Gideon Prepares His Men
Judges 7:16-18
Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, Gideon placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.
“Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”
Gideon's Army Takes a Stand
Judges 7:19-21
Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites
ran, crying out as they fled.
Matthew 5:15-16
Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
John 3:27
We can receive nothing unless it has been given to us from
heaven.
From the teachings of the New Church through Emanuel Swedenborg
Partnership with the Lord
True Christianity 371
The reciprocal partnership between the Lord and us...is a mutual partnership that is brought about by cooperation rather than action and reaction. The Lord acts. We receive the Lord’s action. We then function as if we were on our own. In fact, we function on our own from the Lord. The things we do that are inspired by the Lord are credited to us as our own, since the Lord continually keeps us in free choice.
The Lord Works Through Us
Secrets of Heaven §1102
Sometimes we might sense or perceive inside ourselves that we are thinking rightly about the Lord, and that we are thinking rightly about our neighbors and wanting to render them assistance without looking for any financial reward or prestige for ourselves.
Sometimes we might also feel sympathy for those who are suffering calamity and even greater sympathy for those who are misled about religious doctrine. At these times we can be sure… that we have inside us a deeper dimension through which the Lord can work.
