Page 8 - Living Epistles

dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that
Thou wilt deliver Israel through me, as Thou hast spoken." And it was so.
When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the
dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God, "Do not let
Thine anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make
a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let
there be dew on all the ground." And God did so that night; for it was dry only
on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.

Judges 7:9-15
Now the same night it came about that Yahweh said to him, "Arise, go down
against the camp, for I have given it into your hands. But if you are afraid to
go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp, and you will hear
what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go
down against the camp." So he went with Purah his servant down to the
outposts of the army that was in the camp. Now the Midianites and the
Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as
locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on
the seashore. When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his
friend. And he said, "Behold, I had a dream; a loaf of barley bread was
tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that
it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat." And his friend
answered and said, "This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of
Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand."
And it came about when Gideon heard the account of the dream and its
interpretation, that he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel
and said, "Arise, for Yahweh has given the camp of Midian into your hands."

God was asking Gideon to go and do battle with enemies that had enslaved the
people of God. The children of Israel had previously had no strength or ability
to resist these enemies. Because Gideon had no history of seeing anyone else
withstand this enemy, the Lord was more than willing to confirm His words
to him, and to give Gideon even further encouragement before the battle.

In a similar way today, because the church in the western world has so little
experience in achieving any victory against the enemy in the area of healing,
God is willing to give His saints strong confirmation of His will for them when
He asks them to step out in faith. If God finds a child of His that He can use
in this way He is quite willing to make His will plainly known to them.