Recently, I traveled to a nearby town to take a breather from work and life. It was a lovely respite, but I was unable to sleep, until I realized the battle of the world had reached our little get-away town.

I was feeling alarm in my spirit. The Holy Spirit was my alarm system. There was a spiritual battle in this little town, and I was to intercede.

I found a place to sit with my Bible and Pray, and the Spiritual Realm became quiet. We have learned that everything happens in the spirit realm first and then manifests in the natural.

True to form, that’s exactly what happened. At dinner that night, I witnessed a woman or maybe it was a man made up as a cat in the dining room of the lodge.

It wasn’t just her make-up as she had transformed her long mane of hair into a grayish Himalayan cat do-up with collagen injected into her cheeks.

Her black eye make-up took the shape of cat eyes and she had used a grayish face make up along with silver paint on her collagen injected lips. The result was a cat and there was no mistaking it!

This cat woman walked by our dining table over five times to get our attention, but we were meeting longtime friends so we were distracted by our conversation.

This deceived cat individual was looking for attention and we did not provide it, and she eventually skirted away from us!

We did not plunge forth or try to evangelize her, nor did we make eye contact. We were being vigilant to The LORD by not giving her any attention or coming to agreement with her cat-ness.

Deception at this level is dangerous, because these individuals are looking for validation or a fight!

So, what can we do for such darkness?

The best way to discern truth from error is to be reading the truth in the Word of God.

We must Pray or Intercede on her behalf to bind the darkness she has openly agreed too.

I Decreed heaven on earth, so God’s Will can be done in her heart and mind by The Blood of Jesus.

We don’t know what God’s Purpose or Plans are for her or anyone else deceived by the agenda of darkness, but like John Henry Newman said:

“Everyone who breathes… has a mission. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random; we are not here that we may go to bed at night, and get up in the morning, toil for our bread, eat and drink laugh and joke, sin when we have a mind, and reform when we are tired of sinning, rear a family and die. God sees every one of us; He creates every soul…for a purpose.”

Being sensitive to The Spirit’s Alarm while witnessing darkness all around this little town that has served as an oasis for my family was really spooky.

I began to seek The Holy Spirit for Wisdom, and He guided me to the story of Gideon in the Book of Judges.

It’s a story of conviction, faith, and courage. Do you know it?

I thought I did, until I dug a bit deeper. I am always amazed at the distance The Holy Spirit takes me.

We serve an amazing GOD! So, I am excited to share what I have discovered and hopefully it will encourage you!

Over the last few messages, we have been talking about gardening and all the hard work it takes to produce an abundant harvest. In Idaho our growing season is short, so we have to be on it, the minute after Mother’s Day.

Here’s the scenario — every year just as you are about to gather your harvest, your neighbor drops by who you don’t really like and takes everything you’ve grown by force. This goes on for years, until there’s nothing you can do about it.

If you can imagine this scenario, I am lucky, my neighbors are nice, but maybe yours are not, then you have some idea how it must have felt for the Israelites when they were being raided.

The Midianites, together with other tribes from the East, would invade the land each and every harvest season like a swarm of locusts, by camping out to destroy crops as far away as Gaza to devastate the entire place. I imagine this would be so frustrating for Gideon and his family.

They would leave the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking away everything even their livestock. These enemies would arrive on multitudes of camels and stay until the land was completely desolate.

The Israelites were greatly deprived and were calling out to God. They had no evidence of real repentance, but their affliction moved God’s loving Heart.

Just about the eighth year of invasion, God called a farmer Gideon to deliver the Israelites from their captivity.

You see, Israel had sinned against God for the umpteenth time, so God punished Israel by allowing Midianites to invade the land and keep it under captivity for seven years.

God in his mercy doesn’t give us what we deserve, he gives us His Grace and gives us what we don’t deserve. God responded to the peoples’ cry by calling upon Gideon.

Now here is a forewarning, Gideon started his career with God as a coward. But be encouraged for those of you who have a hard time accepting themselves or believing God can make you into anything or do anything with you!

