Whatever HE said pt 2

In Part 2 of Whatever HE Said, we step into Judges 6–7 and walk alongside Gideon as God prepares him for victory in the most unexpected way. In a moment when fear felt louder than faith and the enemy seemed overwhelming, God spoke with clarity, authority, and assurance—calling Gideon something he didn’t yet believe about himself.

This episode unpacks what He said to Gideon in the middle of doubt and questioning—and how those same truths still speak to us today. From being called “mighty warrior” while hiding in fear, to watching God intentionally reduce his army, we see a powerful reminder: God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness, and His plans don’t depend on our numbers, qualifications, or confidence.

If you’ve ever felt unprepared, outnumbered, or unsure of what God is doing in your life, this conversation will encourage you to trust His voice over your fear. Because what He says defines the outcome—not what we see.

Grab your Bible and join us as we discover how God prepares ordinary people for extraordinary victory—by teaching them to fully depend on Him.

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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. I am so excited that you're joining me today, as always. Today we are jumping into part two of whatever he said. So I'm excited to get into this one. So let's go. So when we last jumped into this story of Gideon, we found that the angel of the Lord stopped by, had a conversation with Gideon to tell him who he was based on God's view of him, based on God's opinion of him. And that's when he said, Hey, mighty hero, the Lord is with you. And this is what he tells him in verse 12 of Judges chapter 6. And today we're not gonna park there too long, but we're going to jump into whatever God tells you to do, do it. So this is the second part of what we see here in Judges 6 with Gideon and how God first tells him who he is, and then God gives him an impossible assignment that only he can do with the help of God. So we find Gideon getting the word from the Lord, okay, you're a mighty hero, go in the strength that you have, the Lord is with you. And Gideon, you can tell he's kind of wrestling. Okay, you're giving me this word, but I know what I've experienced, I know what I'm seeing, I know who I'm hiding from, I've seen the enemies, I know what's been said about my family, I know how I feel about me. And so he goes on to say in verse 16, the Lord said to him, I will be with you, and you will destroy the Midianites. And Gideon goes on in 17, and his reply is, If you are truly going to help me, show me a sign to prove that it is really the Lord speaking to me. This is the awesome thing I love about God. Gideon says, Can you stay here until I come back to bring you an offering? And it says that the Lord agrees and literally responds back and says, I will stay here until you return. And so Gideon goes, he creates this meal for um the angel of the Lord. So we see this now through verses 19 through verses 21. And then Gideon realizes in verse 22 it says, When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he cried out, O sovereign Lord, I'm doomed. I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. And if if we can just put a pen in it really quickly, the Lord told Moses that he would hide him in a rock because Moses was like, you know, Lord, I want to see you, show me your face. And the Lord said, No one can see my face and live. So he said to Moses, I'm gonna hide you in this corner of this mountain, and I'm gonna pass by you, and I'm gonna let my glory pass by you, but you're gonna be hidden because the glory will overwhelm you and it will literally take you out. So Gideon, in in scripture, we now find him saying, Oh my goodness, I've seen you face to face, I'm gonna die. And it says in verse 23, It is all right, the Lord replied, do not be afraid, you will not die, verse 24. And Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it Yahweh Shalom, which means the Lord is peace. And I just want to, the first thing I want to drop on you as a thought is when God calls you to a thing, and even when you feel as though, okay, God, can you help me by maybe even like Gideon, can you give me a sign? Can you give me a word? Can you give me confirmation? God's confirmation that He gives brings peace. It literally says He called this altar to the Lord, Yahweh Shalom, the Lord is peace. And I want you to know when God tells you who you are, and when he calls you to an assignment, it should bring peace. Peace that passes all understanding, peace that goes beyond the natural mind, peace that goes beyond the current situation or circumstance that you're facing, but it will be peace nevertheless, because God is described in scripture as the prince of peace. And if peace is what he brings when he shows up, peace is what we should take away with the Most High God. When we are in his presence, we