From the desk of Steve Shultz:
It's good to worship the Lord at all times and in all things. But do you believe that your worship to Him could lead to breakthrough for your city and even a nation? This word by Caleb Klinge will encourage you to take worship unto the Lord to a whole new level.
Let's continue to worship Him as in this Scripture, God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
Please remember us in your giving this year. We are a FOR-PROFIT organization, therefore, your contribution will NOT be tax-deductible. What you are doing is helping us take the prophetic word around the world. Simply go to: https://www.elijahlist.com/donations/donation.php and make a quick and easy donation today.
Caleb Klinge:
Courageous Worship Leads to Breakthrough for Our Cities
When we think of Gideon's story, we often think of fleeces and the less-is-more army of 300 trumpet-blowing warriors that defeated an innumerable host of Midianites because of God's Presence with them. But this powerful story has an important background. Before Gideon could lead Israel to victory he had to experience victory in his own city.
Personal Surrender
Gideon had a response of true worship when he was first encountered by the Angel of the Lord. He presented his personal offering to the Angel of the Lord in Judges 6:21, and the fire of God consumed the offering. After this encounter, Gideon built an altar to the Lord. An offering represents a moment of worship, but an altar represents a lifestyle of ongoing worship and surrender. This altar became a foundation for every other breakthrough that Gideon experienced.
Divine Assignments
God has already pre-ordained the good works that we are to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). Altars align our hearts with Heaven and position us to receive these assignments from the Father and fulfill them with authority.
Once his personal altar was built, Gideon received his first assignment from the Lord. It wasn't to rally an army. It wasn't to form a strategy to lead the nation back to God. Rather, his first assignment was to build a furnace of worship in his home-town, the village of Ophrah. His personal altar of worship was the first level. Now his personal breakthrough would expand to influence the entire city.
In Judges 6:25-27, the Lord instructed Gideon: "Take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it; and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down."
This assignment required incredible courage. Most of the city worshipped baal, and his own father was the biggest baal-worshipper of them all! The altar to baal was at his house, in his backyard – and people don't enjoy having their "idols" messed with.
Light was about to collide with darkness. This act of obedience would cause conviction to fall on a community that desperately needed repentance.
A Burning Company
So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. Judges 6:27
Gideon was in a growth process. He was overcoming fear. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the faith to act in obedience in the face of fear, trusting that God will back you up. Even though Gideon struggled with fear, he still obeyed.
So he gathered 10 men, a burning company to give a burnt offering (an offering that is 100% for God). In the middle of the night, these 10 men ignited a bonfire of worship in the center of their city that broke it through the status quo of idol-worship and into the purpose and Presence of God.
Never underestimate the power of praying and worshipping in the middle of the night with a band of brothers and sisters in your city! The wood of the idol they chopped down became the fuel for the fire of the true worship of God!
A Corporate Furnace
A personal altar (lifestyle) of worship is so vital, but it's the corporate altars (2-3+ individuals) of worship that transform a city.
Gideon didn't take 10 men with him to complete this assignment because of fear. He took this 10-man squad with him because the assignment was larger than him. It was an assignment that required a unified effort of a community, not just the passion of one individual.
Not only was the demolition of the altar of baal and the building of the altar of the Lord required, they were to offer a bull as a burnt offering. A full-grown bull weighs a ton, literally – up to 2,000 pounds. This expression of worship was more than an individual could give on their own. It would take a group to lift this offering onto the altar. It would require a community that made a covenant to worship the Lord doing it together!
Embers From the Fire
Authentic worship always creates a reaction. From David's undignified worship to Mary's alabaster box, we see that people either reacted by following suit or criticizing the one worshipping.
When Gideon's village awoke in the morning, they saw their altar and idol destroyed, and 2,000 pounds of tri-tip smoldering on the newly built altar of the Lord. It created a reaction.
When the men of the city discovered that Gideon had done it, they went to his father in a full-blown mob mentality and demanded that he hand Gideon over so they could put him to death. But Gideon's father had an unexpected response: "If baal is a god, let him plead for himself!"
Not only was Gideon's life spared, but a major shift had taken place in his father's heart. Gideon's courageous, passionate worship broke the spirit of idolatry that gripped his father's life. The embers from the altar of true worship will ignite a fire in the hearts of those who have lost their passion, and call them back to their first love.
Before Gideon ever led an army, he led a group of 10 worshippers to burn for the Lord in their own city. And this was the foundation of all the victory that followed!
As it was with Gideon, may it be in your city as you worship the King of kings!
Caleb Klinge
New Life Christian Center
Email: office@nlcci.org
About Caleb Klinge: Caleb is the lead pastor at New Life Christian Center in Novato, California, together with his wife Rachel. Located in Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate in the San Francisco Bay Area, they are passionate for an invasion of God's Presence and Kingdom that brings regional transformation. His ministry is used by the Lord to release faith, encouragement, and breakthrough. Caleb and Rachel have been married for 14 years, and have two children, Benjamin and Phebe.
