Strength Vs Surrender: Letting God Lead The Fight

Odds stacked high, courage running thin, and a whisper that says “mighty warrior” to a man hiding in a pit—the unlikely rise of Gideon. Along the way, we see our own fight with control, fear, faith, and surrender.

We open with why men who prize discipline and calloused hands often resist the very obedience that would make them more capable. Matt’s first K9, Cato, fought recall and verbal outs because he thought obedience would dull his edge. It didn’t—it multiplied it. That’s the doorway into a bigger truth: surrender to God doesn’t shrink strength; it amplifies it. With Scripture as our backbone—Gethsemane, Romans 12, James, 1 Peter—we trace how yielding our will to God is not weakness but a strategic handoff to a God who sees the field from above.

Then we walk through the Gideon arc. Israel’s trapped in a ruinous cycle; Gideon’s threshing wheat underground. God names him before He promotes him, then asks for private repentance before public leadership: tear down the altars to prosperity and pleasure. Only then does the impossible assignment land. We unpack why God cut Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 300 and handed him trumpets, torches, and jars. The plan looked absurd until panic broke the enemy, and the 300 pursued, exhausted but victorious. That’s the template for modern battles—marriages that need repair, addictions that need light, finances that need order. Surrender first, then sweat.

We also get honest about doubt and delay. Faith grows like a muscle, and God meets Gideon—and us—with patient signs and steady presence. Not every fight ends overnight. First Peter reminds us that grace meets humility and exaltation comes in due time, not our time. The real measure of surrender is often prayer; if it’s in God’s hands, we’re talking to Him about it. Strength is not the absence of fear but the courage to yield control to the One who created us.

If this spoke to you—share the episode, subscribe, leave a quick review, and help us get this message to men on the front line. 

Transcript

Framing Strength Versus Surrender

SPEAKER_00 0:08

So this week we're going through strength versus surrender. Obviously, as men, especially like first responders, military, like we have it ingrained in us that like we'll never wave a white flag. Right? Like police training is like you fight to the death, right? If someone's trying, you get into a use of force situation and like someone's trying to kill you, you fight and you fight and you fight. You get shot, you still fight if you can. You get stabbed, you still fight if you can. And so as men, we've we deeply value strength, courage, bravery. And like we take pride in discipline, hard work, sweat, calloused hands. Right. And like we admire, we look up to men who have exemplified this, right? Men who have went into battle with courage and bravery and success. Like we see those characteristics about them, and like we try to instill those things into our life. And then on the complete antithesis, we abhor like the demasculization of men today in culture. Right? Men who don't have calluses, men who don't know what hard work is, um, men who sit around and their pajamas and don't provide for their families. And yet, through all that, Jesus calls us to surrender. Like,

Training To Fight And Our Resentment To Surrender

SPEAKER_00 1:50

what does that look like? I went through and just pulled up a couple verses that like came to mind. So Jesus ultimately, like in the Garden of Gethsemane, he modeled the surrender for us, right? He knows he's going to the cross to be crucified. He's praying to the Father. Like, please take this away from me. Please don't, that I may not have to go through with this. But not your will be done. Or but but not my will be done, but your will be done. I think of like Jesus in Matthew 16. He he speaks that true life, to find true life, one must lose their life for his sake. I think of like Paul in Galatians speaks of being crucified with Christ. Like, right, these are all scriptural descriptions, definitions to like describe what biblical surrender looks like. I think of Romans 12, to be a living sacrifice. Look at James. James speaks of yielding and submitting ourselves to God. That to befriend the ways of the world is to become an enemy with God. First Peter says to humble ourselves under God's mighty hand. And

Jesus’ Model Of Surrender In Scripture

SPEAKER_00 3:26

so, like, what is this idea of surrender? Right? We know what strength looks like, right? We've all tried to be independent, strong men in our own lives, but like what does surrender look like? Ultimately, it's this yielding of our will, our plan to another, right? I I think of one of the first times that I really like, I don't know, God just like showed me through my first police canine. So my first dog, his name was Kato. I got him from another agency. Um, this dog is a shepherd, but like, right, usually, like if you if you know canine stuff, like shepherds can be hard, but like Mal and Walls, typically a hard Mal is more difficult to handle than a hard shepherd. So Kato was a shepherd, but like I've probably been around, I don't know, two or three hundred police dogs at this point in time. And like looking back, like Kato was a very special like German shepherd. Like he was a full-blown alpha male, ears up, tail up, like head hunting fool. And I mean, I wasn't I he was not a first-time handler dog, right? But I was a first-time handler, I had no idea what I was doing. I had like golden retrievers and like a pet American German Shepherd growing up. And the difference was he'd been on the street for a long time. So when I got keto, he had 12 street bites already, which like that's a ton of street bites for a dog, right? It just it changes their personality, it changes their mentality. Like he's a dog. I remember when I picked him up. Um the I essentially this handler that had him before got promoted to this federal task force. And so they found out that we needed a dog, they donated this dog to us. Um, again, I got zero experience other than other than I've had pet dogs. I show up to this dude's house, he's got Cato in a crate in the back of his truck. Sounds like a freaking grizzly bear. I mean, absolutely insane. And I mean, I just remember thinking, oh my gosh, like, and I'm gonna take this dog home in a couple hours. And so, and he's telling me we sit down at his house, we're just kind of talking for a little bit, and pretty much tells me that, like, yeah, like, you know, like if like he hasn't bit me, the handler, but he's like, anybody that's been within leash length of him, like say on a track, like you're out tracking a suspect. If an officer gets in that circle, straight up hammering him. So like this is just a different dog. And I remember we go out, he shows me some of his like obedience, which you know, in hindsight was not very much obedience at all. And I remember I was like, all right, well, let me take his leash and you know, I I'll kind of try some stuff, and you you can tell me if I'm doing it right. And he's like, No. He's like, he's not gonna listen to you with me staying here. He's like, you're just gonna have to take this dog home and like figure it out. Like, it was absolutely terrifying. So I literally I came home, my wife went with me to pick this dog up. Um, I sat, I moved that crate to my pickup truck. I sat on the back of the tailgate for like an hour talking to him. And I wanted to be a handler so bad though, I was gonna take my chances. And so eventually I showed him a tennis ball and I popped that door and I chucked that ball.

