Time to take the training Wheels off

Hello, I'm back.
The title of my post above is called time to take the training wheels off.
Now, you might think, Chloe where are you going with this.
But bare with my frineds, because all will make sense hopefully in time.
Since I'm not working and have only worked 3 days of this month, I have made a whopping $68.00 over the 3 days I've been working.
I'm feeling rather rich.
And I've discovered, that with all this free time I am the most dedicated time waster, there is Dunedin.
I've been practicing my surfing, on the net and guess what you can have a lot of time on the net, and there's no wetsuit, or surf board involved.
So that's an added bonus.
And I found the most coolest bike, now if you know me, I'm on the look out for a good bike, pref one with a motor, yeah I know, there's motor bikes, on trademe, and yes scooters, but mfffy friend has a scooter and it only goes 265 days a year, so yes it's quite temperamental, she's taken it apart many times and knows how to make Mytle work.
My friend Myrtle, has enough stickers on her shell, on it to make it a mobile sticker book.

I found a electric trike.
Now you might laugh, and yes,  I laughed when I saw it.
It is electric it has 3 wheels, and 2 big baskets, now, if you're a foodie, when I saw this trike, I thought brilliant, stuff everything in the front, buy up large, and there's more stuff to cram in the back basket, and ride out in style like Mary Poppins.
Now, I showed my parents this trike,  and Dad said, ''Well at least you'll feel right at home and fit in with the electric mobility scooters, on Portsmouth drive.''
Least to say, that my parents thought that I was kidding and having them on and I want it for my 30th birthday which is in 2 years time, but I'm quite serious, I have hiked, and have cycled, and I have been told to enjoy it, and it's character building, but why struggle, with the cycling, if you have a 3 wheeled trike, and have a 250 wat motor.
Mum said, it's as much power as 3 light bulbs.

Ok now with that story over, and you know why the title of the post is time to take the training wheels off, sometimes we rely on the training wheels, you now, the little wheels on the back of kids bikes to stable them when they ride, sometimes it seems like we've still got the training wheels still on.
God told me to take off the training wheels, a few months ago.
To hold everything loosely that I can't make people change, I can't make things happen, even thought it would be nice.
I can't dictate God, I can't play him.
Gideon, was in training, in fact he saw God  that's where I'm going with this study.
Judges Chapter 6 and 7.
If you need to know that God is with you read Gideon.
Recapping, what happened,
Because of Israel's great sin, God turned them into their enemies, whenever the Israelites planed crops, the Midianites and the Amorites came and destroyed them.
In fact, they were so afraid of what was happening, that they were forced to live in the mountains.
God knew this, and he came to Gideon, and he wasn't sure who it was, as it was an angel of the Lord.
Gideon, showed hospitality, and he fed the angel, but the angel of the Lord, called him to make it a sacrifice to God, a burnt sacrifice.
Then God told him that he was the man, to help the Israelites.
Now, because he saw the Angel of the Lord, he had incredible courage, courage, that was supernatural.
He at night burnt down all the gods, and the ashier poles, and destroyed all the high places, where kings were told to destroy them, but they didn't.
Gideon, took no prisoners, he knew and carried out with Godly courage, what God called him to do.
What is amazing is that Gideon's  tribe was the least of all in Israel,  it wasn't the Levites, or the tribes of Manasseh,  or  Jacobs, nothing, like that.
And he led a might army of 35 thousand against all of the Israel's enemys.
Do you see it?
Gideon, was in training, all the time, we are in training all the time.
And if God gives us opportunities, to show his love and his message  he will do amazing things in us. he will also speak to us, in amazing ways, ways that  otherwise feel stuck, perhaps even manipulated in, but God is always there, and he always has a plan.
God's ways are always interesting and new, he gives us the right times to do something, it might be getting in touch with people again, that have helped you, it might be taking them out to lunch and seeing how they are getting on, it might be moving right out of your comfort zone, out of your home, and into new places, and to be called into things that you've prayed for along time.
Gideon, didn't loose heart or his faith, he was committed, to the cause, and he had to know that God was behind him all the way, because it wasn't a small thing this was the raising of a new Moses, as it were, to lead the Israelites into battle, and fight.
Now we're only talking of 300 men, not a huge army, but Gideon did it, he went in with his 300 men and God gave them the victory,  he didn't have a ''just in case God didn't turn up, I'll put another 300 men in reserve, incase plan A fails.'' He did exactly what God wanted, and he went in full force.
In fact because of Gideon's trust, in the Lord, he was made even greater.
To the point when the Israelites said, ''Here rule over us, and be our king, and if you won't let one of your children.''
Gideon turned it down?
Why because he knew that it was wrong, that the Israelites should only rely on God not man, and Gideon wanted his people to know this.
Gideon died, and Israel no sooner had they remembered how great Gideon was, they failed to show Gideon's family, the kindness and prostituted themselves even worse than what they were doing in Gideon's time.

So what' the main point here?
Well I think it's not what Gideon did, or how great he was, he was that, because he fully trusted God, and he knew how fickle the Israelites were. That's why he turned down their request . 
I think the main point here is, that no sooner that Gideon passed on, the Israelites more sinful, than they ever were, in fact going beyond that, and forgetting the promise that they made that they would be as a nation show kindness to his family, that went south, and they didn't, they did more evil.
Gideon took off his training wheels, as it were, and faced problems head on, he didn't wait for someone to come along and do it, because he knew that he was called, and if he was called he had to carry out what the Lord required of him.
And God made him an even greater man, and that's what I want here in this city, no matter if you're waiting, no matter if you're in your dessert place, praying for a break through, when you know God is calling you, to do something do it, because he has assigned that mission to do.
What happens if you don't do it?
Could someone else reep that blessing?
I believe that he does assign  us to do special things, and he is a merciful God, however, we know in Jeremiah that God actually has enough of rebellious sinning.
And he makes it very clear about forgiveness, and that it has to be from the heart and not from our heads that we can actually deceive ourselves as well, that if we forgive in our heads well we can move on, but the more that Israel did, the worse it got, and in the end God had enough.
And he actually does, because Israel was in so much deep trouble that they didn't know how to forgive, that they had a fake safety-ness.
Now God never gives up, but there is a sovereignty  about him, that we have to fully repent, and if we're just nice on Sundays and mean to our family and friends on other days, well we're only deceiving ourselves, and God hates that, he hasn't raised us up to be two faced.
So maybe it's time to take off the training wheels, to rely on God, to ride with the faith we have, to accept who were are in body, and in form, but also know that God is sovereign and he can do whatever  he likes with us.
Gideon was raised up for such a time as this, and we are in the same place, we are called to be mighty women and men, young adults for God.
Don't think you're not called to do special things, you are, his hands and feet every day.
Go out there with the power of God on you, to do what you are called to do.
Chloe