**Did you catch our special Easter episode of Again with incredible author Patti Rokus? You can listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-for-christian-moms-encouragement-in/id1700555502?i=1000757474370

Or watch here: https://youtu.be/yhEcfdVf6tM

And catch her amazing Easter video here: https://youtu.be/LFhwEBLqMTM

Today I'm thoughtfully reflecting on what Christ accomplished on the cross and what this day means. We'll continue with our chronological plan and read Judges seven through nine. As Gideon obediently assembles a rag-tag, motley crue of men, and then his son in rebellion does the same thing, we can think about Jesus who selected the most unlikely of followers, and we'll rejoice that He included us.

Today's Reading: Judges 7-9

Scripture Read or Referenced:

Judges 7:1-15

Matthew 26:36-46

Would you like to know more about this partnership we have with the Lord in our parenting? This quick episode explains how this study can guide moms, bless your church, and actually help the leaders! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-for-christian-moms-encouragement-in/id1700555502

Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary

This is the Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox, and today

I'm thoughtfully reflecting on

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what Christ accomplished on the

cross and what this day means.

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We'll continue with our chronological

plan and read Judges seven through nine.

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As Gideon Obediently assembles, a

ragtag motley crew of men, and then his

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son in rebellion does the same thing.

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We can think about Jesus who selected

the most unlikely of followers and will

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rejoice that he included us at the end

of chapter six, Gideon had assembled

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a following to defeat the Midianites.

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We'll look at chapter seven

for our scripture today.

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Then Gerald Baal.

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That is Gideon and all the people who

are with him rose early and encamped

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beside the spring of Herod and the

camp of Midian was north of them

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by the hill of Mora in the valley.

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The Lord said to Gideon, the

people with you are too many.

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For me to give the Midianites into

their hand lust, Israel boast over

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me, saying My own hand has saved me.

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Now, therefore, proclaim in the ears

of the people saying whoever is fearful

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and troubling, let him return home

and hurry away from Mount Gilead.

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Then 22,000 of the people

returned and 10,000 remained.

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And the Lord said to Gideon,

the people are still too many.

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Take them down to the water and

I will test them for you there.

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And any one of whom I say to you, this

one shall go with you, shall go with you.

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And any one of whom I say to you, this

one shall not go with you, shall not go.

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So he brought the people down to the water

and the Lord said to Gideon, everyone

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who laps the water with his tongue as

a dog, laps you shall set by himself.

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Likewise, everyone who kneels

down to drink and the number of

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those who lapped putting their

hands to their mouths was 300 men.

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But all the rest of the people

knelt down to drink water.

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And the Lord said to Gideon, with the 300

men who lapped, I will save you and give

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the Midianites into your hand and let

all the others go, every man to his home.

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So the people took provisions in their

hands and their trumpets, and he sent

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all the rest of Israel, every man to

his tent, but retained the 300 men

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and the camp of Midian was

below him in the valley.

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That same night the Lord said to him,

arise, go down against the camp for,

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I've given it into your hand, but if

you are afraid to go down, go down

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to the camp with Prah, your servant,

and you shall hear what they say,

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and afterward your hand shall be

strengthened to go down against the camp.

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Then he went down with Prah, his

servant to the outposts of the

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armed men who were in the camp.

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And the Midianites and the Amalekites

and all the people of the east lay along

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the valley like locust in abundance and

their camels were without number as the

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sand that is on the seashore in abundance.

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When Gideon came, behold,

a man was telling a dream

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to his comrade and he said.

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Behold, I dreamed a dream and behold

a cake of barley bread tumbled into

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the camp of Midian and came to the

tent and struck it so that it fell

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and turned it upside down so that the

tent lay flat and is comrade answered.

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This is no other than the sort of

Gideon, the son of Joe, a man of Israel,

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god has given into his

hand Midn and all the camp.

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As soon as Gideon heard the telling of

the dream and its interpretation, he

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worshiped and he returned to the camp of

Israel and said, arise for the Lord has

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given the host of Midn into your hand.

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Speaker 8: When I think about 32,000

warriors and 22,000 of them trembling

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and afraid I imagine them walking next

to each other on the way saying, what are

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you gonna tell them when you get home?

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And it kind of made me laugh out

loud, but then thinking about

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these 10,000 men remaining.

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And only 300 were selected it seems

that men who were brave and ready

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for the battle are not selected.

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And reminds me of the times in my life

where God allowed me to be rejected but

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the whole purpose in this story is that

sometimes it has nothing to do with us.

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It's all about how God will

receive the most glory.

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He is creating the most unlikely

circumstance, so that it's undeniable

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that the Lord had the victory.

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I find it interesting that my

commentaries had a different perspective

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on these men lapping the water.

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John McMath writes that it's likely

each of the 300 men in the first group.

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Scooped the water in one hand and

held their weapon in the other.

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So they may have been

more alert for the battle.

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But Josephus, the infamous historian,

had long ago written that these

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were probably actually less watchful

and that God's power would be made

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more evident by selecting them.

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And another commentary says it was

just purely random and the Lord

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just wanted to select 300 men.

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So they would be absolutely outnumbered.

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In any case, I repeatedly see

the patience of the Lord as he

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understands that Gideon is afraid

and he provides him with reassurance.

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These men are told to take a few

items into battle, but no weapons.

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It was about 10:00 PM at night.

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And all of a sudden the Midianites

hear and see chaos all around them.

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It's dark.