Defining Biblical Surrender

SPEAKER_00 6:47

We're uh we were buddies from the beginning, but the difference was with Cato, we get into canine school. Okay, so I'm a green handler, I've never handled a dog before. The standards in which he had been taught for obedience were nowhere near like the qualifications that our department was um we we want to certify at a national level, and particularly a lot of that has to do with obedience. And so here's a dog's got all these street bites, and we've got to take him from a dog that would in the canine world, it's called like a strong takeoff. He's only ever done strong takeoffs. That's where you physically go up, the dog's on a bite, you physically take him off the bite. Well, our standards that we had to train to are you've got to be able to do a verbal out. So I could be 20 feet away and out, you know, whatever language you might be speaking, and he's got to spit that bite and come back to a heel. Or the other thing is send him on a person. Maybe they give up like mid-run. I've got to be able to recall him back to a heel. No bite for you. Listen to me, come back to a heel. Well, he's never done any of these things. And so it's a 12-week, 12-week canine school, and like, man, we're five, six weeks into this, and like he can sit down, stay, heal, like, no problem. Um, but when it comes to this bite work, like he is fighting me, right? And he is pissed off. So it gets to the point where probably five weeks in, like, he's trying to turn and hammer me at least once a day. And I just remember, like, you know, I was a believer at the time and like driving home. I had a long drive home from canine school

The K9 Cato Story: Obedience And Power

SPEAKER_00 8:27

every day and driving there each day. And like I just started seeing where, like, man, I've been wrestling with God like this. Like, I'm trying to get this dog to do something that is ultimately going to allow him to do the very thing that he truly wants to do, be a police dog. Right. But like, I don't know, a dog brain, right? They're pretty simple. But like, it's like he's it's like he thinks this obedience is making him less, it's taking away from his capability, is making him weaker. But little did he know, like, that was increasing his ability, it was increasing his strength, right? A police dog that can go out and hammer somebody when needed, but also has submission and obedience at other times. Um, it's a lot more capable dog. But yeah, man, I just I remember seeing this like just wrestling, and it was like, man, this is how I am with God. And like I'm I'm fighting God's obedience, I'm not submitting to his authority, I'm not submitting to his will. And um, man, it just really stood out to me as a as an illustration, like for what surrender looks like. And so on this episode, we're gonna kind of parallel the story of Gideon, right? Found it in the found in the book of Judges in the Old Testament, so like chapters six, seven, and eight, you see Gideon. Um, it just paints this incredible picture. Right. Every episode's looked a little bit different. This time we're we're picking this person in the Old Testament. We're just gonna kind of parallel through the whole episode looking at his life and his story. Um, jump in and maybe give us some background to where Gideon is at and what's going on?

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Yeah, I mean, I think what you articulate there, Matt, between you and Cato, like that that gap is so obvious because we're standing on the upper end of it looking down. But how much wider is the gap between us and God? Um like we're so much closer to Cato than God is to us in the sense like he sees so much more, he knows so much more, he has so much more freedom in store for us. Um as we're thinking through people in scripture that um just epitomize surrender versus control. Um, man, there's just so many stories we could have landed on. I was thinking of uh Abraham with Isaac um and surrendering, you know, his his son, that was the son of promise. Um, I was thinking of Hannah and Samuel, um, the one thing she she so desperately wanted, and then giving that back to God. Um, but the story of Gideon is just unique in its own right because um Gideon was not a man of strength, he was a man of weakness. Um and it's fascinating in the book of Judges, his story sits really close to this dude named Samson, who most people know. So here's Samson, the strong guy who became weak, and here's Gideon, this weak guy who became strong. And in fact, later in the New Testament, in the book of Hebrews, Paul would write, well, the whoever the author of Hebrews really is, we don't know for sure, but maybe Paul. Um, he was saying, talking about Moses and Abraham and all these heroes of the faith, and he and he gets um in Hebrews and he says, like, we don't even have time to talk about Gideon and about Samson, um, about all these others. Uh but I I wanted to start off with this verse actually. Um this is uh Hebrews 11, 32 through 34. I'll just pick some of it. And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson. There's Gideon and Samson, Japheth, of David, Samuel, the prophets, who by faith, and it goes on to list all these acts that they did, and specifically it says, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. And that's the story of Gideon. From weakness, he was made strong, he became mighty in war and put foreign armies to flight. So it's time in the book of Judges, um, it's happening, eh, put it like 1100s BC kind of time frame, 11, 1200 sometime in there. Um, it sits between Moses and David. So Moses led the children of Israel, this two million plus size group of people out of slavery, um, the story of the Exodus, and Joshua leads them into the promised land, they settle this land that's been promised to them. But there's this period of time that the book of Judges tells about before we enter into the monarchy of King Saul and King David, which is around a thousand BC. And it summarizes it with this term. It says, Everybody did what was right in their own eyes. Everybody did what was right in their own eyes. And I don't know about you guys, but like a few words summarize the day and age we live in than those. Everyone does what's right in their own eyes, your truth, my truth, whatever makes you feel good. And so this is the backdrop of Gideon. And here's this dude, Gideon. And during this time of judges, over and over again, we see the cycle repeat that the people uh sin against the Lord, the Lord judges them, and then the people repent. And in the midst of that judgment and repentance, God raises up these judges, a Samson, a Gideon, a Samuel, time and time again for several hundred years, the cycles on repeat. And so we're looking at one specific story here with Gideon and how he emerges in the midst of this context.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

And I just think even briefly, like that's like our story, right? Like we that is the story of people today. Like we maybe we're in a time of need, and then like we go to God, right? When do most people pray when they need something? And then eventually that time comes and passes, and then like it gets better, and then we begin to forget about God until we need him again. And like it's just, I don't know, it's always been kind of uh I don't know, helpful to realize. Not that it's an excuse, but like you look at God's people, Israel, throughout the entire Old Testament, and like you see that over and over and over. And I'm like, man, like that, that's I feel like that's my own life, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Like we mean look at David, a man after his own heart, the worst person ever when you read it. Like he he messes up continually, but he asks

From Control To Trust In God

SPEAKER_01 15:19

for forgiveness and goes back to God each time.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Yeah. Yeah, to like think that God calls him a man after his own heart and yet he's screwing Bathsheba. Like, like it's just crazy to think. But I mean, throughout the entire Bible, too, another thing that always like is just crazy for me to think about is like God never chooses like the prepared person, right? Like uh the apostle Paul, like he was a murderer before he wrote half the New Testament. David, sinful man, like Gideon, weak. It says in it says in Judges that like his clan was the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and he was the weakest in his family, and so like God he doesn't like call the prepared, he prepares the called.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

And man, that's good news. Yeah, it is because what does that mean? That means you, me, like the dude listening to this, like