should be experiencing his peace. Hey, I just wanted to take a quick pause in our conversation and introduce you to 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 would 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. So now we see that Gideon has built this altar, named it Yahweh Shalom, the Lord is peace, and then God goes on to give him instructions. And the thing I love of how God handles things when he's calling us to something is he gives us one part of the story at a time. So he told him initially, You're gonna defeat your enemy, but then he breaks it down into bite-sized pieces. He says, First, I need you to go and tear up the idols. I need you to go and destroy them, and I need you to build an altar for me there. And we will pick up in verse 25, it says, That night the Lord said to Gideon, Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one that is seven years old, pull down your father's altar to Baal, and cut down the asherah pole standing before it. Then build an altar to the Lord your God here on this hilltop sanctuary, laying the stones carefully, sacrifice the bull as a burnt offering on the altar, using the fuel of the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down. And I love this part. It says in verse 27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord has commanded, but he did it at night because he was afraid of the other members of his father's household and the people of the town. So hear me. Even if you're afraid, God is still going to call you to do things that are gonna have to cause you to have to be face to face with your fear, and you're gonna have to choose to do it anyway. Gideon had a choice in this moment. Okay, God is telling me in order to win this battle, I first have to tear the idols down that are in my life, that are in my father's life, that's in the people of the children of Israel's life, I've got to tear these things down before I'll ever see the victory. And the question, am I going to allow fear to stop me, or am I going to find a few people that will jump on board and help me push past my fear and help me do what God is calling me to do? And I want to tell you, he's showing us right here, community is important. If you ever get a word from God and it seems too overwhelming, find and connect with your community so that you can get that encouragement, so that you can get that support, so you can get that person or those people that say, I've got your back, I'm with you. It's so needed and it's evident right here. So he took the ten of them and they went and they did what God called him to do. And can we just pause for a second and say, There is no victory we will be able to experience in our life if we don't first tear down the idols that God has exposed to us. So he told Gideon, First, I need you to tear down the idols that are in your father's house, and I need you to burn it, use it as firewood, and burn it up and build an altar to me. Yahweh Shalom, the great I am, the God of heaven's army. I need you to build an altar to me because I need the children of Israel to understand I am the one that they worship, I am God and God all by myself, the one and only true God that they are to worship. No other idol should they worship. And I don't know where you are in your life today, but if God has given you a word, if God has given you territory to take, first and foremost, He's gonna ask you to tear down anything that stands between you and the completion of this mission due to an idol. There is no idol that can stand there and you experience the victory. There is nothing that you can hold on to and the word be true in your mind of what God's saying about you. And also the assignment cannot be fulfilled if you are allowing an idol to stay in your life. An idol cannot be present and also the worship of God be present. You can't do it. You will either worship one and reject the other, or you will worship that one and reject the other one, but you can't do both. And I think sometimes we feel as though, well, I can, I can talk this way and still, you know, go to church and be in my small group. I can still gossip. We're not really gossiping. I'm just sharing about this situation, or I can be disrespectful to my spouse in this way, or I can handle my money under the table in this one area, but I'm still gonna tithe. I can, I can, and God's like, no, no, no, it doesn't mix. It's either, it's either you're all in with God or you're all in with your idol. There is no 50-50. You can't do both. And we have to understand if we are going to honor God with the words he's spoken over us about the truth that he says we who we are in him, and if we're going to walk in what he's called us to walk in and take the ground that he's called us to take, we have to first destroy any and every idol in our life that is standing in the way of the victory that he desires for us to have.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

