She Believes 3 Devotion – Page 3

She Believes 3 Devotion October 1, 2023

Nothing Except A Jar Of Olive Oil

²Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”
³Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. ⁴Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
⁵She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. ⁶When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”
But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
⁷She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
Just this week I was reading in 2nd Kings chapter 4, about Elisha and a poor widow. The widow had come to the end of her resources. She and her sons were left alone after her husband’s death. When creditors came knocking at her door to collect the money for the debt that her husband had made, I am sure that she was afraid that her sons would have to become slaves to work off the debt.

You see, her sons could be taken as slaves in order to work off her husband’s debt, if she could not pay back the money that he had borrowed. Typically, if slaves were taken for the purpose of working off a debt, they would have to work for six years and they would be released in the seventh year. I am sure the thought of this was very frightening to her, because if this happened, she would then be left totally alone.

In her moment of distress, she went to Elisha and explained to him her plight. He immediately asked her what do you have in your house? Her response to his question was nothing except olive oil. What I love about this story are the two words “nothing except”.

You see God can do miraculous things with our “nothing except”. He can do for us what He did for the widow. He can multiply our “nothing except”.

Elisha told her to go to her friends and neighbors and borrow as many empty jars as she could. When she returned, He told her to close the door, and pour the oil into the containers until all of them were full. Then he told her to take the jars of oil and sell them.

Look at God! What I love about God is that He does impossible math. He performs the supernatural on our behalf. He doesn’t just bless us with what we need, He supersedes our expectations and blesses us bountifully. He also blesses us so creatively that only He can get the glory for the blessing.

Because of the widow’s obedience, she was able to pay off her husband’s debt and she still had money for her and her sons to live on. Suppose she had doubted what Elisha was asking her to do, because it didn’t seem possible that this would generate enough income to pay off the debt, much less to live on afterwards. She clearly would have missed seeing the power of God at work on her behalf. In God’s hands “our nothing except” is more than enough.

Always remember that our job is simply to trust and obey His directions and He will do the miraculous, the supernatural, the impossible and the incredible on our behalf. Our disaster is always God’s opportunity, so if you are in a hard place right now be encouraged, you are about to see things that you didn’t think were possible.
Exodus 22:22-23
²²“Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. ²³If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.Deuteronomy 10:18
¹⁸He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.
Psalm 146:9
⁹The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
1 Timothy 5:5
⁵The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.
Psalm 68:5
⁵A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
James 1:27
²⁷Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

She Believes 3 Devotion September 27, 2023

My Birthday

My Birthday

⁶Yes, you have been with me from birth; from my mother’s womb you have cared for me.
    No wonder I am always praising you!
⁷My life is an example to many,  because you have been my strength and protection.
⁸That is why I can never stop praising you; I declare your glory all day long.
Isaiah 46:4
⁴I will be your God throughout your lifetime—  until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.  I will carry you along and save you.
Lamentations 3:22-23
²²The faithful love of the Lord never ends![a] His mercies never cease.
²³Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Wow! Another trip around the sun. Yes, this is my Birthday month, and boy has it been a fun one so far! Though the gifts are fun to receive, and I enjoy the celebrations, it really does go a bit deeper than that for me these days.

As I have gotten older, I have seen more and more relatives and friends start to pass away. This has made me realize that my real Birthday gift was that I live to see another year and that God has been there for me another 365 days without fail. He has protected me, provided for me, guided me, comforted me, encouraged me, and loved me faithfully day after day. Not once when I called on Him in those 365 days has He said to me, I am busy right now let me get back to you on that. He has been available every single time that I have reached out to Him.

Even on the days that I may have forgotten Him, He never forgot about me, and my friends are the real Birthday gift! When I think of my birthday in this way, I am absolutely humbled that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords would even consider little old me. I am blessed beyond measure and so are you. Every single year is a gift, and please don’t ever forget that.