Why Gideon’s Story Matters Now

SPEAKER_02 16:24

it's you, like it when you feel inadequate, like you are primed, buddy, for God to use you. In fact, if you feel strong, if you feel like Samson, like, dude, that's when you're gonna screw things up. It's that weakness that actually allows God to work through you.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Yeah. So I mean, I think about like this very podcast in general, completely inadequate, right? I think there's guys that would know me that would be like, what are you doing? Like, but it's not that it's not that God calls us because of like who we are today. He he's calling us into like who he is molding and shaping us to become. And like, thank God he does.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Dude, and that's how Gideon's story starts, right? He's threshing wheat in a wine press. And that doesn't mean anything to us, but the farmer and me is just like laughs at that because you don't thresh wheat down in a pit, you do it where you have a wind, like still to this day, a combine. Like the way it winnows the grain is there's a giant fan blowing air through it. And so the fact that he's hiding or trying to do something that shouldn't be done there, like it just paints a picture of who this dude is, and the Lord steps in and says, calls him by a different name, gives him a title and says, Valiant warrior. Gideon's anything but valiant in that moment. Like, and if you just because we haven't been around grain threshing, like I have, you haven't had your head, I haven't had your guys' head up the rear end of a combine as much as I had to know how ridiculous that is. Valiant Warrior, the dude is cowardly. And the Lord says something different about him.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Maybe kind of backfill

Judges Context: Cycles And Culture

SPEAKER_00 18:18

a couple pieces here. So we see it says that Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord. And so, right, like sin has a consequence. And so the consequence here in Judges is that this group of people called the Midianites, and it also mentions like the Amalekites, and it says other Eastern people, essentially the Israelites are they're they're in the promised land, right? So like it should be great. They're in the promised land, but these other groups of people have moved in on their land, right? And so they're they're eating their crops, they're destroying their crops, their livestock are eating their crops, destroying their crops. And so the Israelites, it says that they go and they hide in mountains and caves. So these people are ravaging them, they're ravaging their land. And so, like it's God's story, right, throughout, especially the Old Testament. Like, you see the sin, you see the consequence, and then as you mentioned, like he calls someone up. And so, yeah, he meets Gideon in this place of weakness and hiding, and then he gives them a call.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

Man, I was struck that uh I can mock Gideon a little bit for hiding, but all of us hide in one way or another. Like all of us have Gideon inside of us to hide, and I say that I mean um dudes listening to this podcast would not hesitate to charge into danger. But if they have to get vulnerable in a room with other dudes and confess sin, no, no, no, they can't go there, they hide. Like if they have to uh express feelings to their wife, like no, can't do that, gotta hide. And so like all of us hide in one way or another. Like all of us are a Gideon. Um, I just think it looks different. You might not be hiding from a Midianite because you'd not afraid of some dude, but you can hide in so many ways. In the story since Genesis 3 that we hide and cover ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

So there's Gideon, and God calls him Valiant Warrior, or some translations say mighty warrior. And Gideon's like, huh? And like God calls him, he says to Gideon, he says, go in the strength that you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites, right? Like, as people listen to this episode, and there's probably other things in life that are contributing to this also, other voices that

God Uses The Weak To Lead

SPEAKER_00 21:12

are speaking into your life that I know that's how it always is for me. There's multiple God's always we're reaching at me from multiple angles. But right, God is calling us to like surrender things in our life. Right? Like, we're gonna we'll we'll dive into some different areas as the episode goes on, but like God is saying to Gideon, like go and do the impossible Go and heal your marriage, go and fight this addiction. Go and get your finances in order. Maybe you're not. Doing vocationally the thing that I am calling you to. Maybe it's a change in vocation. Maybe it's a change in position. Maybe it's maybe it's just living like a different person in that same vocation. Maybe it's parenting. Maybe it's, I mean, I'll let my kids just kind of do whatever and live life and hold a tablet all day because it's easy and I need to invest in their life. And so as Gideon hears this, go in your strength and save Israel and rescue Israel from the Midianites. Right. It is this impossible task. And like to kind of give some numbers here. So eventually here we're going to see where there's about a there's about 32,000 Israelite soldiers. And hit history would show there's about a hundred and thirty four thousand Midianite soldiers, and and like I said, the other groups that are with them. And so like we're already at like a one to four odd, right? Like when God calls us, it's never generally speaking, like when God calls us to do hard things, the first thought is always going to be if it actually is from God, like I can't do that. But like he says, go

Called “Valiant Warrior” While Hiding

SPEAKER_00 23:15

in your strength, but yet we see where like Gideon didn't have much strength, right? But he's saying, like, no, you like we still have free will, like you go in your strength and rescue Israel from the Midnites. And what's Gideon do? He doubts.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

So I feel like God in this omniscient way, right, is saying, I know what you're capable of, you just don't. Yeah. I can see the end and I can see where where you can go if you just trust me along that path. Like you're capable of so much.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Sounds like Cato with Matt. Like, yeah.

unknown 23:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Yeah, I had a different perspective. I could see where we were headed. It's like the the difference between a player on the field and a coach in the press box. Like they get a different perspective of the field. Absolutely. Like, yeah, God God's calling, God sees the possibilities of the future. I remember you were talking about like not only does he see like the future, but like he's he understands and knows like every potential outcome of every potential decision and the throughput of that years and years and years and years from now. Like God has a different viewpoint than we do. But it's still we're people who see, smell, feel, touch. Like it's hard for us to see beyond our current situation. And that's where faith and trust comes in. But like, says Gideon doubts. Like that's okay. And I think you see through this story of Gideon that, like, yeah, we're people who doubt, right? Faith, faith is like a muscle, right? It builds the more we use it, but it doesn't come natural. Like exercising faith. So I look at like Gideon. So how does Gideon doubt? Like he's so he hears God and he's like, all right, God, like if you're really telling me to do this, like can you show me some signs? And God's like, patient with him. It's like, okay, yep. Like, I'll wait right here. And God even kind of gives him some instruction, like, you want to see something cool? Like, go and get this offering and bring it to me, and then consumes it with fire. And Gane's like, oh, oh man, like that's really you. And then there's this interest, and then he builds an altar to the Lord. And like, I might go off on like a little tangent here, but just like thinking through this, man,

Doubt, Signs, And Building An Altar

SPEAKER_00 25:59

like what what is an altar, right? It's a place of worship, and like strong men struggle with worship. And man, like just to think through this, like, I think we struggle with when I'm talking like worship, like what is worship first, like to bow down and humble ourselves before God, to kneel, to lift our hands, to open our hands, to lay face down on the ground. Like we're talking about worship, and I think we struggle so much with worship because we don't understand who God is. I like I so the podcast room looks a little different this week because my carpet uh had a little water leak and moved things around, but in the process of that, I found a picture. So I'm gonna hold it up. I meant I kind of mentioned this to Evan, but give me an idea what that might be, and I'll put it, I'll put it up on the screen for those watching on video.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Uh like an embryo.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Yeah. Okay. So like just looking at this, and I'll try to describe it for those that are listening. Like, it's just a it's a picture of a little circle, and it almost looks like some grains of almost like stone, right? Like you could probably go around and count probably a hundred or two hundred little grains of stone. And that's my son. That was my son, right? We did in vitro fertilization. That was my son at eight days post-conception. And I want to talk the bigness of God and the smallness of God has always amazed me. And so I just want to kind of talk about it for a second here because it says Gideon built this altar to the Lord. And so he worshiped