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they think that these torches

are representative of a

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multitude of enemy fires.

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They hear the battle cry of these horns

blasting and the pictures breaking,

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and they are thrown into a panic.

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They even begin defeating each other.

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Just so you realize how

statistically incredible this is.

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The Midianites had about 135,000 soldiers

and only 15,000 of them survive This.

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That means that for each of the 300 of

the men, Gideon, brought into the battle,

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God used to defeat 450 Midianite soldiers.

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Who's the hero here?

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Clearly it's the Lord.

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In chapter eight and nine, the

Midianite, princes and kings are

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defeated, but Gideon faces some

reluctance different areas to help him.

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He promises I'll come back and defeat you.

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And he does, but not in

the most gracious way.

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And after all

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of these conquests, Gideon is

told they wanna make him king.

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Speaker 7: Gideon says to them

in 8 23, I will not rule over you

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and my son will not rule over you.

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The Lord will rule over you, but then

he asks for their earrings and makes an

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Speaker 8: E ad.

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Again, there's some disagreement on this.

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The EOD was something sacred that the

priest swove to communicate with God.

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Well, God has been so

present and near him.

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Why would he need that?

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One?

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Commentary suggests that the amount of

gold on the EFA indicates that there

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is an idol of some sort attached.

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Another says Gideon wasn't

doing anything wrong.

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This was just a piece of clothing, and

eventually David will make one too.

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They say the fact that the end of

chapter eight still praises Gideon

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for all the good he did for Israel.

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It points to the fact that Gideon

didn't have ill will in doing this.

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It's just that the Israelites absolutely

used it to do evil, and even though

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they have a time of peace under him,

immediately after he dies, it says

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that Israel plays the harlot again,

and it's certainly not figurative

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One thing that there is no disagreement

on is that Gideon's many wives and

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his 70 plus children cause absolute

chaos and destruction in every

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polygamous situation that we've

seen so far it does not go well.

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This is no different.

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one of Gideon's sons is named

Ab Bialek, which interestingly

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means my father is king.

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if Gideon was so set on the

Lord being king, that was an

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interesting name to give his son.

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Maybe his motives weren't completely pure.

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But AB Bialek rises up and kills 70

of his brothers on a stone, which

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would probably have been an altar,

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and it's likely that this is referring

to the amygdala or fortress Temple,

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and tell Balata an area that has been

thoroughly excavated and confirms

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much of biblical history in Shaham.

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It's especially heartbreaking that

such sin is occurring here because

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this is the location in Joshua

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they would stay true to the Lord.

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The youngest brother Jotham

escapes and he yells a warning.

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To Sheko down below saying You

don't wanna make a bialek king.

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He delivers one of the clearest

fables in all of scripture.

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It's got a moral, and animals

and plants are even personified.

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It's fascinating that Jotham

yells this out on Mount Garrison.

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If you recall, at the end of

Deuteronomy, God had six of the

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tribes call out blessings, and those

were called out on Mount Garrison.

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And then on Mount Iba,

they called out the curses.

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These two mountains create an echo

tunnel over the town of Sheko, Aek

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does a bunch of awful things, and he

also assembles an unlikely group of

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men to help with his evil endeavors.

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But eventually, God provides judgment,

and right after he kills about a thousand

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people by burning them, a strong woman

shows up and throws a millstone out

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her window, hitting him in the head.

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Some might say he had it coming.

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as we read about all of this sin

and destruction, it makes me think

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back to the first day of our Bible

reading plan, when in the perfection

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of the Garden of Eden, sin entered the

world, but thousands of years later.

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Jesus would find himself in another

garden preparing to be the solution for

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this sin problem that mankind has proved

over and over, so powerless to defeat

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in Matthew 26 Then Jesus went with them

to a place called Gethsemane, and he

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said to his disciples, sit here while I

go over there and pray, and taking with

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them Peter and the two sons of Zebedee.

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He began to be sorrowful and troubled.

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Then he said to them, my soul is

very sorrowful, even to death.

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Remain here and watch with me.

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And going a little farther, he fell on

his face and prayed saying My father.

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If it be possible, let this

cup pass for me, nevertheless,

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not as I will, but as you will.

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And he came to the disciples and found

them sleeping and he said to Peter, so

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could you not watch with me one hour?

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Watch and pray that you may

not enter into temptation.

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The spirit indeed is willing,

but the flesh is weak again.

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For the second time, he went

away and prayed my father.

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If this cannot pass unless I

drink it, your will be done.

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And again, he came and found them sleeping

for their eyes were heavy, so leaving them

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again, he went away and prayed for the

third time saying the same words again.

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Then he came to the disciples and said to

them, sleep and take your rest later on.

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See the hours at hand.

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And the son of man is betrayed

into the hands of sinners.

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Rise, let us be going,

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as Jesus told Gideon to

arise and go into battle.

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Jesus, through prayer, found the

courage to surrender himself and arise.

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Regarding the Gideon story, I loved a

quote that said, this is the victory

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shown when the power of God meets the

obedience of man, and in Jesus Christ,

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we see those perfectly combined.

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That a perfect sinless God took on flesh

and did what you and I are powerless to

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do, and it just doesn't feel right to ask

any more for ourselves today than that.

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So Lord Jesus,

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we pray that you would be

glorified that this Easter.

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Your praise would be

sung around the world.

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You are worthy of all the glory

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in your victorious name, we pray Jesus.

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Amen.