Whatever HE Said

Have you ever found yourself wrestling with the difference between what you feel is true and what God has actually said?

In “Whatever HE Said – Pt. 1,” we step into the story of Book of Judges chapter 6 and meet a man who felt anything but mighty—Gideon. Hiding, afraid, and convinced of his own limitations, Gideon is suddenly confronted by the unexpected: a divine message delivered by the Angel of the Lord.

But the real tension in this moment isn’t the appearance of the angel—it’s the decision Gideon has to make.

Will he believe the narrative he has built from his circumstances, his fears, and his past?
Or will he believe the Truth spoken over him by God?

If you’ve ever questioned what God says about you, felt unqualified for what He’s calling you to do, or wondered if His promises still apply to your situation, this conversation is for you.

Because sometimes the breakthrough begins with a simple decision:
Will I believe my truth… or Whatever HE Said?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Woman in the Word, the podcast where we dive into scripture, ask real questions, and walk through the Bible together, one honest conversation at a time. I'm Felicia Parker, I'm your host, and I'm so glad you're here. So whether you're new to the Word or you've been studying for years, there's a seat at the table for all of us. So grab your coffee, open your journal, or put on your walking shoes, and let's get into it. Hey, welcome to the Woman in the Word podcast. Happy Wednesday. I'm so happy that you're joining us today. I am always happy that you're joining me today. So um, today we are talking about an interesting topic. I'm excited to get into it, and it is called What He Said. So let's go. Today we are jumping into scripture and we are talking about one of my most favorite people in the Bible, and it's Gideon. We're jumping into Judges chapter six, and we are taking a glimpse into a situation that Gideon finds himself in, he and the children of Israel. And I think it's so interesting when we step into this picture in chapter six, it opens up by saying, verse one, the Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight. So the Lord handed them over to the Midianites, or the Lord handed them over to their enemies. And I thought, wow, okay, how many times have I been in this position where I have done evil in the Lord's sight? Meaning I have done something that has not been pleasing to him. I have not done something that he has required of me. I have not been in alignment with the kingdom agenda. And before we even jump into his story, I want to connect the dots. I was recently reading Exodus 23, and God is letting the children of Israel know, hey, I need you to do me a favor. I need you not to make idols and worship them. You need to worship the Lord your God, and He alone do you worship. And He lets them know in Exodus 23, verse 32, the ending part, it says, if you serve their gods, you will be caught in the trap of idolatry. And their gods are the enemies that live in the land that God is saying that He's promising to bring the children of Israel into. He says, Hey, I'm gonna bring you into this land, but just a heads up, they don't serve me. They serve other gods. And if you go into this land and you do the things they do and you walk the way they walk, you talk the way they talk, you sit in the conversations that they have, you will eventually take on the image or imitate them, and you will begin to worship their gods. And so the Lord says, Hey, don't be caught worshiping their gods, because then you'll actually end up in a trap of idolatry. And it says, Don't let them live in the land because they'll cause you to sin against me. Sin against me how? By being caught in the trap of idolatry. And if we flip back over to Judges chapter six, it says the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord. And as we go deeper and we'll go deeper into chapter six, we see in the verses that God actually tells Gideon, hey, I need you to tear down the idols that are present among the children of Israel. And I don't know about you, but before we even go any further, we'll just we'll just hit hit it hard. If there is any idol that you have erected in your life, I would say tear it down. Because it not only causes you to be divided in your loyalty, it it actually causes you to turn your back to the one and true king you're supposed to be serving. And in doing so, it causes you to put yourself in opposition to God. It causes you to be looked at through the lens of they're doing something evil in my sight. Does it mean that he does not love us? No. Are we under the covenant of grace? Yes. But God makes it clear from Genesis to Revelation, He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. He does not want us worshiping anyone but him as the one true king, as the one true God. So if we can take just a little bit off the pages of Scripture and see the children of Israel here in Judges 6, they did evil in the sight of God. Why? Because they worshiped other gods. What do other gods look like in modern day today? Other gods could look like money, other gods could look like titles, other gods can look like sexual immorality, other