Worship, Wonder, And The Bigness Of God

SPEAKER_00 28:00

God. But I think as strong men, we fail to we fail to worship because we for we don't really truly understand who God is. And so I look at that picture. And like I could walk my son in here right now. He's got a personality, right? He's figuring out how to clap. He just gets this grin on his, he just starts clapping, gets this grin. He my daughter said it this morning. He grins so wide, there's no room left for his eyes to stay open. So his eyes close, like he's and he's a freaking psycho, right? Like he's got a personality. Someday he's gonna experience tragedy. He'll have tears, he'll have days of strength, he'll have dreams, he'll have hopes, he'll have admirations for his vocation and who his future spouse is. And and just from that one little picture, right? Like God designed, God, God is this God of detail, of fineness, right? Just in that picture alone, those cells, God designed those cells in a way that they had the understanding of multiplication, right? The sh the DNA. I don't know much about science and and all that stuff and biology, but I do know Ds get diplomas, but um and yet those cells knew how to multiply, and some became the little toe on the right foot, some became a kidney, some became an eyeball, some became an eyelash, some became the brain. And then there's veins and arteries that were created. Like I think like DNA and cells and fingerprints, the building blocks of life, like God is this God who is so precise and so detailed, but then also then I think about the universe and the expansiveness of the universe. I uh just kind of thinking through stuff like the bigness of God. Right? We measure aspects of our universe in light years. Right? Light travels at a hundred and eighty six thousand miles per second. Per second. That's seven times around the circumference of the earth in a second. Right? Just the earth alone, this big ball of matter that we live on, like it's 24,000 miles around. That's so enormous, it's hard for us to, like it's hard for our brains to like even kind of try to grapple with the bigness of the universe that God created. And then I think of like the sun, right, the center of our solar system, this ball of flames. It's 93 million miles away from the earth. But then, like, that's not it. It's like an infomercial, but that's not all, right? Like we are in the we're we're one solar system in the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy alone is a hundred light years across. And then the Milky Way galaxy is only one galaxy and billions in the universe. Like the God that in Genesis spoke that into existence, the the the the magnitude of that being, yet who cares so much about a cell DNA, ingrains in human beings the the abilities to create Picasso. To, you know, I think of Beethoven, I think of Thomas Edison, I think of Albert Einstein, and the list goes on and on, and Michael Jordan and Peyton Manning, and that and then this God didn't just stay this distant God, but yet he became a person, and then and Jesus dwelt among us to have relationship with us. And so, like, I don't know, it just struck me when Gideon built that altar, it was like, man, a strong men, because we desire to be strong men, but we fail to worship because we fail to put ourselves in proportionate or proper proportion to this God. Like, he is a God who is worthy of our worship. He is a God who is worthy of our surrender and our submission. Like, there's nothing stronger that we could do but to submit our will to a being that looks like that.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

I think that's the ongoing sin in the book of Judges is that they forget, um, they fail, they quit believing that the Lord is the one, the only one who's worthy of worship. Because they were constantly, they were going back to the Baals, the Asheras, these other local deities, and they forget that the one true God, the God of the embryo and the God of the cosmos. He alone is worthy of worship. And Gideon has this encounter with this dude that's just labeled as the angel of the Lord. And angel just means messenger in the broader sense, and it's a fun rabbit trail to follow sometime, is to follow the angel of the Lord through the through the Old Testament, this recurring character. And what most believe about this angel of the Lord is it's actually Jesus. It's a pre-incarnate, the pre-Bethlehem second person of the Trinity. We see that even

Private Repentance Before Public Battle

SPEAKER_02 34:11

in this passage because it starts like initially it's talking about the angel of the Lord, and then it starts talking, the Lord's talking for him for the sacrifice and receiving the sacrifice. And so Gideon has this encounter with the word who spoke all this into existence. And he's like, I'm ruined, I'm ruined. And the angel of the Lord says, peace. And Gideon, um, same as like Isaiah, who has an encounter. Anytime we have an encounter with that big of a God, it brings us to our own ruin, and yet we find out who he really is, that he's the God who brings peace. Um, I don't know. I connect with Gideon already on so many levels the fact he's hiding, um, the fact he feels inadequate, um, he encounters the Lord and he's overwhelmed, and then this encounter with Jesus just changes the trajectory. Like the surrender happens because he's encountered Jesus. It happened personally, privately, before it could ever be public, before he could ever lead. You have to encounter the risen Christ.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Yeah, and so when God gives Gideon that call to rescue Israel and Gideon doubts, and he feels inadequate, he tells him to do something like you're saying, like, and it's private. And he says, Go and tear down this altar to Baal and this Ashira pole, which is like the god of fertility or the god of sex. And so the people, right, they've they've they've walked away from God. The Israelites have walked away from God, and so they're worshiping these other gods. But like Gideon, so before Gideon even has his big call, like he's telling him to move in this private way that you're talking about. And it's like Gideon understands that, like, if I go down here and I tear down this altar and I cut down this pole, the people legitimately might kill me. But God tells him, like, we're not even getting to the big moment of Gideon's life. But God's like, go and like get your house in order. Like, go. It's like God, God's more concerned like with our internal loyalty before he places us in like external

Modern Idols

SPEAKER_00 36:55

battle. I just think like my own life, right? Like every one of us, it's like I think we all have this basic understanding that like this is our one life, right? Like, and I want to have purpose and I want to have mission and I want to have meaning and I want to do great things, I want to leave an impact. But like before God ever uses us in that way, God wants like our heart before our hands and our feet. Like it just brings up that like taking that time to be like, where, like, God, where do you want to cleanse me? Before I ever go out and do this, this, this, go fight this battle, this big audacious battle that you're gonna call me to. Like, God, where do you want to cleanse my heart? Where do you want to cleanse my mind? Is it, you know, is it addiction? Is it lust? Is it pornography? Is it, you know, like we mentioned the finances, like what, God, where do you want to like have this personal encounter? Like what you're talking about, like before we surrender, like we've got to know Jesus. And I think it's just crucial for us to like just to be open to that. Like, what is what and where is God calling us, you know, internally to cleanse and and to give to him, to surrender to him.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

It always sounds weird in the Old Testament when they talk about Ba'al and Asherah and these things we don't relate to at all, but um, essentially it was the worship of prosperity and the worship of pleasure, um, those two. And man, that's us today, that's our same culture. We still worship success and sex. And um when I find those desires in my own heart, so often as he's leading me in repentance, it's like, man, I've been pursuing success. Like, I need to repent of that. That hasn't been, I haven't been seeking the Lord. I've been seeking myself, seeking my own kingdom. Um you can't lead people where you haven't first gone. Gideon couldn't be the leader that God's raising him up to be, writing a new story, giving him a new name, one who contends with Baal. Um, if he didn't first have this personal repentance, um public strength without personal integrity is how scandals happen. Because the weight of public pressure, the weight can't be held on something that doesn't have integrity. And so people who are always trying to make a name for themselves, make a purpose for themselves, and it's the reverse.

