The first thing God said to Gideon was not a command. Not a rebuke, not a theology lecture. It was a declaration of identity: “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valour.” And everything that followed; every victory, every bold act, every moment of national deliverance, was built on those words.
If you want to understand why the church is doing so little in our generation, start here.
We have an identity problem.
Identity Before Commission
In Judges 6:12, the angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ, appears to Gideon and makes two statements. First: “The Lord is with you.” Second: “You mighty man of valour.”
We tend to accept the first and doubt the second. We say, “How could God call Gideon mighty? He was hiding in a wine press.” As if we need to find some explanation for God being generous with his words.
But everything the Lord says is true. If the first part is true, and it is, because the Lord was literally standing there with him, then why would we doubt the second? God doesn’t exaggerate, He doesn’t flatter, everything He says is truth.
And the reality He declared about Gideon shaped everything that came next. The Hebrew word for valour, hayil, carries the meaning of power, competence, strength, bravery, and even wealth. Godliness is competence. The Holy Spirit gives power. That’s the identity God gave Gideon before he gave him a single instruction.
The church today has inverted this. The prevailing message is weakness. Men are weak, men frail, men can do nothing – and if they are strong, there’s something wrong with the them, godly men must be weak men. And of course, if your identity is weakness, you’ll produce nothing, you won’t even try. Why would you? A weak man doesn’t do mighty things, that would be absurd!
But God didn’t call you weak. He called the man he was about to use “mighty.” And then he said: “Go in this might of yours.”
What Might?
“Go in this might of yours.” That phrase stops people. What might? Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press. He was hiding from raiders, where’s the might in that?
The might was in God’s declaration. Not a battery pack. Not a mystical exoskeleton. It was reality, the reality of who Gideon was because God had spoken it. We only ever act in terms of our present identity, and God was resetting Gideon’s identity before sending him out.
This has direct application to how you talk to yourself. And we all talk to ourselves, constantly. We persuade ourselves of what we can and can’t do. “I could never do that.” “That’s not for someone like me.” “I’m not the kind of man who…”
But given God’s declaration, shouldn’t the internal monologue sound different? “The Lord has called me mighty, I say amen to that.” Not fantasy. Not wishful thinking, faith, believing what God has said about his people.
Salvation Means Victory
Then comes the commission: “You shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.”
We’ve trained ourselves to hear “salvation” and think only of heaven after death, forgiveness of sins. And yes — it does mean that. But in Judges 6:14, salvation means something concrete and earthly: deliverance from oppression, victory over enemies, the restoration of a nation.
You cannot separate salvation from victory. If you’re losing, if the church is retreating, if the culture is collapsing, if Christian influence is evaporating, don’t dress that up as salvation, it’s judgement. Salvation in the Bible is God’s people winning by accomplishing His purposes, extending His kingdom of truth and righteousness, not losing gracefully, and certainly not pretending there is no battle at all.
And notice: God uses people. Did God deliver Israel? Yes. Did Gideon deliver Israel? Also yes. Through his obedience to His calling. There’s no conflict between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. The temptation is to sit on your hands and say, “God will sort it out.” But God sent Gideon. And he’s sending you. Your calling may not be military, but it’s real, and it won’t fulfil itself while you watch from the sidelines. Seek God’s marching orders, brother.
The Man God Calls
One final thing. Gideon was not indifferent. He wasn’t floating through life pretending everything was fine. He looked around and said: something is catastrophically wrong. He contended with God, like Abraham pleading for Sodom. He had a covenantal framework that said: God deals with nations as nations, and if we’re being devastated, God is behind it.
God does not call indifferent men. He calls men who see the problem, who care enough to contend, who refuse to shrug and change the channel. If you’re that man, if you’re awake to what’s happening and asking hard questions, then take this from Judges 6: the Lord is with you. You are mighty, and if you’re not, start going to scripture gym, lift heavy scriptures, bench press the fact that you are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Deadlift the fact that you are a part of a holy nation, a kingdom of priests. Squat the reality that you are God’s friends in you do His will, and ‘friends’ mean princes. Get Bible buff, get yourself some six-pack faith abs. Don’t let anyone kick spiritual sand in your face and call you a weakling any longer, be strong in the Lord and in the might of His power!
Based on the God’s World, God’s Way podcast series through Judges 6. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. Listen on Cr101Radio.com. Share with a brother who needs to hear this.