gods can look like any stance we take that is in opposition to God, that we choose to give our attention, our time, our talents, our gifts, our resources to that thing. Even if we think it's a good thing, if God in his word has said, I am the God you serve, meaning I am the one that you follow and what I say is right and everything else in opposition to what I'm saying is wrong, we've got to stand on the side of God if we say he is the one we worship. When we ride the fence of, yeah, I believe, you know, God in this area, but over here, I believe this in this area. You have an idol. You have an idol if it comes to the way you steward your money and it's not in alignment with the word. You have an idol if your marriage is not in alignment with the word. Our husbands can be an idol, our wives can be an idol, our children can become an idol, our job can become an idol if we're not careful and we don't keep it under the alignment that God has given us that it is God first and everything else. Once we put something in the place of God, y'all, it has become an idol in our life. Hey, I just wanted to take a quick pause in our conversation and introduce you to uh the lover of your soul if you have yet to meet him. I would love to lead you in the prayer of salvation. So if you'd repeat after me, that'd be awesome. Dear God, I know that I am a sinner and I'm in need of a savior. I confess that Jesus is Lord and I want him to be the Lord of my life. I believe that you raised him from the dead to rule and reign for all of eternity. Forgive me of my sins and cleanse me with the precious blood of Jesus. I thank you, Lord, for dying on the cross just for me. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer, I want to welcome you to the family of God and just say congratulations. What I found so interesting in Scripture is that it states that they were turned over to their enemies because of the evil they were doing in God's sight, which was worship worshiping other idols. And because they were doing this, they opened up the door to the enemy in their life. And in verse 4, it says, the enemies they came in and they camped in their land. They destroyed their crops as far as the Gaza. They left the Israelites with nothing to eat. They took all their sheep, their goats, their cattles, their donkeys. Verse 5. The enemy hordes, they came in with their livestock and tents and were as thick as locusts that arrived in droves, and they stayed until the land was stripped bare. I need you to hear me when I say this. The enemy is not coming to play games. He's trying to come and take over in your life. And we see right here at the end of verse 5, it said, They stayed until the land was stripped bare. Y'all, that's the intention of the enemy. That is his goal to come in your life and strip it bare. He wants to remove every bit of faith you've got. He wants to remove every bit of hope you've got. He wants to remove every bit of belief you have in God, every promise that God has promised you. He wants you to question it. He wants you to doubt it. He wants to come in and strip every good thing out of your life until he strips it bare. I find it so interesting. We look at the verses, and Gideon is now introduced to the angel of the Lord by way of this angel sitting under this tree and coming and having a conversation with Gideon on behalf of the prayers that the children of Israel prayed. And let me just put a pen in it right there. If you know you are in opposition to God, pray immediately. It says in verse 6 that the children of Israel cried out to the Lord after everything had been stripped bare. I would say if you know you are in a position where you are opposing God and his word, pray. Pray desperately, pray earnestly, and pray immediately so that you don't have to wait to pray until you've been stripped bare. Pray when there is still something left. Not that God can't restore it, but why have to go through all that knowing that God said, hey, don't do this thing, and you say, you know what, I'm doing that thing. Let me go and ask God for forgiveness. Let me turn away, let me repent, which is to change my mind. Let me not have to wait until everything in my life has been destroyed. And now I say, okay, now I'm ready to repent. No, do it early, do it quickly, do it earnestly, do it desperately, do it immediately. Because it says in verse 6, they cried out for the Lord for help. Verse 7, when they cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to them. Not only did he send a prophet to them, but he sent the angel of the Lord to Gideon. So he sent a prophet with a word of correction, and he sent the angel of the Lord to Gideon for a word of deliverance. So the Israelites, they get a word from the prophet, and the prophet says, This, you did this, you did this. This is why this is happening to you. And the prophet reminds them again that the Lord says, I am the Lord your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. It said he says, But you didn't listen to me. This is why this is happening. So if you get back to worshiping me and not worshiping the gods of the Amorites, I'll step in and I'll restore.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