Small Wins, Rock Bottom, And Progress

SPEAKER_02 39:47

The Lord gives you a name, the Lord gives you a purpose. Um, so you can strive for yourself or you can receive it. And like Gideon's receiving it, and his step towards receiving his identity as a valiant warrior is repentance, is turning from those things that are contrary to God. That's his first act of bravery in the story.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

For first responders, like we understand what this looks like, right? Like we don't we're not gonna promote people into a position unless they they've they've walked kind of through the fire in that area, right? And in the same way, like you know, just in the same way, like a guy might gain maybe they've been on for five years or ten years or whatever, and like you've seen their character has been tested in the battle, the daily battles, right? Like before we promote them and put them in a position of leadership. Like God's the same way, like he's refining us internally in our own hearts and lives before he's gonna push us out into a big battle.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

I think that's the mark that um we're all drawn to this bigger story. Like, we want to have the Gideon story, the great win, and we don't recognize that the great win starts within me. Like a deep hatred for my own sin, a deep hatred for my family sin, for my community sin, and a repentance that starts at those levels.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

Well, I think we confuse a lot of times a win, like we want a great win, but like a win sometimes it's small is a great win. Like I don't I don't know anybody that hasn't gone through those things where you just constantly fail and you try and try again, and you're you're at your lowest point, right? And then something greater happens. It's better than what you maybe thought it was. Right? Like I there's a lot of personal experiences that I've had in my life. Like my very first thought was my own wife, right? Like you you you struggle maybe with relationships or things are going wrong in your life, and you're like, man, I'm looking for this this person. I don't even think that person exists. And then there she comes, right? Like you hit this rock bottom, um, and then you look to God, and I think that's planned by him in a way. Because everything great, at least in my life, seems to come after you think it it's never gonna work out, or you're never gonna be able to get up from the low that you're in. Then here comes this great thing.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

Yeah, you hear of those stories, and that's Gideon's response too. When this angel of the Lord comes to him, he's like, Man, I've heard these stories. My great, my great great granddaddy coming out of Egypt, saw these miracles. Like, why where's God? Why isn't he showing it up? You know, nowadays. And like, that's our stories too. We we hear, we hear about the Gideons now, but do we experience it for ourselves?

SPEAKER_01 42:39

I think we do. We just don't recognize it, which is sad, right? And I think that we're doing a disservice to God by not recognizing that.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

Like something you said, Derek, it makes me think of a quote didn't come up with that somebody told me helped me a lot. It was like progress, not perfection. Like that, you know, in this journey, like we're never gonna have all these things figured out, like we're never gonna be perfect, but like are we making pro you know, whatever it may be? Like, are we making progress?

What Surrender Feels Like Under Fire

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Um I think like maybe just real quick to like say, like, what does surrender feel like? Because Gideon's getting ready to get called, like the the real call. And like I think we can relate to this as cops. Surrender feels like, right? A call that comes out over the radio, and like you know it's gonna be bad, you know you're gonna be in danger. Maybe a fireman, like it's a house fully engulfed, there's people trapped inside, right? As a cop, like we have those stories. Um but yet, because of this like higher calling, because you know what your calling is and you're surrendered to that calling, like you get out of your car and you get. And it's just like you know, I don't even think through like stories where it's like maybe what are some stories of like you thought I may not come home from this and but yet you still win.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Yeah, so uh one in particular, which you know really well. Like I don't know it. You don't know it, sorry. Um I for sure I I knew I was just gonna get shot. Like there's zero question. I didn't, right? Thankfully. Um zero question in that moment, you know, like I'm gonna get I'm gonna take around, but I can't move. I have to keep this position, right? Because it's not just me. There's other people that depend on me, there's people next to me, they have families and kids, and and I knew the outcome, but I had to accept it. But at the same time, it wasn't a hard thing to accept. My wife's always like, well then what? Right? Like if I ever'm down on something or I'm struggling with something, she'll be like, well then what? Then we just keep going down that path. And it was one of those moments it's like, all right, I get shot, well then what? Okay. You know, like maybe I lose my leg because he shoots me in the femur and they have to cut it off, cool. All right, well, or if that doesn't work, or if he doesn't hit me in the leg, you know, and I die, well then what? Well then I gotta go home to Jesus, you know? At the end of the day, it's gonna be okay. Um, but if I didn't have that faith, or I hadn't made that um connection with God before then, it'd be a struggle for sure. And I think that I mean you see that in a lot of new cops too, maybe don't have that faith being able to go to a scene and not worry or jump when you know the garage door rolls up.

SPEAKER_04 45:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Yeah, but it's like because that commitment, like you've already made that commitment. Right. I'm gonna go like like I think of like you know, an HR call, a hostage rescue call that we got called to. And, you know, in my own, it's kind of weird, but like in my own position, um I remember just like thinking, like, we're gonna somebody's gonna take a round, but it's okay. We're gonna push to the hostage, we're gonna

Commitment Before The Breach

SPEAKER_00 46:24

we're gonna deal with it if it happens, and being pretty confident that like, yeah, somebody was one of our guys was gonna get shot on our team. Um, but like the mission, the commitment to the mission was like solidified beforehand. And like I think that's where like we've got to get like God calls people to do hard things, right? And it's okay to wrestle with him, it's okay to doubt, it's okay to grow in our faith, but there has to come like a time where we go, okay, I trust you, God, I have faith in you, God, and like we're going out the door, and then we're gonna breach that door, right? It's one thing to get your clothes on and get ready and get in your car and run hot. It's another thing to breach that door. Now it's game time. And like I think at Gideon, like eventually in this calling, like now it's game time. Like we have we've gone through these moments of doubt. We've wrestled with who God is. God, if it's really you calling me, show me a sign. Okay, God's patient with him. Yes, I'll show you this sign. Hey, go get your house in order. Okay. I'll do these hard things and get my own home in order. And then now we're this place in Gideon where it's like, you know, the the rock music rolls in in the background. And Israel's got 32,000 soldiers. And again, they're looking out in a hundred and thirty five thousand soldiers. So we're already at one to four odds. And God looks at Gideon and he's like, You've got too many. You've got too many soldiers. I mean, I can't imagine Gideon just, but but Gideon was committed already. But I just I would just looking at God like, what do you mean we've got too? We're already outnumbered one to four. What do you mean we've got too many soldiers? God's like, Yeah, you've got too many. Because I know that like you guys are warriors, right? Like the Israelites, even though they hadn't had these major battles since they entered the promised land like 200 years before, they still fought little battles. So like these soldiers still have some war experience, right? And God's like, Man, if you beat these dudes one to four, I know what's gonna happen. You're gonna you're gonna take pride in your own strength, and and you're gonna say, Hey, we we won this war at the end of the day. And he's like,

God Reduces Gideon’s Army

SPEAKER_00 48:52

hey, just look out to everybody and and just let's just start knocking these people off one by one. He says, Hey, just ask them who's afraid, and then tell them those people can leave. And 22,000 walk away. So now we got 10,000 men left, right? This is still 134,000-person army. He's like, hey, man, God looks at Gideon and he's like, hey, you still got too many.