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SPEAKER_02 10:35

So after Gideon has done what God has called him to do and has torn down the idols that were present, he then again, starting in verse 33, asks for another sign. And he's asking God, hey, if you are really going to help me, if you are really calling, calling me to do this, to save these people, and you're going to be with me, can you please show me again? Can you prove to me in a specific way? We'll pick up in verse 34. I'm sorry, verse 37. Prove it to me in this way. I want to put wool fleece on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning, but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me and rescue Israel as you promised. And this is just what happened when Gideon got up early the next morning, verse 38 says, He squeezed the fleece and wrung it out a whole bucket full of water, but yet the ground was dry. And in verse 39 and 40, it's the same thing. So he says, Okay, Lord, don't be mad, but can you do it one more time? So now I want the ground to be wet and the fleece to be dry. And it says, verse 40, so that night God did as Gideon asked. I love that because God is not shying away from the request made by his child, which Gideon is showing us the humanity in this wrestling that he's having between being a mighty hero and still feeling as though he's the weakest in his clan. He says, Okay, I need you to help me reset my mind. So can you prove to me one more time that you really are going to be with me like you promised? That you really are gonna rescue me, that you really are gonna rescue the children of Israel, and you're gonna do it through me. So can you prove it to me? And it says in verse 40, God did as Gideon asked, and I feel like God is letting us know. Ask me if there's something that you need to ask me. I am not a God that will be offended by you saying, Hey, God, can you can you let me know? Can you confirm that? Can you give me a sign? Can you can you prove that you want to use me? Can you give me reassurance that this is what you want me to do? This is the way you want me to do it, and that you will be with me. I don't believe that God would be angry if we did that. I think he would be appreciative if we did that because he asks us to come with clean hands and a pure heart. And y'all, a pure heart is an honest heart of God. Will you? Will you really be with me? Because this is a big thing that you're calling me to. And if you are, can you please just prove it to me? Can you please just give me a sign? But I don't think God's shying away from it. I think he's stepping into it to say, hey, you'll see me in the little things that I'm doing so that you'll believe me in the big thing that I'm calling you to. And as we roll into chapter seven of Judges, we see this is where now Gideon is looking for his people. And he thinks he has to have a large number because he's looking at the number of the enemy camp and thinking, Well, I've got to find as many as possible because he's still thinking from the mindset of we're gonna have to do this in our strength. And we pick up right here in verse seven. Oh, I'm sorry, we pick up in verse two before we jump down to verse seven. The Lord said to Gideon, You have too many warriors with you. Now, mind you, at this point, Gideon had found over 30,000 men to fight with him in this battle. And the Lord says, Hey, there's too many. And this is what it goes on to say at the end of verse 2 if I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. Who? Can I just say God is not in the business of us boasting on ourselves, but in the business of us boasting in him. And we see this by him telling Gideon, dwindle your numbers down. And then we've jumped down to verse 7. So there were a couple things, God, you know, put the men to it to the test a couple ways. First, he said, Those who are afraid, send them home. And just by asking that question, having Gideon asked that question, 22,000 walked away. Mind blowing. And then it left 10,000, and then they had to do another test on how they drank water from the brook, and they were down to 300 men that drank the way that God told Gideon to pay attention to. And we pick up in verse 7, it says, The Lord said to Gideon, with these 300 men, I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home. How overwhelmingly, like, what would you feel in that moment if you went from over 30,000 people down to 10,000, down to 300? And God says, Hey, do you have enough faith and courage in me to send the rest of them home? And with these 300, I will give you the victory. And I think sometimes God is asking us that today. With the lack of education, with the lack of connections, with the lack of, you know, community, with the lack of finances, with the lack of accolades, with the lack of whatever it is, will you trust me with the little and watch me do the miracle through the little bit that you have? And I'm actually going to pose that question to you today. What little are you looking at saying this is not enough to win the victory? But God is saying, with this, you will experience victory like you have never seen before. And I will do it through you with this little thing. If you would just trust me, you will experience the victory. You will be rescued, you will be restored, your marriage will be healed, your children will come back home, your health will come back. Whatever it is, what is God saying to you? Give me the little, and I will take this small thing seemingly and allow you the to gain the victory like never before.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

