So.. I am reading the book, "Only Believe," by Smith Wigglesworth yesterday... (And if you HAVEN'T checked it out - you NEEED to!!  It's SUPER-DUPER AWESOME FoSho!!)  I have ALL of the books of  Smith Wigglesworth!!  They are an AWESOME blessing to me, & CHOCKED FULL of GREAT NUGGETS of life!!   I say of.. Because he didn't write them.. They are verbatim sermons of his..  He always said, "I am a man of ONE BOOK, THE BOOK; THE BIBLE!!"  While I always keep this site about people of  the Bible.. I am VERY SOON, going to sneak a cheat, & do a page on him.  ANYWAAAY; Back to GIDEON.. Man of the hour..  What ties the 2 (Gideon & Wigglesworth) tuguther  is..   As I was reading "Only Believe," by Smith Wigglesworth.. He spake of a lady that came up once to him at a meeting he was hosting..  He said... ((excerpt from the book.. commentary in RED is me))..

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'A woman came up to me one day and I noticed she had no teeth.. "

Now.. Smith was KNOWN for his brute honesty.. 😂

Why," I said, "your mouth is very uneven!! Your gums are sunk in some places and they are very uneven."

Something, I am sure, the poor lady, knew NOT!  

"Yes," she said, "I am trusting in the LORD for a new set of teeth.."

"That is very good!" I said, "how long have you been trusting him for them??"

"Three years!"

"Look here," I said, "I would be like Gideon. I would put the fleece out and I would tell the LORD that

I will trust him to send me teeth in 10 days; or money to buy a set in 10 days; whichever came first

I'd believe it was from the LORD.." 

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In eight days $50, (this was in the 1930s), came to her from a person who she had never been acquainted with in anyway - and bought her a beautiful set of teeth; and she looked very nice in them..'

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It got me thinking about the story of Gideon..  Someone who, being honest, didn't have a very favorable opine of himself; YET - when the angel of the LORD came to him, he said... 

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"The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!"

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The "mighty man of valor," was news to Gideon.. He didn't see himself that way AT ALLL!!!  But yet, the LORD looks at 'what HE has put INside you..  Not what you or others see on the outward appearance!!  So I got my Bible and read the story of Gideon!  If you ever need inspiration.. Gideon's is just one of the stories you can read in the Bible, as a reminder (if nothing else), of who exactly the LORD sees in you/sees you as!!  After ALL!  He made you {not your mom and dad; your mom and dad was merely the vessel he used to get you into the world!}  It's VERY refreshing!! 😋

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~..THAT said; and without further ado??  Gideon's story..~

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GIDEON; (also named Jerubbaal, and Jerubbesheth), was ONE of  the most famed primary judges, in the book of Judges.  The other judge being Samson.  whose calling and victory over the Midianites are recounted in the Book of Judges, in the Bible.  In the time of Gideon ~ the Israelites had done a horrible evil to the LORD, by setting up altars & giving worship to the faux god Baal.   Thus, the Midianites came up on Israel and basically obliterated them.. & NOT ONLY them.. They leveled their sheep, ox, asses, tents, & their cattle... They were brought down to the lowest of low.. Then? #Dingaldangalang!!  Bells went off in the Israelites head; and their senses came TO THEM!  "Hey," they no doubt said, "WE are THE chosen of the LORD, lets go to Him!!  ((I'm sure the LORD was no doubt, BEYOND just frustration with His chosen!!))  Judges says ~ 

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H And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites,

I That the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

J And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land;

K And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice. ~Judges 6:7-10

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Cue GIDEON 😋

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M And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

N And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

O And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

P And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

Q And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.

R And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.

S Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.

T And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.

U And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.

V Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

W And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face.

X And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

Y Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Z And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:

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So Gideon ,with 10 men, went in the night and tore the altar of Baal down.. 

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< Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.

 31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. ~Judges 6:30&31

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Thus - Joash,  Gideon's father, whom Gideon feared would be the maddest, saved Gideon's day...

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Then Gideon went & gathered from the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, as well as his own tribe of Manasseh, in order to meet an armed force of the people of Midian and the Amalek that had crossed the Jordan River, and they encamped at the Well of Harod in the Valley of Jezreel. But God informed Gideon that the men he had gathered were too many – with so many men, there would be reason for the Israelites to claim the victory as their own instead of acknowledging that God had saved them.  This was the site where Gideon’s army was dropped from thousands down to only 300 men who lapped up the water from the springs with their hands.  Another gander??  FoSho!

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THE FLEECE;

e And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,

f Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.

g And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

h And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.

i And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

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VERY cool!!😋👍

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Gideon & his men woulda walked on this street.

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Here is a view of the spring of Harod, where Gideon and his men camped. (Judges 7:1)  

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There was peace in Israel for 40 years during the life of Gideon. As soon as Gideon died of old age, the Israelites again turned to worship the false god Baal Berith, and ignored the family of Gideon.. Sadly - alters remain.. 🙄 (Judges 8:33).  After Gideon, his son, Abimelech rose up as judge.. Slew his 70 brothers.. And his downfall was of such, because.   The youngest brother hid himself, and thus, sparing his own life, & put a curse on Abimelech and the men of Gilead.

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***The thing THAT astounds me most about the children of Israel.. Is they KNEW  the one true God!!  He talked with them.. LED them.. DID miracle after miracle before their eyeballs!!!  How, in fact, they could go 'a whoring' after Baal just has ALWAYS ASTOUNDED & CONFUZZLED me!!!

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Some four families now live on a hilltop neighborhood known as Mt. Gideon, which is a part of Itamar.. Gideon is entombed near Itimar, Israel, here... Annd another... RIP Gideon!!  You gave us an AMAAZING example of finding within us; ALL that God has given us!!

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#Gideon