SPEAKER_02 49:20

Isn't God crazy right there? Like, would I I just stop and put myself in those shoes. Like, no, no, 10,000 ain't enough. What do you mean we have too many?

SPEAKER_01 49:29

Like, well, I don't even think I can really rationalize what 130-some thousand people would look like in a camp in all their tents, yeah, their horses, their you know, their chariots, whatever they were using at the time. It just go forever.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

Yeah. I would I'd I'd be scared. I'd be pooping myself.

SPEAKER_00 49:47

Yeah. But God's like, nope, still too many.

SPEAKER_02 49:50

God's always doesn't they don't make sense sometimes. Like, oh wait, I experience that too. Like when God's calling me to something, it doesn't make sense. Like, that's the story.

SPEAKER_00 50:00

Let's talk about that for a minute. Because it that's I mean, that's always how it is, right? Yeah. Like finances. Just think of finances, right? And like, we're not a church, right? So we ain't getting any benefit from this. We ain't tithing is biblical. 10 per tithe means 10%, to give 10% of your money to to God's mission. That doesn't make sense to think that like God will multiply the 90% to be enough, right? Like there's so many different areas of life. It God's ways don't make sense. But remember, like, this is the God who created cells and gave them the information to multiply and become fingers and toes. This is the God of the universe measured in light years. It's okay if his way doesn't make sense. Like, that's where our faith comes in. Like when we know him and we understand him, it's okay. It's probably not going to make sense because if we could make sense of God, he would not be God. And so he looks at Gideon's like, 10,000, still too many. He's like, take the men down to the river. And he's like, Watch them. Those that get down on all fours and stick their face in the water to drink. Like, you don't want those guys. The guys that are tactical about it, the guys that walk down and they put water in their hand and they lap it like a dog, right? Their eyes are up, their heads are up. Those men are prepared. They're warriors, they're they're battle, they're they're they're driven by tactics in battle. Those are the men. You know, and I would be I would be thinking, like, all right, maybe I'll get 8,000 of the 10,000. And 300 men are prepared.

SPEAKER_01 51:47

Who would drink like that? Drop down and put their face on the ground? That was my first thought reading that. I'm like, it doesn't even make sense. But that many people.

Three Hundred Ready Men

SPEAKER_00 51:55

Did you ever see anybody smash a 64-ounce polar pop in pajamas?

SPEAKER_01 52:00

Every day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:01

Yeah, they're thirsty, buddy. They're getting down there.

SPEAKER_02 52:04

It's not like they have their styrofoam cup with them. They gotta get to the water sometime.

SPEAKER_04 52:08

Two styrofoam cups.

SPEAKER_01 52:11

It's funny.

SPEAKER_02 52:13

300 men are left. I don't like those odds, man. Four to one. It's like, okay, I just gotta kill four guys before I get killed, and we'll win this thing.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

A few good men.

SPEAKER_02 52:23

Yeah. So now our odds one in four hundred and fifty. I ain't killing four hundred and fifty dudes before I get killed. There's no way. No way. It's a suicide mission. Straight up suicide mission. Who would sign up for this? Unless 300 with the Lord is stronger than 32,000 without the Lord. Do I really believe God is who he says he is?

SPEAKER_00 52:57

Strength surrendered is exponentially stronger. When we can take our like feeble lives and surrender our small efforts, a little bit of time that we have on this earth, it is exponentially stronger in the hands of a mighty God.

SPEAKER_02 53:25

If we don't surrender, like we're limited to our own knowledge. We're limited to our own wisdom, our own strategy, our own strength. But if the one I'm surrendering to is stronger, then I'm no longer limited. Like how foolish would it be to make my own plans with 32,000 of my own strength, of my own ability, than it is to trust the Lord with 300. How foolish is it to trust God with my own finances or trust myself with my own finances rather than trust the Lord. How foolish it is to trust the Lord with my marriage. I'm saying this all backwards. How foolish it is to trust my marriage to myself rather than to the Lord.

Strength Multiplied By Surrender

SPEAKER_01 54:27

Maybe not the ones that didn't leave but were told to leave, but those that walked away on their own. That to me is worse than anything. Because like one day you're gonna have to answer to that. Like you're gonna realize there's a God who's real and you turned and walked away. That's a terrifying thing to think about. Like I would much rather be one of the three hundred who dies fighting for the thing that I believe in than the one who ran and maybe lived but was a coward. That I can't quite wrap my mind around.

SPEAKER_02 55:04

There's things worse than death.

SPEAKER_01 55:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

Yeah, there's the missing out on the story to be one of those three hundred dudes. I mean, think about that experience to be one of these three hundred. But think about their faith. Like Gideon had faith, but these three hundred men, they were the kind of men who were ready, they were on their feet, they weren't kneeling down, lapping the water, they were eyes up to the horizon, watching for this enemy. Like those 300 men had some faith too, because they followed Gideon with this crazy idea.

SPEAKER_01 55:37

Yeah, they didn't get to stand before God and experience him face to face like Gideon did. Right? They might have more faith even than Gideon.

SPEAKER_02 55:49

Strong leadership brings everyone up with them. Um but you can't lead people where you've never been. If you haven't encountered the Lord, if you haven't stepped out in the faith, how can you take anybody alongside you?

SPEAKER_00 56:09

I think we've already showed like how at odds of a situation this is.

