Faith’s Transforming Power

by Katy Kauffman

Faith transforms the weak to be strong, the needy to be hopeful, the ordinary to be extraordinary. Take the following three men. After an act or statement of faith, God changed their names to reflect their belief in Him.

• Because Abram (“exalted father”^[1]) believed that God would give him descendants as numerous as the stars, God later changed his name to Abraham which means “father of a multitude”^[2] (Genesis 17:5).
• Abraham’s grandson, Jacob (“supplanter”^[3]), wrestled with God and wouldn’t let go of Him until He blessed him. God changed his name to Israel which means “a prince or prevailer with God”^[4] (Gen 32:28).
• Peter started out with a common Jewish name, Simon (“heard”^[5]). After he boldly testified that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus named him Peter (“a rock or a stone”^[6]), and declared that upon this kind of faith, He would build His church (Matthew 16:18).

Faith transforms us today. Based on what God knows of our hearts, struggles, and levels of faith, I wonder what He would call each of us. Perhaps Hopeful, Seeking, or Proven. Maybe On the Mend or Fledgling but Surviving.

Faith has the power to transform us from just surviving to thriving, because God teaches us to “fly” above fear, pain, and suffering. He strengthens our wings as we wait on Him (Isaiah 40:31), and changes our name from Fledgling to Soaring. What transforming work is God waiting to do in your life if you will trust Him?

In Judges 6 and 7, we see how faith transformed Gideon. He went from feeling afraid and the least in his family (Judges 7:15) to gathering an army to face Israel’s enemy. He positioned his army near the Midianite camp. Thirty-two thousand Israelites gathered to fight and defeat the enemy. Although Gideon could have taken comfort from that number, they were about to face an enemy “as numerous as locusts” (Judg 7:12 NKJV[7]).

God never confines Himself to human reasoning or ability when He makes His battle plans. God told Gideon his army was too big, and all of the men who were afraid to fight needed to go home. Twenty-two thousand left.

Then God told Gideon to test the men again. Gideon took the army to the water nearby. Anyone who used his hand to bring the water to his mouth would stay, and anyone who got down on his knees to drink or lapped the water like a dog, would go home. Nine thousand seven hundred men went home. Gideon’s army now had only three hundred men. Plus God.

That was enough. On the night of the battle, God volunteered a sign to Gideon.

⁹It happened on the same night that the LORD said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. ¹⁰But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, ¹¹and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. (Judges 7:9-11)

God had been working in the enemy camp.

 ¹²Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude. ¹³And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.” ¹⁴Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.” (Judges 7:12-14)

Gideon heard the army talking about God and himself! In this passage, a loaf of barley bread referred to Gideon, and it represented a “weak and contemptible thing,” which would be “unable to overthrow a tent … but being thrown by a divine hand, it [would overturn] all before it.”^[8] These Midianites believed that God would give Gideon the victory. How did Gideon react to overhearing this conversation?

 ¹⁵And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.” ¹⁶Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. ¹⁷And he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do: ¹⁸When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, ‘The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!'” (Judges 7:15-18)

In verse 15, Gideon’s reaction to God working in the other camp was worship. The same thing happened when Abraham arrived in Canaan and God told him the land would be his—he built an altar (Gen 12:7). So did Jacob when he arrived at last in Canaan (Gen 33:18-20). And so did Gideon the first time God spoke to him in Judges 6:16-24. The word worshiped in our passage above means “to bow down” or to “prostrate oneself … before God.”^[9] When we know that God is on our side and He is fighting for us, our humble response will be to bow before Him in awe, love, and respect.

If we think there’s no hope for victory in our spiritual battles, we need to adjust our perspective. Our God is the God of victory. His battle plan may not be what we expect, and the victory and peace He gives may not come in the form we envision, but God is working and His plan will succeed. Praise and adoration is the appropriate response for all He can do. 

Gideon divided his three hundred men into three companies, and they surrounded the Midianite camp. They sounded their trumpets and broke their pitchers. The battle cry was unleashed: “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!” (Judg 7:20). God turned the enemies’ swords against each other, and the Midianites fled. Israel chased them down. There was no escape.

Faith transforms us into spiritual champions. We may not feel like champions when our lives are hectic, our bodies are hurting, or our days are filled with struggles. But God knows how to remind us that He is with us. God gave Gideon four signs in all that He was with him and directing him (Judg 6:17-27, 36-40). God’s patience and encouragement lit a fire in Gideon’s soul to save his people from the enemy. What will it take for God to encourage you that He is with you? Stay open to the evidence. Receive it, and worship.

We can learn two principles from Judges 7:

1. Faith follows God’s battle plan even when it seems to go against human reasoning. (Judg 7:3-7)

2. Faith remembers that if victory is to be won, God must give it. (Judg 7:2, 22)

Prayer:

God Almighty, thank You for giving us evidence that You are with us. Transform our fears into faith and our doubts into confidence. You are always with us. You will never leave. Help us to remember that You are with us in every battle and You have a plan. Help us to listen and to follow You. Your Word and Your power are active and mighty in the world today. We look to You, our Champion who stands in the gap. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Discussion Point:

Would you have been courageous if God had sent more than 99% of your army home? How does Gideon’s story encourage you for when you face a tough assignment from God? Leave a comment, and let’s talk about courage!

[1] Larry Pierce, The Online Bible, CD-ROM (Winterbourne, Ontario: Larry Pierce, 2007), Genesis 15:1.

[2] Pierce, Genesis 17:5.

[3] Pierce, Genesis 25:26.

[4] Matthew Poole, Matthew Poole’s Commentary, quoted in Phil Lindner, Power Bible CD, CD-ROM (Bronson, Mich.: Online Publishing, Inc., 2007), Genesis 32:28.

[5] Pierce, Matthew 16:16, the Hebrew origin of “Simon.”

[6] Pierce, Matthew 16:18.

[7] All Scripture verses are taken from the NKJV.

[8] John Wesley, John Wesley’s Notes on the Old and New Testaments, quoted in Phil Lindner, Power Bible CD, CD-ROM (Bronson, Mich.: Online Publishing, Inc., 2007), Judges 7:13.

[9] Pierce, Judges 7:15.

*This post is adapted from Katy Kauffman, Faith, Courage, and Victory: The Stories, Struggles, and Triumphs of 24 Characters of the Bible (Buford, GA: Lighthouse Bible Studies, 2015), 51-56.