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SPEAKER_02 10:26

In the midst of the children of Israel getting the word from the prophet, the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon. And we're going to jump in at verse 12. It says, The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, Mighty hero, the Lord is with you. Verse 13, Sir Gideon replied, If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? They didn't they say the Lord brought us up out of Egypt? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites. Verse 14, then the Lord turned to him and said, Go in the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you. Okay, let's just pause for a moment. I thought it was so interesting, first and foremost, how the angel of the Lord shows up and he says, Mighty hero, the Lord is with you. And if we read a few of a few verses earlier, Gideon is hiding in a wine press, threshing wheat, which is usually done on a hill, so the air can catch the chaff, blow it off, and then they can have the wheat so that they can produce the goods that they need, the food that they need. But he is in a wine press where usually they're pressing wine where it's cold and dark in these places. So he is in a place that he shouldn't be, doing something that shouldn't be done in that place. All because he's hiding from his enemy, and the angel of the Lord shows up and says, Mighty hero. Um, that's NLT. Other versions say, man of valor. Other versions say, mighty man of courage. And he's like, wait a minute. You're showing up calling me a mighty hero. But then he goes on to tell God, verse 15, Lord, Gideon replied, How can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. There it is. The Lord shows up and says, Hey, mighty hero. And Gideon shows where he is in regards to how he sees himself. He said, Wait a minute. How can I do this? I'm not who you say I am. My family is the weakest, and I am the least in my family. He's saying, Lord, this is how I see myself. So I hear what you're saying, but because of what I've been through, because of what people have said about me, because of what the disappointments I've experienced, because of the discouragement we faced, this is how I see myself. And I don't know about you, but I know there have been times in my life where God has spoken truth over me, and I struggled with believing it because I held on to the lie that I told myself for so long, based on what people had said, what I had said about myself, the comparisons I would make, the disappointment, the failures that I faced. And so when God would step in and say, Oh no, but Felicia, you are a mighty hero, or oh no, Felicia, you are an overcomer, or oh no, Felicia, you are a child of the most high God, my negative thinking would try to override the truth of God's word. And here we see Gideon doing the same thing. He says, Wait a minute, my family is the weakest, and I am the least in that weak family. And this is what I love. The question that I think is posed by the statement that God is making is what are you gonna believe? Are you gonna believe what I said or are you gonna believe what you think? And it and it goes to the point that we're making in this podcast that God is saying, believe what I'm saying. Over what you feel, over what you think, over the things that you've experienced that have caused you to have this belief system, believe what I'm saying. And I want to encourage someone today, whatever he said, believe it. Whatever he said you can do, believe it. Whatever he said you are in the kingdom, believe it. Whatever promise he's made to you, believe it. Whatever he said, that's the truth, and that is what you have to set your mind and your heart to believe. I don't care what you see, I don't care what you feel today, I don't care what you're going through today. If he shows up and he calls you a mighty hero and he said he's going to be with you, you gotta believe it. More than what you feel, what you see, what you think, the lies of the enemy, the deceits, the traps, whatever it is, just like Gideon had to believe it, God is asking us today to believe what he said.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