The Fear Of Walking Away

SPEAKER_00 56:24

Like say goodbye to your families, get your armor on, let's go. And yet God's plan is still so different. God tells, get in, like, alright, here's the plan. Right, and at this point, like the situation is getting worse because it says that all of the enemy soldiers create a coalition and like they're ready to go. And so now they're all unified, they're all ready. God tells Gideon, he's like, here's the great plan. You're gonna take a horn and a glass jar. Give every man a horn and a glass jar. Divide the 300 into three groups of a hundred, and you're gonna go around the Midianites, and at my command, blow the horns and break the glass jars. Like just crazy. I mean, it's it's but again, like understand that God's ways are better, and I think and they had they had torches also, and it's like I'm sure there's some you know crazy war story um throughout like even American military history where you know the the

Trumpets, Jars, And Tactical Confusion

SPEAKER_00 57:52

the enemy was duped by a plan that like most people probably said would never work, right? And I think about like even like who usually, and again, and I don't didn't look into like the cultural context of of getting in this situation, but like you know, when you look back in time, like the people with horns and trumpets and those people generally led the soldiers into battle, right? And God's plan was go be those people, right? And I just have to assume the Midianites, when they saw the 300 people with horns and glass jars, probably thought, oh man, there's a whole bunch of more people behind them and they're coming to kill us. And it was so it says confusing to the Midianites, right? And there's all these, and there's different groups of people here, and so just like the fog of war, they end up they start fighting each other. Like, and but you know, but you you know, it's like some blue on blue going on down here in the valley, and but it happens, right? And so, like, it's not that crazy to think that like when these people came over these when the Israelites and these three groups of a hundred men came over these hills, blew these horns, started screaming, and broke these glass jars with torches in their hand that like it confused the enemy, and so they start killing each other, getting probably confused on who's who, and then they flee. And like, but this is an interesting thing, but gideon now it's like now it's time to get your sword out. And now those people that fled, go kill them. And like, I think it's important for us to see though, like, even when God calls us to something, it's not that we're like, it's not like we're sitting on our hands doing nothing, right? God always takes like our meager action, our energy, our time, the strength that we do have, right? He said to Gideon, go in the strength that you have, even if that's limited, and use it for action. And so now, like these soldiers are are going out and they're chasing down the remaining army and they're killing them. Is that like I think it's important to understand that like when God calls us to things, like we need to deeply surrender, we need to have great faith. His ways are usually always look different than what our own plan would be, but yet we're still a part of that picture, right? It still takes effort, right? It's it's it's it's losing hours of sleep, it's working hard, it's sweating, it's blood, it's extreme effort, right? There's a part later

Faith Plus Effort In The Pursuit

SPEAKER_00 1:00:36

in the story, and they're chasing, they chase down two of these Midianite kings, they cut their heads off, which is just like, I mean, these are savage soldiers, uh, the 300 are savages. And what it says in there that like they were exhausted, right? And so it makes me think like just because I think when we you know when we think about surrender at a surface level, it looks like inaction, but no, God's always causing, calling us to like be a part of the picture, right? And it takes effort, right? A lazy man is a dangerous man, a tired man surrendered to God, it's probably getting somewhere, it's probably building the kingdom, it's probably doing something for the Lord. Um, so there is great action on our part. Heal your marriage, okay. Follow me in my ways and get to work. You get your finances in order. Okay, here's some biblical principles to get finances in order, get to work. Or you want to try to conquer this addiction and break these chains? Okay. I will give you more strength than you have yourself, but get to work.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:50

Yeah, I agree. There's always this balance between God's sovereign plan and that he's in charge of it all, but yet uh our are submitting to that and and pursuing. I mean, that's what I love that Gideon in the end is the dude that's cutting heads off, you know. I'm encouraged by the fact that right before they go in there with the with a whole trumpet and jars and uh torch sequence that Gideon one more time, the Lord gives them a sign. Like even after all that's come this far, they're still like the Lord is patient and still walking beside Gideon, this this warrior that he's raising up. And so it's like, even in the struggle, like, yeah, that's let's do this, let's do this. Like, the Lord is still right there next to you, saying, Yeah, I'm with you. Here's here's more proof, I'm with you.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:42

I like that through all of this, even though he's doubting like constantly, even with like the sign with the fleece, right? And this, he's doubting. So God's giving him another sign. I assume you're talking about the dream, yeah. Yeah, so the middle night dream.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:00

Not that we want to doubt, but we all doubt. And he's not leaving

Patient Signs For A Doubting Leader

SPEAKER_01 1:03:05

us when we doubt, he's still there. Like we can still reach back out to him. That's one of the best parts of the story, I feel like, is despite his doubts, God never leaves him.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:18

It's like important, like what you're saying, like to realize that like Jesus when he called his disciples, right? It wasn't that Jesus necessarily laid out this giant plan, like, Paul, you're gonna you're gonna go out and you're gonna be a missionary to all these places and you're gonna write the New Test, you know, part of the New Testament that's gonna last for thousands and thousands of years to teach my people. No, he had this, it was this day by day, right? When Jesus called his disciples, he would say two words follow me. And like, yeah, like what you're saying there, like we're gonna have doubts, we're gonna have struggles. Guess what? Addictions won't be fought in one day, they'll take years sometimes. Like, it is this constant where just like the Israelites, like we we press into an area, we get to know God better in that area, we get to yield our will, surrender our will to him, and he provides strength. And usually, and sometimes it's hours, days, months, years, then we we forget, we doubt. It's just we got to go back to God each time. Like it's this day-by-day journey. I have all three of us painted a picture of our lives, it would it, there's no straight line to it, right? It would curve and go up and down and up and down, like our walk with the Lord. But as humans, like we kind of uh our tendency is though, is when the battle wavers, you know, when victory's not imminently visible just for a little bit, and we fall and we fail

Follow Me: Daily Surrender

SPEAKER_00 1:05:09

and we stumble, then our inherent nature is to turn and run around the opposite direction. It's like, no, go back to God, go back to God, re-surrender it to God. Like, okay, you're in this moment of doubt, like, okay, it's all right. God will work with you. Go back to Him, though. Go back to Him. And yeah, marriage, like what trying to heal a relationship, and I feel like I've done my part, and yet, if it's a spouse or a friend or a coworker, and they're like, no, screw you, like they're not, they didn't get the plan that I was trying to repair this relationship. Nobody told them. And so then it's an obstacle, and it's like, okay, it's all right. Like, it's a hiccup in the journey of whatever that is, whatever that you know situation you're working through. Keep at it. Like go back to God. Re-surrender. Grow your faith like a muscle.

unknown 1:06:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:08

There's a pattern here I think that's starting to emerge. The first was that that surrender was premeditated on Gideon's part. He knew what it meant when he cut down that pole, when he destroyed, when he repented for his family and his own sins. And it was premeditated that he went and pre-surrendered, but then there's an ongoing surrender to it. And so um I've always been struck by the verse in Romans where it says, you know, Paul's been making the case from Romans, you know, like we're dead in our sins and and there's no condemnation in Christ. And while we were dead, Christ died for us. And then he says, therefore, in view of all this, offer your bodies as living sacrifices. And the whole problem with a living sacrifice, it sounds like a you know a contradiction is that sacrifice can crawl off the altar if it's still alive. That's the posture we have as Christ followers. When Jesus says, follow me, it means again and again and again. It's not a one-off decision. And we so often paint it like, yeah, I said yes to Jesus, and now I'm good to go. No, no, like each morning, each moment you have to say yes to Jesus, say, I will stay on this altar. I have chosen surrender and I will choose surrender. He's a God I can trust. The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:28

