lives, in your country or even in the world! Read about Daniel in the Bible. He was a history maker; he influenced a ruler that had the dominion over almost the whole known world at that time and you can be a Gideon or a Daniel.
