ASK #016 - Prayer Fleece

 written:  January 22, 2022

Prayer Fleece

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.  

Mark Batterson states that the word “give” in this verse means “to conceive.”  As we press into God’s presence, old sinful desires die, and new holy desires are birthed in your spirit.  These single-cell desires ultimately become life long dreams if we nurture them in prayer.  

When God called Gideon to be a judge in Israel Gideon was unsure and insecure about it.  We see this account in Judges 6.  The angel addressed Gideon as a “mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12) Gideon was so unsure of this because his clan was the weakest of the whole tribe of Manasseh and he is the weakest in his ENTIRE family.  So why would he be considered a “mighty Warrior?”

In Judges 6 God calls Gideon to gather the Isrealite troops and defeat the Midianites.  Gideon had faith in Christ but maybe it wasn’t as strong as it should be.  So Gideon asked for a sign from God.  He placed a fleece outside overnight and requested that God make the fleece wet, but keep every area around the fleece dry.  God graciously answered Gideon’s request.  Not only did He make it wet; he soaked the fleece to the point that a whole bowl could be wrung from it.  Gideon’s faith that it was God calling him to do this was so weak that Giedon placed another fleece out asking God to keep it dry and the areas all around wet.  God is a patient God and he answered Gideons request yet again.  

There are moments when we feel weak or insecure and we feel we need to turn our desires, ideas and dreams into prayer fleeces…HOWEVER we must understand what exactly we are doing when we put out a fleece to God.  Mark Batterson puts forth three things to caution when we consider putting out a fleece to God.  

1.  Has God already answered your question in scripture?

• In order to know if this is the case we need to be in His Word; studying, meditating and praying.  How will we know if God has answered our questions if we are not emerseedd in His Word?

2. What are your motives?

• Are you selfishly making requests or is it to give God the glory?  Our desires of our hearts and requests to God should ultimately be to give Hiom the power and glory.  We are to be fulfilling His will in our lives not our own selfish or worldy desires. 

3. Are you willing to accept the answer whatever it might be?

• We must remember God has a plan with our lives and thou we may have ideas and things we desire…it may not be God’s will…So if He answersour questiobns witha closed door…will you be ready to accept it?

Judges 6:37  I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor.  

So be careful when putting fleeces before the Lord.  Be sure you are considering the three above questions.  

Mark Batterson compares placing fleeces before the Lord in a haphazard way like the childhood game “He loves me…He loves me not” played by plucking petals from a flower…hoping for the best.

When God calls us to something out of our comfort zone or to something we feel inadequate to do we often feel or respond with the question…

BUT HOW LORD!

God’s simple but powerful answer is “I will be with you”

God is with you.  

God is for you.

So back to Gideon…

After his encounter with the angel…it wasnt enough Gideon still needed reassurance and put out not one but two tests before the Lord.  God was patient with him as He knew Gideon’s heart and he asked out of genuine humility.

George Muller was a pastor and he starteed on orphanage…

Every need he had he turned it into a prayer…

He read the Bible not once or twice but over 200 times from front to back.  

Muller would pray like it depended on God but worked like it depended on him.

God calls us to be faithful in prayer, but also know that He wants us to be the hands and feet for His will be done here on earth.

Mark Batterson  says, “The key to kingdom productivity is this:  work really hard at what God has called you to do, but do not trust in your work; TRUST in GOD!”

Maybe we have been turning to the wrong people: our boss, a friend, family members for answers when we should be turning to God…OUR HEAVENLY FATHER!

Don’t seek answers, Seek God.  And answers will seek you…

“When God gives you a vision, He always makes a provision.” Mark Batterson

ASK……

Seek…..

Knock…..

So go out…keep asking, seeking and knocking and He will swing the doors wide open and roll the stones away.