When we consider why God chose Gideon, we often see God chasing the week things of the world to accomplish great things for His Glory ( 1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

We find that Gideon’s family worshiped Baal in Judges 6:25-32 and we have no reason to believe Gideon joined them except that he says “least in my father’s house” in verse 15, he may have been suggesting that his family treated him like an outcast because he didn’t worship Baal.

The Angel of The LORD came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a Wine Press to keep it from the Midianites.

When The Angel of The LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, Mighty Warrior.”

Gideon was called by God to a specific task, which was to deliver Israel out of the hands of the oppressing Midianites. Like Moses before him, and many of us since, Gideon cowered at his task.

Gideon wasn’t a man of great faith or courage, and we see this by his lack of faith in his response.

“Pardon me, My Lord,” Gideon replied, “but if The LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all His wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not The LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now The LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian [strife].” Judges 6:13

Before The LORD could use Gideon in His Service, He had to deal with his doubts that plagued him as they were obstacles to his faith.

This is the same power that is at work within us when we set out on the path of service for our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” 1 John 4:4

If we pay attention, we are already clothed in God’s assignment, being his vessels wrapped up as His People. In this instance, His Vessel is Gideon, and his assignment is to free the Israelites.

God now must raise up Gideon as a judge to deliver the Israelites. Let’s not forget, God had to give his complaining servant a pep talks first by saying: “Stop complaining and come out of the Wine Press.”

The LORD turned to him and said,

“Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s [strife] hand. Am I not sending you?” Judges 6:14

God’s response should have been all the assurance Gideon needed, but he could not believe God’s Word.

In this he was like Moses (Exodus 3:7-12), whose story Gideon knew since he was acquainted with Hebrew history (Judges 6:13).

Once God has called and commissioned us, all we must do is obey Him in faith. God will do the rest. God cannot lie and He never fails.

Faith means obeying God in spike of what we see, how we feel and what the consequences might be. Once God reveals His Will to us, we must never question His Wisdom or argue with His Plans.

When I reviewed God’s gracious promise for Gideon I wondered why he wavered in his faith. God promised to be with him.

God called him a mighty man of valor and promised that he would save Israel from the Midianites and smite them as one man.

Our modern practical world laughs at Faith without realizing that people live by Faith all day long.

Josh Billings a humorist nearly a century ago wrote,

“If there was no faith, there would be no living in this world.”

Please do not miss the significance that Gideon was threshing wheat in a Wine Press and not a real stone threshing floor.

If you are like me, you may have missed the important fact, he was hiding. He was afraid of the enemy, but needed to provide for his family.

Gideon was hard headed and refused defeat by not allowing the circumstances he found himself to limit him.

The time Gideon was threshing his wheat was not the best of time, and the place he was threshing wasn’t the right place, but he discovered he had to do something, or his family would starve.

Though the circumstances were not perfect, he knew he must use what he had to achieve something. He mustn’t resign to fate or fold his arms or his family would die of hunger!

He, therefore, turned the Wine Press into a threshing floor, since he couldn’t go to the normal threshing floor, which would have exposed him to the attack of the enemy.

When we let our emotions control our mind, we are giving power to the things that contradict God.

Eventually these emotions allow ever so slowly destroy our self-esteem. We begin to doubt God, doubt our abilities, doubt our calling, destroying our relationships to become so afraid to even do anything meaningful with our life.

“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from The LORD. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” James 1:6-8

Oh and let’s not miss the fact that there are no grapes in the land because the vineyards were ransacked by the Midianite’s, leaving the Wine Press empty for Gideon to flail his wheat.

A Wine Press is also symbolically used in the Bible to express the wrath and judgment of The LORD against sin as we see in Isaiah 63:3-6, Lamentation 1:15 and Joel 3:12-13.

The Bible records that the land of Israel was so ransacked that Israel was greatly deprived. Imagine every crop season is stolen and ransacked for seven years I a row. Think about how angry this would make you?

The enemies didn’t even bother to go to the Wine Press to check if there was anyone making wine because they were sure no one would be there given the absence of grapes in the land.

After the wheat stalks had been threshed, the grain was separated from the chaff with the aid of winds. As the threshed wheat was winnowed, i.e., thrown up against the wind, the chaff was blown away. The farmer would burn the unwanted things ­— the straw and chaff.

