Five Who Went From Frailty to Faith

Focusing upon our shortcomings and looking solely to ourselves for the strength to remove those frailties are two things that will keep us from improving in the way God wants us to improve. While we might progress to some degree through self-effort alone, the Holy Scriptures give us insight to the fact that God has the best in mind for us. However, we need to cooperate with Him for optimum results.

There are scores of individuals mentioned in the Holy Bible who had many faults but, when they yielded themselves to the gracious hand of God, they were changed into people of faith or had their faith increased. This article will look at five of those individuals.

1. Gideon (Judges 6:1-7:25): Crushing Fear

Fear is a major roadblock to improvement for most people. It has been rightfully described by many ministers as being the opposite of faith. For Christians, it stifles the growth of the fruit of the Holy Spirit and discourages their loving obedience to God.

Some years after Joshua died, Midian had attacked Israel and left it impoverished. Any food that the Jews might grow and harvest had to be kept out of the sight of the enemy.

That is why Gideon was threshing wheat by a winepress. However, while hiding from the enemy, neither he nor the plight of Israel, was hidden from God. The Angel of the Lord spoke to him there, addressed him as a man of valor, stated that God was with him, and soon commissioned him to rescue Israel. Gideon naturally objected, but God promised He would be with Him.

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Gideon then asked for a sign that he was actually speaking with the Angel of the Lord, and was given a sign.

That very night, God told him to tear down his father’s idol to Baal. God did not tell him when to do it, so he did it at night. The Holy Scriptures clearly show us (6:17) that Gideon was afraid to do it in the daytime. However, the fact is that he took a step of faith and did what God told him to do. That first step was hard for him, just like it is hard for us.

If we keep reading the passage, we see the steps started getting bigger. Just after Gideon destroyed the idol, the Midianites, Amalekites and the children of the east came against Israel. This time, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and he mustered an army.

However, he still had some fear so he asked God for two more signs, using a fleece, which God granted.

Gideon gained insight to the mind of God as the Lord began to reduce the size of the army. He did so by letting the fearful ones go (7:3). That brought the force down to 10,000, but that was still too many. So through a test, God finally reduced the army to 300 men.

That very night God told Gideon to confront the enemy. It had to be done in faith. God knew that Gideon was still battling fear, so He told him, that if he was fearful, to take his servant and go into the enemy’s camp for encouragement. Of course, that was another step of faith. Gideon did so, and overheard a discussion about a dream one of the enemy’s fighters had that indicated Gideon would certainly be the victor.

Strengthened, Gideon returned to his men and immediately sprang into action against the enemy. With the help of God, this vast host that had come against Israel was soundly defeated.

Most of us face many fears throughout our lives, but if we permit ourselves to be directed by God, we too will gain many victories over the enemy. There is even more hope for us to do so because Christ has come and lived victoriously. If we are truly saved, born again, committed to Christ, our Lord lives within us. He lives through us and His actions become our actions if we yield to Him.

It is difficult at times to conquer fear. However, we are encouraged to approach the throne of God to find grace (the ability to do the right thing) in the time of need (Heb. 4:16). Ask God to replace your fear with His faith, and He will do so if you follow His leading step by step.

2. Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-18): Dissolving Discouragement

Akin to fear is discouragement. It plagues almost everyone and, when it comes to Christians, it often rears its ugly face to those in leadership positions.

Elijah is an excellent person to consider when discussing discouragement for it is written in James 5:17 that he ” was a man subject to like passions as we are…”

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If we read 1 Kings 18 we will see that Elijah had just won a great victory through the power of God over the prophets of Baal after Yahweh (God) had miraculously ignited Elijah’s water soaked sacrifice. The onlookers shouted that Yahweh, and not Baal, was God.

I am sure that Elijah was very pleased with this result, but it appears that his soul and body were tired, for all it took was a death threat from Queen Jezebel to make him flee under an emotional cloud of heavy discouragement. We read in 1 Kings 19:4 that he was so discouraged He asked God to take his life. Instead of removing him from the earth at that point, God saw to it he had something to eat so he would have strength for his journey.

He makes his way to Mount Horeb where he expresses his loneliness to God (verses 10 and 14). God tells him there were 7000 in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal. God also gave him further instructions for his ministry.

From this we see that, with God’s help, there are three things that we can do by faith to overcome discouragement.

The first is to recognize that we are not really alone. There are others like us. The second is to recognize the power of God, that He is working although we do not perceive it at times.

The third is to serve God as He so directs us. Doing God’s business gets our minds off of ourselves and causes our focus to be on Him and others. This is part of the purpose we all have in life. A blessing awaits us as we faithfully carry out that purpose.

Satan would rather have us wallow in the mire of self-pity. However, there is great joy in casting off, as described above, the burden of discouragement and embracing Who God is and His purposes for our lives.

3. Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-27): Drowning Pride

While some think of the disobedience of Adam and Eve as being the first sin, before they ever came along there was pride. Satan was the first to have ungodly pride. As a result, he was cast out of heaven and down to earth bringing his evil influences with him.

Yielding to pride was partly why Adam partook of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Ever since that time, it has been the foundation for human sin in one way or another.

Pride often stands in the way progress, as it did for a time with Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria. He was a great officer for Syria, but had leprosy.

He heard about the prophet Elisha and went to him to seek a healing. Upon his arrival, Elisha did not go out to see him but sent a messenger to him telling him go to the river Jordan and wash in it seven times.