Never ever take the Lord’s goodness to you for granted. I know that as some women get older they are reluctant to share their age with anyone. Not me, if anyone ask I am happy to share how long the good Lord has been blessing me, and I hope that you will do the same.

It is not about your age, it’s about His goodness! And He is good all of the time! I hope that your next birthday will be as wonderful as mine and that you stop and give God some praise for allowing you to live to see it because it truly is a blessing to do so. Some won’t live to see their next birthday. If you are blessed to see it, then get your shouting and praise shoes on and give Him the glory that’s due Him for your fabulous trip around the sun.

¹²Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.

She Believes 3 Devotion September 17, 2023

Summer Months On The Farm

If you were not raised on a farm, you may not be able to fully grasp what that life is really all about. As a child growing up on a farm, it never occurred to me that there were children who actually got to relax and do exactly what they wanted to do with their summer vacations.

While our friends in the city were going to the city swimming pool or visiting friends and watching TV all day, my siblings and I were working from sunup to sun down on the farm.

It seemed that there was always something that needed to be done on the farm. There was one thing that my siblings and I were always in total agreement about and that was how much we hated going to the cotton fields. Yes, we hated chopping cotton, and we hated picking cotton and I do mean hated it! But it didn’t matter how much we hated it, we still had to do it.

So, as I look back on those early years of my life, I realize that during those very long hot days, my character was being shaped, I was also developing a work ethic. I was learning the importance of teamwork and how to be a team player. I was learning how to persevere even when the circumstances were uncomfortable. I was learning how to work until the job was done and sometimes that meant pushing past tired. I also learned the value of resting when it was resting time. I learned to value all of God’s creation, whether it be animals or nature. And wow!!! I can’t even begin to tell you about all of the life skills that I was blessed to learn from living on the farm. So, so many wonderful lessons came from those long hot summers on the farm. Don’t get me wrong there was work to do year round, but Summer was definitely the hardest as far as I am concerned.

Looking back I can see that God used this experience to prepare me for my life’s work. Isn’t it amazing that the very things that we hate going through or doing, are the things that God uses to prepare us for His perfect plan for our lives.

The hours that we spent working together no doubt created a special bond between my siblings and I, that we have until this day. This has been another great perk from living on the farm. So when you think life is too hard just know that this is part of God’s perfect plan for your life, and it will be used for your ultimate good and His ultimate glory!

Years down the road you too will look back and see how He was right there in the middle of the plan preparing you for the next level that He plans to take you to. So trust His timing and His ways because His ways are certainly higher than our ways!

¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Proverbs 16:3
³Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
Colossians 3:23
²³Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,

She Believes 3 Devotion September 3, 2023

God Will Not Be Denied

Every Tuesday morning, I am in a Virtual Bible Study with over four hundred women who are excited to study God’s Word. Last Tuesday morning I was running later than usual getting ready for my class.

In keeping with my morning routine, I had taken some medication that I had to take one hour before eating. If I fail to eat within an hour of taking my medicine, I will start to feel lightheaded and nauseous. Not a good feeling at all!
I knew that it was getting close to time for me to get on the Zoom, so I decided to try to quickly prepare my breakfast, and just keep my camera off until I finished eating. I had my Zoom where I could hear when things got started.

Within a few minutes, the leader announced who would be opening the study with prayer. When this happened, I was just about to start my blender to make my favorite morning smoothie. Initially, I thought that I would bow my head and pray with the other ladies. Then I thought, since my camera and sound are off, I will hurry and make my smoothie, and by the time class actually starts I will be sitting at my dining room table eating.

Well, things didn’t quite go as I had planned. When I went to pour my smoothie out of the blender, I accidentally overfilled my glass, and the smoothie had to be cleaned off my counter. As if that wasn’t enough when I started to scramble my eggs, one of my eggs slipped out of my hands and raw egg was wasted on the counter and flowed down my kitchen cabinets to the floor. I was beyond frustrated at this point. Suddenly I realized what was going on.