Again, the symbolism here is when we commune with The Father our chaff is blown away with the wind [unbelief and/or sin] by The Word of God — leaving us to stand in bold faith and in truth!

“The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.” Psalm 1:4

The captivity of the Israelites under Midian made Gideon lose his sense of self-worth. He couldn’t believe that he’d be able to save Israel despite an angel appearing to Him.

Gideon was in such doubt of himself that he asked God for proof… twice. And even when God answered him in the affirmative, his doubt still required him to visit the camp of the enemies at night and eavesdrop on their discussions to believe that he was able to be used by God for the job.

When Gideon came to the enemy camp, he heard a man telling his friend about a dream. He was saying,

“I dreamed that a loaf of barley bread rolled into the camp of Midian. It hit the tent so hard that the tent turned over and fell flat!” Judges 7:13-33

I felt The Holy Spirit press on this — some of you reading this are doing the wrong thing in the wrong place! We are not meant to be threshing wheat in the first place, not even in a Wine Press.

We were meant to be making wine from grapes, right?!

Just like we are told,

“Wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.” Psalm 104:15

As long as you are walking around your God purpose and not in it, you pose little or no threat to the enemy.

The enemy may not even look in your direction while you are there at your Wine Press, but you will still be afraid that he will find you to destroy you.

Your fear may have made you stagnant and unable to move. If there are no more grapes in the vineyards, we’re boxed into harvesting wheat in hiding and running to the Wine Press to thresh them for fear of our enemies.

Threshing floors were visible, not hiding places — like this one shown here.

A busy threshing floor was a symbol of a plentiful harvest; a bare one indicated famine, and perhaps God’s judgment.

Joel 2:24 speaks of that abundance as a sign of God’s blessing if the people repent:

“The threshing floors will be filled with grain. The vats will overflow with new wine and olive oil.”

Wheat was normally threshed in designated hard, smooth open spaces prepared on either rock or clay and carefully chosen for maximum exposure to the prevailing winds.

The wind, which usually came out for a few hours a day would blow the straw away, as the grain was tossed into the wind together with the straw, leaving the actual grain to fall on the floor.

Wine presses were the opposite. They were square or circular pits that were either hewn out of rocks or even dug out of the ground. Gideon threshed out his wheat underground in a Wine Press, not in an exposed threshing floor.

Why underground? So that he could hide from the prying eyes of his enemies — the Midianites, who were ready to confiscate whatever little grain he was threshing.

Gideon was afraid, he was doing things he’s not supposed to do out of fear. God never wanted it to be this way. Gideon is not supposed to be afraid of the Midianites; he and his people are supposed to drive them out.

But his fear has taken hold of him. Maybe you can relate?

When we look at Gideon’s Wine Press: His mindset was gloomy and depressed.

He was complaining of divine rejection. He had lost hope of any redemption for his people out of his situation. He had lost faith and felt rejected by God who had once redeemed his ancestors from Egypt.

However, God’s plan for his life was to take him out of his Wine Press and into the battlefield for God’s Glory and exploits!

When others look at Gideon they saw a fearful man, trembling in the Wine Press. But God looks at Gideon and he saw a mighty warrior, fearless because of his trust in God.

“The LORD is with you, mighty warrior,” Judges 6:12

You might find yourself in a Wine Press today, thinking all is lost, that you missed your opportunity or maybe you’ve been hiding out. If this is true, you might feel the nudge of The Holy Spirit speaking to you today.

The Spiritual Wine Press comes with a sense of failure, inadequacy, and hopelessness.

It comes with a feeling of divine rejection.

Listen — so the Wine Press is not your assigned final destination!

God wants you out of the Wine Press to plunge forth to take you onto His Battlefield where he can properly fit you with His Armor, to do some exploits for Him! Exploits for GOD! How awesome, right?

Ask The Holy Spirit to come!

God sees you as a mighty warrior ready to plunge forth into the deep water to let down your nets for a great exploit! (Luke 5:4)

If we remain where we are, threshing wheat in the Wine Press, we won’t be able to access the devices needed to enter our divine assignment!