From the passage we see that Naaman’s ego was a bruised because Elisha did not personally come to meet him. He also had national pride since he felt the rivers of his homeland were much better. Naaman’s pride caused him to turn away in a rage.

However, after humbling himself to listen to the pleas of his servants, he further humbled himself to go wash in the Jordan.

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He then was healed, not just physically, but spiritually for we see after this he brought Israeli soil with him to Syria so that he might offer sacrifices unto Yahweh.

We can imagine what would have happened to him if he clung to his pride. No doubt he would have remained a leper for the rest of his life.

Devotionally, leprosy represents sin, sin that stands between us and God and forbids development that yields eternal rewards. In this passage, the Jordan can represent the actual life of Christ.

When pride has a grip on us, we should humble ourselves to ask God through Jesus Christ to make us pliable in His gracious hands. Humility makes us to be more in tune with the Holy Spirit of God and activate the life of Christ within us if He truly dwells within.

4. Saul (Paul), Acts 9:1-22:Turning Unholy Anger Into Love

As mentioned, satan (I avoid capitalizing that name), was the first creature to develop pride. If we carefully examine the many passages of Holy Scripture referring to him, we will see that unholy anger is very often associated with him.

Reading the Holy Bible we will note that a number of people displayed unholy anger in their lives. There was Cain, Nabal, Joab, and many others.

After Christ ascended and the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost, many committed themselves to Jesus Christ. Christians began to proclaim the Gospel and many more were converted.

Most of these people were Jews, and the non-believing Jews looked upon them as a strange sect, even a dangerous sect.

Saul of Tarsus, zealous for the Law of Moses, began to vehemently persecute those who had fully placed their trust in Christ.

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Reading Acts 9 we see God, with a bright light, essentially knocked Saul off of his horse on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians, and told Saul he was persecuting Him. Saul then asked for instructions. God told him to continue to Damascus and wait there for further directives. Saul had been blinded by the experience and had to be led to Damascus.

By faith, and do doubt with much fear, he tarried at Damascus. God soon sent Ananias to pray for him.

Upon being healed, he arose, was baptized, and then ate. In verse 19 we read that this very man who was ready to arrest and even kill Christians was now having fellowship with them. More than that, the next verse indicates he began to proclaim Christ in the synagogues.

Through the power of God Saul indeed made a complete reversal of his life, turning away from hatred and becoming an instrument of love which compelled him to carry the Gospel message to many nations and peoples.

When unholy anger embitters our soul, we have an Advocate in Jesus Christ Who, through His Holy Spirit, can replace that unholy anger with His holy love that helps us to minister to all people, including our enemies. If we do not yield to His holy love, we might find that anger will continue to grow, and it might even destroy us while hurting others.

If we feel we have been personally wronged in a matter, by faith we need to trust what is written in Romans 12:19: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

5. David (1 Samuel 30:1-6): Overcoming Being Overwhelmed

Then, there are times that it seems like everything is hitting us at once. We might find ourselves battling many negative emotions and not just one. The emotions can be so numerous and so strong that we feel overwhelmed.

We read in 1 Samuel 30 that, after being dismissed from the Philistine army, David and his men returned to their home in Ziklag only to find that the Amalekites had made a raid, burned the city with fire, and took away their families and possessions.

In verse 6 we read, “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters:”

This infers the people felt that David should have had enough foresight to leave behind a contingent of fighting men while the rest served in the Philistine army. The people were so angry that they were ready to kill him.

No one but God can be sure what emotions David felt at that moment to cause him to be greatly distressed. However, we do know how David handled the situation. Verse 6 continues, “but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.”

In my mind I can envision David kneeling down and lifting up his hands in a sacrifice of worship unto God, ignoring the criticism and threats of death around him. I would also assume that his self-encouragement in Lord was a habit he had developed while tending sheep, and further honed during the times he had fled from the jealous King Saul.

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Sacrificial worship can be described as laying aside all negative emotion and thought that is bothering us, and steadfastly worshiping God. I feel David often worshiped in this manner because many of the Psalms he wrote through the Holy Spirit reflect this type of worship.

Worshiping God for Who He is as God, despite negative pressures from without and within our being, is a tremendous way to acquire the strength that we need to go on.

Continuing in the passage we see that David’s next step was to seek guidance directly from God as to what to do next. Again, he did not succumb to any influence, but by faith committed his situation totally to God Who guided him.

Facts and Foundations

Please keep in mind that these five men were just as human as we are. The common denominator among them was that, in the turning point of their situation, they trusted in God and not in themselves or anyone else. The Holy Spirit of God nurtured them as they kept walking in faith.

The other common denominator was that at some point, all of these men except Naaman spoke with God, and God communicated with them in various ways. This is prayer — simple communication with God. Regarding Naaman, the text indicates he communicated with God after his healing.

While any of us can certainly attempt to pray to God, knowing God in a personal way through Jesus Christ ensures a direct flow of the Holy Spirit from God, the very Person of Christ to live in us and through us. We can know God in personal way by committing every facet of our life to Him, asking Him to forgive us and cleanse us from our sin nature, and asking Him to take up residence within us as our King.

Satan would have us remain frail and spiritually weak, even spiritually dead. Decide now that you will, by faith, commit fully to God and embrace all that He has in store for you. If you feel you lack faith, ask in all sincerity and He will give it to you.