I had denied God the time, honor, and respect that was due Him during the prayer time. Whether it was in person or virtually, I should have paused and bowed my head to pray with the other ladies in the Bible Study. My disrespect and disobedience cost me. It cost me even more time than I initially thought that I would be saving because now I had to stop and clean up a mess. It also cost my peace, because now I was tuning into the Bible Study frustrated and distracted.

This whole scene reminded me of the children of Israel, and how their disobedience turned an eleven-day trip into a forty-year journey.

What I learned from this experience, is that God will not be denied His time, His glory, or His respect. So let me encourage you to never compromise on what you know is due Him because it will cost you. Be blessed and be faithfully committed to honoring our God, no matter the situation that you find yourself in.

Deuteronomy 1:2-3
²(It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.)³In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.
Isaiah 42:8
⁸“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.
1 Samuel 2:30
³⁰“Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.
Psalm 29:2
²Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his^[a] holiness.

Faith August 27, 2023

God Is Always At Work

A few weeks ago, I had spent countless hours looking for a Birthday list that I use in my home-based business. After several days of looking and not finding it, I started to get a little frustrated. I had prayed and asked God to help me find it, but I still couldn’t seem to put my hands on it.

It was important to me because it was the beginning of a new month, and I always tried to send out my Happy Birthdays on the very first day of the month. One day while thumbing through lots of papers, still looking for the list, I decided to send up one more prayer. What happened after that prayer was absolutely amazing, and straight from the hand of God.

I heard a soft whisper saying “Send out a text to all of your customers letting them know that your birthday file had disappeared. Ask them if they would send you their birthday info”. The response was unbelievable! Within 24 hours the size of my list had tripled the size of the original list, and people are still texting their info to me.

What God showed me in that moment, is that so many times we get upset and frustrated because we can’t have what we want when we want it. We don’t realize that many times God is trying to bless us with more.
I had to stop and just thank God for blessing me beyond my expectations. As a result of things going God’s way and not my way 4 things happened.

I will get to be a blessing to more people through my Birthday Club. Not only will customers benefit, but my team members will also benefit from what I have learned.
God’s timing and provision proved to be what was best for me.
I became more keenly aware of God’s concern for even the small things in my life. No need is too small for God to step in and show that He cares about what’s important to me.
I learned that no experience is insignificant, because God is always at work.

Prayers August 23, 2023

What Will They Say ?

What Will They Say?

9 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. ²All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,^[a] the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.
As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.
³This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. ⁴Anyone who is among the living has hope[b]—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
2 Samuel 14:14
¹⁴Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.
Hebrews 9:27
²⁷Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
Ecclesiastes 3:2
²    a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
Ecclesiastes 5:15
¹⁵Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,  and as everyone comes, so they depart.
They take nothing from their toil  that they can carry in their hands.

This morning my husband and I watched a Celebration of Life Service on Facebook, for a woman who had indeed lived a very full life. The large attendance at her service was quite extraordinary. But what I was most impressed with were the many comments that were made about her. Over and over comments were made about how strong her faith was, even through her illness and other adversities that she had faced.

Words that were used to describe her were, kind, servant, helpful, joyful, positive and faithful. So many comments were also made about her beautiful voice and how she loved to sing for the Lord. They also mentioned how everyone knew without a doubt that she truly loved God. One lady said that she did not know how to say no to anyone because she always wanted to help others..

So my question to you today is, what will they say when God calls you home? Will the things that are said about you at your Celebration of Life, be comments that genuinely inspire those attending to live better, and more fruitful lives?

The mark that we leave on this earth will affect generations to come. We are all sent to this planet to be a blessing to others. We are the hands and feet of Jesus here on earth. May I encourage you to live your life in a way that when you leave this earth you will be truly missed. And, prayerfully your legacy will live on forever through those you leave behind,

The Dash Poem (By Linda Ellis)

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on the tombstone
From the beginning…to the endHe noted that first came the date of birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those yearsFor that dash represents all the time
That they spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved them
Know what that little line is worthFor it matters not, how much we own,
The cars…the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.So, think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
That can still be rearranged.If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.And be less quick to anger
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect
And more often wear a smile,
Remembering this special dash
Might only last a little while

So, when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash…
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent YOUR dash?