Our enemy has shortchanged the destinies of several people and they have grown comfortable doing something that they are not called to do.

And our enemy loves this because he is defeating God’s purpose for your life.

We are told in Genesis 1:31, that God saw everything that He has made and they were good. God created all things for His Pleasure.

As earlier stated, a threshing floor is a place that is suitable for threshing and winnowing the grains. The Wine Press isn’t equipped for this function.

The Wine Press is equipped with the necessary tools for making the choicest wine from grapes, just as the threshing floor is equipped with the tools for threshing grain or cereal.

Taking the wheat to the Wine Press deprives you of the tools needed for your divine assignment, making you unable to accomplish what you are actually meant to do here on earth.

If you are out of your purpose [divine destiny] doing something that you shouldn’t be doing, you will always lack and be oppressed.

Are you lacking the tools to work in your garden?

I heard Lance Wallnau speak about entering our divine assignment while preparing this post.

To be honest, I am not a Lance fan and stopped listening to him several years ago, but the pandemic has sifted all of us — including Lance.

I felt a nudge from The Holy Spirit, so I obeyed and found Lance’s Sermon to be profound and worth sharing.

He said:

“If you miss your assigned purpose your keep the enemy happy, but once you walk in your Divine Assignment — you are indestructible!

I felt a Holy Spirit witness to this statement and the timing is perfect to be included in my post. Thank you Holy Spirit!

Lance also gave three (3) signs that you are working in your divine assignment:

1. You have a specific geographic or people group.

2. Your specific target group follows you and asks for help.

3. Your group appreciates and respects your anointing.

Once in your assignment, you will drive out demons, speak in tongues, pick up snakes, drink poison and lay hands on the sick!

These are some of the signs that will accompany believers:

“They will throw out demons in my name, they will speak in new tongues, they will take snakes in their hands, they will drink poison and not be hurt, they will lay hands on the sick and make them well.” Mark 16:17-18

In Conclusion

Until you get angry with what has been it will continue to run and ruin your life.

Until you rebel, you’ll remain under the Midianites and be threshing wheat in the wrong place like the Wine Press which is for grapes to make wine.

But the devil has made you a captive and you’ve become comfortable doing things in the wrong place, wrong hour and getting minimal or no results.

Your full potential is limited because you don’t have access to the instruments you need for proper harvest.

The devils have stolen enough. It’s time to rebel and regain freedom!

Gideon wasn’t comfortable any longer and desired to have a repeat of the freedom that took place in Egypt. God used him to defeat the Midianites in such a way that the destruction is referred to as “The Day of Midian” (Isaiah 9:4; 10:26; Psalm 83:9)

Gideon went from a coward — to a conqueror!

Let’s Pray:

Father, I thank you that the Wine Press is not my destination.

By Your Grace, I will come out and begin to work in my divine destiny.

I pray you will send your Holy Spirit to teach and counsel my steps towards your battlefield, so that I may be empowered to do exploits like Gideon for your glory.

I pray in The Name of Jesus, Amen.

Let’s be encouraged, The LORD saw something in Gideon that made Him choose him to deliver the Israelites.

He saw a man who didn’t give up; He saw a man who was suffering under the burden of His punishment like the other Israelites, but still had not forgotten His miracle power.

He must have been hoping for the restoration of the season of The LORD’s miracles among His People, hence he continued to thresh his wheat temporarily in a Wine Press.

The LORD doesn’t wait for a perfect condition by human standards to do what He wants to do. He appears in the most unexpected places at the most unexpected times, using the most unexpected people to do the most unexpected things!

Stop making excuses; stop procrastinating by letting The Holy Spirit come and lead you!

Do what you can do, as you’re led by His Spirit and God will meet you on the way.

The angel of The LORD appeared to Gideon in the Wine Press!

The LORD will meet you in your Wine Press — in the most unexpected place, at the most unexpected hour.

Hallelujah!

 

Shalom
~ Angela Reese

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Angela is the owner of “Fruits of His Vine” website, to encourage and equip those still in wandering, or in captivity, to find our Savior in His Holy Tabernacle.

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