“And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him: The Lord is with you, you mighty man of [fearless] courage” (Judg 6:12, AMP)

Let’s visit a young man called Gideon. He was a religious man, reading his Bible. The Word of God gave him promises and dreams to be a hero one day. But the circumstances around him were so difficult that nothing made sense. His father was once a believer, but because of the suffering and pains, he became a backslider. Gideon tried to beat the tide of national hopelessness but it was difficult to pray, to trust God alone. He was loaded down with doubts about the purpose of his life. Poverty was a plague that spared none.  He was a poor young man living in difficult times; there was no money to pay ‘school fees’ or to start a business. There were no good ‘jobs’ anywhere. Gideon was confused about his job, threshing wheat in a winepress. He was doing the right thing in the wrong place. Sometimes he thought about entering politics but even so there was no hope of winning for his was the minority tribe. He could never gather enough votes to win. He heard about miracles but he none. There was no music, no sound of celebration, weddings or feasts. Everybody trembled with fear, hiding from the enemy in the caves. Life was boring and life was hard.

Suddenly, God comes down for ‘a chat’. He calls Gideon ‘a mighty man of fearless courage’!

Whooooo… Mmmmme?

‘Yes! You!!!’

’I suspected it! This is how God is…He is completely out of touch with the reality of life’-Gideon thought.

Unmoved, God proposes a deal. Let Gideon go and destroy all the enemies! Let Gideon become a national leader, a champion, a judge and an inspiration to many! God sends him and God will reward him! Gideon looks behind: ’Is He talking to me?’  Surprisingly, the answer is ‘Yes’!

A coward is very fast in asking thousands of questions. What does God think of me? Does He not see how small, how weak, how poor and simpleminded I am? Does God not appreciate the difficulty I have to just survive in these hard times? Does Jesus care at all? I prayed for a miracle of healing, of financial breakthrough and nothing happened? I am not educated enough to have a good job! I am not beautiful enough to marry! I am not well connected to be promoted! I do not have enough money to start a business! I can’t speak! I am shy in public! I can’t handle a weapon! I am too weak, too ugly and too afraid! Where do I even start? God’s dream for me is too big, too crazy, too impossible! I failed to do little things, how can I become a hero? Great things do not happen to small people like me…

This is what my heart was saying and I could not stop it…

But the question still remains: WHAT DOES GOD THINK ABOUT ME?

This is the truth: God loves you. God has good plans for you. God wants to give you hope and a wonderful future. God is life and He wants to share life with you. God is love and He wants to share love with you. In God’s presence there is fullness of joy, unashamed and unapologetic bold joy. God is a musician and he wants you to sing. God is a poet and He wants you to write. God is a creator and he wants you to invent new things. God is Trinity and He wants you to have fellowship, friends and family. God is eternally fruitful and He wants you to have children. God has a family and He wants you to belong. God has a House and he wants you to come in. The door is open…No one can shut it…Are you not seeing it? What do you lose if you believe?

In Christ I declare:

I am a child of God!

I am healed!

I am delivered!

I am fruitful!

I am fulfilled!

In Jesus name

Amen!