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Day 67, or March the 8th. Don't miss out like poor old Barak.

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Our thoughts today are from Judges chapter 4 verses 6 and 7. She, that is Deborah, sent

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for Barak, and said to him, The LORD the God of Israel commands you, go take with you ten

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thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulon, and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera,

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the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops, to the Kishon River,

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and give him into your hands.

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Now the big picture surrounding these verses. The book of Judges covers approximately 400

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years of Israeli history, and is dominated by a group of leaders called Judges. They

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ruled the land until kings were appointed. The first judge we hear about following Joshua

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was Othniel, whose uncle was Caleb, one of the two spies who went to Jericho. He defeated

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the Assyrians and was succeeded by Ehud, who defeated the Moabites. The next judge was

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Deborah, the only female judge that we know about. She was called to defeat the Canaanites

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after the leader of the army, Barak, went to her for help. Events kept repeating themselves.

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The people sinned and were conquered by a neighbouring power, but each time God sent

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a judge who conquered the oppressors and brought peace. However, when the judge died, the people

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soon slid back into their old sinful ways, and God sent another judge to free them. And

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so the cycle was repeated.

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And now our action step for today. If you look at a list of judges you will find Deborah,

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but not Barak. Sadly, Barak was called, but preferred to see Deborah respond. God gives

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us free will so we are able to respond positively or negatively. We are not puppets, so we can

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miss out on what God has for us. Many people in our churches are unfulfilled because they

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have rejected the call of God. If they have responded to the call for salvation, then

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they are saved, but they often go on to be frustrated and unfulfilled and wonder why.

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Check with God today about His call on your life. Do it now. Why risk losing out for another

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day?