The righteous run into him and they are saved.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:38

When you believe God is everything, you will give God anything. And if we struggle trying to control things, I know in my own heart what I struggle to control the

Stay On The Altar

SPEAKER_02 1:07:56

most. It's like those things I try to control the most are where I trust God the least. And so as we look at our own lives, and we say those words that David echoed in the Psalm, search me and know my heart, see if there's any unclean way amongst me, that we need to repent first in my own heart. Like those things that I control the most are the exact things God's trying to open my hands to and say, Look, I hold these better. I hold these better than you do, Evan. I'm not just the God of the Israelite camp, I'm the God of the enemy's camp, too. I mean, think about Gideon's story. Like when they were huddled together with like 30,000, they're like, okay, what's the plan here? What are we gonna do? No one said, let's get the enemy to kill the enemy. Let's break some jars. That's the way our God works.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:49

What does surrender of what does surrender look like for the guy that's never surrendered?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:02

I think we have this picture that surrender is like hands up, you know, like ah, I'll get, you know, and I don't think it's hands up as much as hands over. It's a saying, you're better. Like I can't do this. You're better at this than me, God. You take this. I'm handing it over. And so it's not a giving in, it's not a apathy, it's not a complacency, it's not a resignation, it's a it's a resolution. Um, that says, you got to do this, God. And you can. And so whatever that area is, I mean, I think there's this this whole topic of surrender and control. I feel like it just hits home with men in general, not even first responders and law enforcement and the community that this podcast is speaking to. But I guess there's a struggle of manhood. And when

God’s Timing And The Waiting Gift

SPEAKER_02 1:10:03

we see that, we look to the man, Jesus. And his ministry starts in a wilderness, and he surrendered there in the temptations, and then it comes to a climax in a garden, from the wilderness to a garden, and he surrendered there. And all throughout the day, all those three years, it's just surrender and surrender again. Um, it's like constant handing over, handing over. And I know for me, the things I struggle to hand over the most, like it's multiple times a day sometimes. Like it comes back up, like, no, God, this is yours. I'm trusting you with this. Yeah, I'm not gonna fix this myself.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:50

What do you say to the guy that's you know, not every battle in scripture ended with kind of quick victory? Like, what do you say to the guy who's trying to surrender? But like they're in the heat of the battle, and sometimes they feel like they're losing.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:11

I've been there. I don't know if you can relate to that, Derek, but I relate to it.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:16

Um Yeah, the best things oftentimes don't happen quickly, but it takes time.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:27

Um Peter five, uh, second half of verse five. But gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time. In due time, right time. These translations, man, that's the part of hate. It's not my time. My time would have been years ago, God. But God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. It's his timing, not yours. See, God is not a means to an end. God is not a means to the freedom for the Israelites, so the Midianites weren't oppressed them anymore. They wouldn't have their food taken, they would be safe. We find out in the story, Gideon's own family members had been killed by the Midianites. God's not a means to your own ends, He is the ends. And this comes from like some prayers that have lasted over a decade for me. That the waiting is a blessing. The waiting is a gift. And that's hard to say. But God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.

Prayer Of Surrender And Closing CTA

SPEAKER_02 1:13:17

There is grace that you can know Jesus more in the waiting than in the victory. Because he's the ends. He's not the means to your answer, he is the answer. And Christ is enough. Gideon starts the story off knowing about God. But by the end of the story, he knows God. That he's the God who slays a hundred thousand without an army. Every miracle starts with this the surrender, the handing over. Um maybe you don't see God working mightily. Um I challenge you to say, well, whose hands are holding on to it right now? Um, because I know when it's sitting there in the waiting room, I try to bring it back into my own hands. Um I think a good metric to see how surrendered we are is how much we pray. Because if it's not in my hands, I'm praying about it. And that's convicting because I sit here in this chair today and I spent hours laboring and I spent minutes praying. But when we come undone, surrender is stronger. That's the that's the way God works. Surrender is stronger, doesn't make sense, except it does when we know who He is.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:08

So when I was in college, um came across a prayer, and I've kind of reworded it, but I just want to close like in that prayer, just a prayer of surrender that um I've just taken away a lot away from over the years. So let's pray. Lord, I am no longer my own but yours. God, my possessions and my future I hold with open hands Lord might I live in luxury, might I live in poverty? Might I succeed greatly? Might I suffer much? Might I live on this earth? Might I see your glory Might I reach the thousands? Might I reach the one God might I serve the wealthy? Might I serve the beggar. Might I have nothing might I be full? Might I be empty? Lord, might I be used by you? Might I be set aside for you. God, might I be popular with others, might I be persecuted by others. I freely yield all things to your will and disposal. To God be the glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:50

Lord, would you weaken us?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:53

God that we are men that don't rely on the strength of our own hands, but God that we would surrender our will to you. God, there is nothing stronger that we could do but to surrender completely to you. God, give us the strength to surrender. God, that we would recognize that your ways are always better than our own ways. God, that in fact we can't make some of these things right in our life, but we can surrender them to you and you can work on them in ways that are much stronger than ours.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:09

God, may we humble ourselves before you.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:22

May show up for them. Lord, there are lots of us that wrestle with faith and doubt. God, would you show up? May we test you, God. God, that we would journey out on faith. To say, oh, you only want 300? Okay. I will trust in you. I will surrender to your will. In all the areas of our lives. We thank you, God, for the work that you are doing. We thank you, God, for the work that you'll do in each one of our lives as we surrender things to you. We pray this in your great name. Amen. Well, I hope you guys got something from this. But I've got a favor to ask you. The reality is that there are men across this country, medics, fire, police, military, that they need to dive into these things because they're struggling right now with some of these very issues and more. I can make the content, but to get it in the hands of the people that need it, that's up to you. That's your job. Um, I would highly, highly encourage you, if you can think of some people right now that maybe it's even a stretch of faith for you. Man, send them a link. Hey, just take a look at this. Um, whatever that might look like, like this is gonna be a grassroots organic law enforcement movement. That's that's it. The algorithm, it's not gonna be pushing this stuff out. But since I did mention the algorithm, I do want to explain a reality of that that I didn't understand until I start trying to dive into these issues. So by you subscribing, by you writing comments, by you liking things, um, the reality is is that that's what the machine looks for. I'm not a dude that comments much or likes or subscribes to very much stuff at all. I completely understand that. But the reality is that, like, if you think that this is beneficial content, um, if you can go down and just write a two-word review or a two sentence review, subscribe to it. Obviously, that's going to get you additional content. Um, it's gonna be up to you guys to get this stuff out to the people that need it. Thank you.