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SPEAKER_02 15:43

Another great point I want to extract out of this scripture passage is so good when in verse 12, how Gideon is saying, Hey God, if you're with me, why is all this happening? Our ancestors told her told us how great of a God you are. Basically, like almost like trying to call God out. You, you, you know, my my ancestors said this. We've heard these stories, but you've abandoned us. Wait a minute, hold on. Did somebody forget to tell Gideon all this had happened because of the evil they had done? And how quickly we forget our role in why we're going through what we're going through. And we look at God and we point the finger and say, Aren't you supposed to be a good God? Aren't you supposed to be a mighty king? Aren't you supposed to be the Lord, the Almighty God, the King, the God of heaven's army, the King of Kings? Aren't you supposed to be this mighty ruler? But yet you're not doing what I think you should be doing, even though I didn't do my part. I'm still believing for you to do your part and you didn't show up. And then he had the audacity to say, and our ancestors told us about you. They told us you did this and they did that. But did they too leave out the fact that, hey, the reason why we were turned over to the hands of our enemies for hundreds of years was because of the evil we also did in the sight of the Lord. And I just, I don't know if that's you. Maybe I'm just talking to me. But there have been times where I have turned around and I looked at God and I said, I thought you were a good God. I thought you were a loving father. I thought you were a healer. I thought you were a protector. I thought you were a provider without looking at the reason why I was in the situation I was in and why I was facing the things I was facing and not taking accountability and responsibility for the choices I had made that put me in that position. I for some reason had turned my back to God and turned my face to an idol. And in doing so, I experienced challenges and then I'm looking at God saying, But where are you? But I thought you were good. The scripture says that you're good. The scripture says that you're forgiving. The scripture says that you're gracious, but it also says, Don't serve anyone above the Lord your God. Don't tempt the Lord your God. Don't sit there and put something above God. Worship God and God alone. Put God first. That's what it says in my Bible. And so I don't know if that's ever been you, but let's just say it's been Gideon and it's been Felicia. And I think that's why he's one of my most favorite characters is the place in which he's found, the way in which he sees himself, and the disillusionment that he has to a certain extent in regards to the role he expects God to play in the midst of their disobedience. And so as we pick up, I love how God doesn't even address his questions. And as I read this, I thought, well, little does Gideon know God had already addressed these questions through the prophet. So he didn't come to Gideon to talk about that. The children of Israel already know. He came to Gideon to let him know, I have called you to be a deliverer of these people, and that's what I desire for you to do. And we see that how in verse 14 it says, Then the Lord turned to him and said, So he didn't even answer any of the questions. It said he turned to Gideon and said, Go in the strength you have and rescue the children of Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you. The great I am is saying, I'm sending you, meaning you've got my backing. I am supporting you. I am behind you. I am fighting with you. I am fighting for you. Just go in the strength that you have. And if all the strength you have is me, that's more than enough strength that you will need to fight this battle. And this is what I love. It goes into verse 16. The Lord said to him, I will be with you and you will destroy, not just defeat, destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man. I just, I don't know. That encourages me so much to read this. That the Lord is saying, I'm with you. Go in the strength that you have, which is me, because you already let me know your clan is the weakest. You're the weakest in the clan, so you don't have much going for you. So in your strength, you're not enough. But if you go in the strength that you have, which is me, I'm more than enough. And then he says, When you do that, I'll be with you, and you will destroy them as if you are fighting against one man. And I don't know if you guys remember what I said earlier that the enemy showed up in droves. It said that they showed up in such large numbers when they came in to destroy the land and to devour everything that the people were producing. The Lord God is saying, all these people, with me being with you, you're gonna be able to destroy them as if you're standing against one person, fighting against one person. And I don't know what you're facing today. I don't know what is overwhelming you today, I don't know what situation you find yourself in, but I want you to know the God that said to Gideon, Mighty Hero, I'm with you, is the same God that's saying you to you today, mighty hero, I'm with you. And when you go out to fight this thing, I will be with you. And although it looks like it's surrounding you, you will destroy it as if it was one thing or one person or one situation. But you've gotta make sure you follow the instructions of the Lord that showing up and calling you mighty hero. First you have to believe whatever he said. Then you have to do whatever he said. Thanks for hanging out with me in the Word. I hope it encouraged your heart and gave you something to carry into the rest of the week. If it spoke to you, share this with someone who might need it too. And hey, don't forget to follow or to subscribe so you don't miss out on what's next. Until then, keep showing up, keep listening, and let his word lead the way.