The Spirit of the Lord came upon him.  – Judges 3:10

So I got up this morning without a Wednesday Morning Devotional ready to go.  I thought about posting an old one, but didn’t really feel like God was in that.  I asked Him to help me crank one out . . . nothing.

In this verse, Othniel, the younger brother of Caleb became Israel’s Judge.  Israel had forsaken God to serve other gods, and the nation was in turmoil.  When they finally cried out to the Lord for deliverance, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel.  Through him, the nation was saved.

This morning, when I couldn’t write a WMD, I just decided to go to Total Fitness to work out.  I got on the treadmill, hit “Worship Playlist” or something like that, and started running my mile before I started lifting. This is the first thing I heard:

By Your Spirit I will rise

From the ashes of defeat

The resurrected King is resurrecting me

In Your Name I come alive

To declare Your victory

The resurrected King is resurrecting me

I had heard this song before, but for some reason, right there on the treadmill, the Spirit of the Lord came upon me.  Fortunately, the crowd was small and they were focused on doing their own thing, because I was streaming tears and weeping like crazy.  Normally this happens when I am alone, but this is the second time in a row it has happened in public.  I asked God, “Not that I’m complaining, because this is awesome! But, why do this right here?”

I felt like He said, “Look around, Adam.”  So, I started looking around.  I saw very fit people staying in their own little world doing their own thing.  I saw obvious beginners struggling like crazy. Then, I saw a very fit person helping an unfit person.  God said, “Here is a picture of the church in America.”  I think I know what He was saying.  We have churches full of spiritually “fit” people continuing to keep to themselves.  There are very few laborers in the field helping with the great harvest of souls. It is time for the spiritually fit to rise up and help disciple the ones who aren’t prepared for the battle that is to come.  This is how we will win the next generation.  Remember, it was Caleb’s younger brother that ended up receiving God’s Spirit and fighting victoriously.  It very well could be our younger brothers and sisters in Christ that lead our country back to victory in Jesus.  What are you doing to prepare them?

Lord, may every person reading this find a spiritually unfit person and begin talking about the things of God.  May you use us to equip others and may your Spirit fall upon us that we might deliver our fellow Americans from this sin-cursed world.  We love you, Lord.  By your Spirit we will rise to declare the victory.