She Believes 3 Devotion August 21, 2023

Let’s Pray For A Great School Year

⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
1 Corinthians 10:31
³¹So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
1 Timothy 2:1
2 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—

As we are about to embark upon a new school year, I want to encourage you to pray for all who are involved in making a school run smoothly. Pray for the students to be blessed with the teachers that are best for them, this year.

Please pray for everyone from the teachers to the administrative staff members, to the cafeteria workers, librarians, PE teachers, coaches, band directors, counselors, school nurses, security officers, janitors, aides, bus drivers, and most importantly the students.

Please also pray for the parents of those students, pray that they will be supportive, patient and loving towards their children. Please also pray for each student’s homelife. So many students live in poor conditions. Pray that they will be able to mentally rise above their circumstances for a few hours each day, to focus on learning while they are in an environment that is conducive to learning.

Pray that the teachers will be able to pour into each student, in a way that they grasp all that they have prepared for them. Pray for protection over each teacher’s homelife. Pray that they are able to do their jobs without being distracted by personal issues this year.

Pray for the principal as he leads his staff. Pray that he will have wisdom for every decision that he has to make this school year.

Pray for protection for the students from bullying, abusive behaviors or violence of any kind. Pray for protection for each teacher and staff member as well.

Pray that each student will know that they matter and that they are important.

Most importantly, pray that those who are Christians, whether teachers or students, will allow their lights to brightly shine, through their actions and attitudes, this

school year.

Pray that God’s angels will surround each campus all over our country this year, and that they will block any destructive thing that the enemy will try.

Blessings over you and your family this school year, may it be the best school year ever !

Scriptures For Parents

Scriptures For Teachers
Luke 6:40
⁴⁰The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.
Proverbs 9:9
⁹Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.
Scriptures For Students
Jeremiah 29:11
¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Isaiah 30:21
²¹Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
1 Timothy 4:12
¹²Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
Joshua 1:9
⁹Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Proverbs 1:8-9
⁸Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.⁹They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.
Ephesians 6:1-3
6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ²“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— ³“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”[a]
Philippians 1:6
⁶being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Faith August 7, 2023

What Is Your Disobedience Costing You?

Since the beginning of time, it has been man’s will against God’s will. With the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, humans have since entered the world with a sinful desire to be in control of their own lives.

This sinful nature can be very costly. Not only does it affect the lives of the sinner, but also the lives of those that are nearest and dearest to them as well.

A couple of days ago I was reading a passage of scripture from 1st Samuel, chapter 13. King Saul had become fearful of losing all his troops. He became impatient and would not wait any longer for Samuel (who was a prophet) to arrive as promised. He did as most of us do when we become impatient, we decide to take matters into our own hands. This is almost always a mistake, especially if God has said wait.

Saul’s disobedience cost him his kingdom, a kingdom that Samuel told him that God would have established forever, had he been obedient. As a result, God sought a man after his own heart, and that man was David.
King Saul not only lost his kingdom, but he also lost his peace. He became a jealous crazed man, who desired to kill an innocent person, and he even tried to kill his son at one point. Needless to say, he lost the respect of his son also.

Can you imagine losing an entire kingdom for generations to come, because you were disobedient?

So, I ask you to stop and think today, what might your disobedience be costing you? You see God has blessings upon blessings in store for us, but we will never know what they are, if we live in disobedience.
May I encourage you today to live a life that honors God, with a heart that seeks after Him faithfully and obediently and watch the blessings flow!

She Believes 3 Devotion July 30, 2023

Prayer Removes The Need To Worry

^{Philippians 4:6}⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Romans 8:26
²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
Psalm 34:17
¹⁷The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
¹⁶Rejoice always, ¹⁷pray continually, ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Earlier this week I received a phone call that was a little scary, to say the least. My pharmacy called to tell me, that when they called to verify my insurance, they were told that it had been canceled.
The frustrating thing about all of this is that my insurance company had closed for the day, so I was not able to get answers until the next day.