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SPEAKER_02 16:58

So one of my most favorite parts is jumping down further in chapter 7, verse 9. This is now where God is saying, go down into the camp and go get the victory. And we're going to read it. Verse 9, it says, That night the Lord said, Get up, go down into the Midianite camp, for I have given you victory over them. I love this part. Verse 10. But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant, listen to what the Midianites are saying, and it will greatly encourage you. Then you'll be eager to attack. And y'all, you know what it says? Next verse. So Gideon took his servant and they went down to the edge of the enemy camp to listen. I love that God knows us that much and he loves us that much to say, hey, go down and attack. But if you're too afraid, go down and listen. I will put words in the enemy's mouth for you to hear about you. And it says, it will encourage you greatly, and then you will be eager to attack. I think sometimes God is saying, go listen to what's being said because it's going to encourage you. Go listen to the naysayer or go listen to the person that is opposing you or go listen to the enemy allowing your coworker to say this, or the words coming out of your children's mouth, or the words coming from your spouse, or the words coming from a friend. And it said that it would greatly encourage him and he would be eager to attack. And I want to just encourage somebody today, take a moment to listen, not long enough for it to get in your heart and make you change your mind on who God has said you are and what he's called you to do, but listen so that it encourages you. Because when he went down and listened, two men were talking, and one had a dream, and so he's sharing it with one of the other men in the camp. And this dream, by way of however he pieced it together, he it says in verse 14, his companion answered after hearing this dream, your dream can mean only one thing. God has given Gideon, son of Joash, the Israel, the Israelite, victory over Midian and all its allies. Now hear this. This is what the dream sounded like. The man said, I had it, I had this dream. In my dream, a loaf of barley bread came tumbling down into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent, turned it over, and knocked it flat. Okay, that was the dream. The revelation, the companion got from that, y'all know that was only God. Because how are we talking about barley loaves and it tumbling down the mountain and knocking over the tent? And he gets from that, it can only mean one thing. And he specifically names Gideon, and he says, they will have the victory over Midian and all its allies. God took him down there to hear exactly what he needed to ignite the fire in him to be ready to go and fight and attack and win the victory. And I want you to know, once you are on the edge of the battle, God will give a word that will so encourage you if he knows there's still a little bit of fear there. There's a little bit of, ooh, I'm afraid to go down to the camp right now. He'll say, Hey, go listen. Go listen for the word. Go listen for the dream. That literally makes no sense in the natural, but the revelation they get, it'll say, Hey, this only means one thing. That you are going to have the victory and you're on you're going to overtake whatever enemy it is. So if it's the enemy of depression, they're already saying, Oh my gosh, this only means one thing that Felicia is going to overcome depression. You know, whatever your name is, I keep saying mine, but I'm saying, whatever your name is, put it in the blank. And the enemy is saying, Oh my gosh, this means only one thing. Because what we need to understand is that when we take on the identity that God gives us, and when we say yes to the call or the assignment that He desires for us to walk in, we will hear the revelation that the enemy has already been defeated in their heart before we ever begin the attack. And I want you to know there are people relying on you to step into what God is saying to you, mighty hero, he is with you, and that he is calling you to destroy whatever is standing in the way of you and the people that are connected to you. So if that's depression, it's gotta flee. If that is lack, it's gotta go. If restoration needs to take place, you've got to step forward. Whatever it is, there are people relying on you stepping up and accepting the identity and taking the call and taking action so that you and them can experience the victory. Because you remember what Gideon said, Lord, can you prove to me that you will rescue me and the children of Israel? He didn't say just rescue me. He said, and the children of Israel, meaning, all my people that are connected to me will you rescue. Me and them. And God said, I will rescue you and all the children of Israel. But I'm gonna need you to first take the identity, then take the assignment and walk in the victory. What if your faith wasn't just surviving but flourishing? Woman in the Word is for the woman who wants to grow deeper in Scripture, walk boldly in purpose, and stay rooted even in dry seasons. This is more than just a book, it's a journey. Woman in the Word, flourish in your faith, walk in your purpose, and do it in your own style. Grab yours today on Bards and Noble, Amazon, or check the notes in the link below at woman.in the Word. One last thing I want to leave with you. Verse 15. So after Gideon had heard about the revelation of the dream, verse 15 says, When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship before the Lord. And then he returned to the camp and shouted, Get up, for the Lord has given you victory over the Midianites. Please lean in and pay attention. The first thing he did when he heard what the enemy was saying was he bowed down and he gave God worship. When we destroy the idols in our lives, we keep things open, readily available to give worship to the one and true and only God. And he took the time to honor God and he then went to the camp and said, Hey, get up. It's time to go to battle. So today, if you've heard the word, I would say, don't move before you first bow down and give the great I am the worship that belongs to him, because I truly believe that was the linchpin between hearing the interpretation and walking in the manifestation of the revelation that came from it and experiencing the victory was he took the time to bow down and to worship. 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.