My husband was listening to the conversation, and he was a bit thrown off by this news also. I must admit I started to feel a bit anxious inside and stressed. You see I have been dealing with some serious health issues. So, taking the medication that the pharmacy was calling about was critical. My insurance was also important, due to how expensive the medication is.

As I left the room thinking I would not be able to get answers from my insurance company until the next day, the Holy Spirit whispered to me, ” Don’t be afraid”.

It was just the reminder that I needed, that no matter what, God was going to work it out and it was going to be ok.

I did the only thing that I knew to do, and that was to pray,

The next morning, bright and early, I made a phone call to my insurance company. The person that I spoke with told me that our insurance was through a different company now, and she gave me the phone number to contact them. When I called them, they confirmed that I was still covered and that my prescription would be taken care of.

I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I was to get this news! I must say that I learned some valuable lessons that day.

When you get bad or disappointing news, pray immediately. Don’t allow Satan a single second to get inside your head and create doubts.
Investigate and confirm whether or not the news is true or not.
Don’t immediately think the worse.
Trust God to work things out for your good.
Be patient and give God time to work. It may take longer than you initially anticipate.
When you pray, ask God for His favor to be over you.

So, no matter how difficult the situation or circumstance that you find yourself in, remember God has got you. Pray without ceasing, because prayer will remove your need for worry.

Faith July 19, 2023

With God,You Are Enough

With God, You Are Enough

Have you ever felt inadequate, or like you were just not good enough to accomplish the assignment that God had put before you? Let me assure you that you are correct, in and of ourselves we are not enough! However, there is hope for us all. When we have accepted God as the authority in our lives, and we surrender our will to His, miraculous things can happen.

There are a few examples of this in the Bible, but today I would like to share Gideon’s experience.

The Midianites had ruled over Israel for seven years and were very cruel to them. God sent an angel to visit Gideon to let him know that he was to go and rescue Israel.

Gideon instantly had doubts as to whether or not he could accomplish this assignment. He asked God for a sign three different times to be sure this was what God wanted Him to do. Because God knew that Gideon had doubts and that he was afraid, God in His merciful grace indulged Him each time, so that he would be clear that the request was from Him.

I am sure that we all have thought at one time or another, “Why me” when God has directed us to do something that was clearly out of our comfort zone.

What we must remember though is that God never set His children up for failure. When He asks us to do something, a plan for success is already in place, and it will be accomplished in a way that He will receive all of the glory. Our job is just to be obedient and move forward.

God’s plan for Gideon, was that He was going to achieve a great victory with a small army. When you do the math, it does not make sense that such a small army of men could be victorious over all of the Midianites. But God does supernatural math. Gideon started out with an army of 32,000 men and God had him to streamline it down to 10,000 and then on down to 300 men. These 300 men fought a battle against 135,000 Midianites, and with God as their general, they literally wiped them out!
Can you say, “But God”?

When I tell you that you plus God is more than enough to conquer any mountain, believe me, because it is true! I don’t know what your mountain is today, but if God called you to climb it, you are enough for the journey, because He will go before you, he will give you the wisdom, the strength, and yes even the courage to get it done. So go be great! You have His permission.
Because with God you are enough!

Judges 7:1-7
7 Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. ²The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ ³Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

⁴But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

⁵So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” ⁶Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

⁷The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”

Judges 8:4-12
⁴Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it. ⁵He said to the men of Sukkoth, “Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

⁶But the officials of Sukkoth said, “Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?”⁷Then Gideon replied, “Just for that when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.”

⁸From there he went up to Peniel^[a] and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had. ⁹So he said to the men of Peniel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. ¹¹Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the unsuspecting army. ¹²Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.
2 Corinthians 3:5
⁵Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.