Shalom and welcome to another episode of Living Supernaturally, we trust that you are growing in the word of God. Today and in the week going forward, we are looking at the judges and looking at lessons that we can learn from some of the lives of the judges. So, through this week, we will be looking at some of the main judges that God had raised to deliver Israel and today, in our focus, we are going to be looking at the first judge whose name was Othniel. The judges, as we read were very fascinating people who were leaders of the Israelites, at a time that they had had no kings. We see that the judges sometimes were often prophets, who were instructed by God, was inspired by the Spirit of God, they could be also civic leaders who were given authority to judge Israel as God's mouthpiece. Some of them served as military commanders and led Israel in battle. There were 12 judges in all but today our devotional is focused on the first judge of Israel, Othniel who was also Caleb's nephew. We see that he overpowered the enemy with the power of God and the land rested for 40 years until his death. Othniel was a judge and a leader who was preceded by Joshua and his name means the strength of God. When the Israelites cried out to God for deliverance from their oppressors, Othniel answered the call. He was attentive to the call of God and through him, God liberated the Israelites from the hand of the Mesopotamians. We read that the Spirit of God was upon Othniel which means he was empowered and guided by the Holy Spirit to fulfill the task that God had appointed him to do, which was to rescue the Israelites from the hand of their enemies. We see that the Spirit of the Lord coming upon Othniel just signified an enablement for a specific purpose and a mission. Now this empowerment was not something Othniel could do on his own, he did not achieve it on his own merits but it was given to him by God in response to his faithfulness and willingness to obey God's call. We see Othniel paid attention and was willing to obey God's call. Othniel's faithfulness in obedience to God's call reminds each of us of the importance of paying attention to what God calls each of us to do and not just to be pay attention but to also respond with courage and with obedience because when we obey God's call, we can be sure that the empowering comes from God, by the Spirit of God. Whatever the task is, God will empower those He calls. If He calls you for a mission, He is sure to empower you as well. All we need to do is to be vigilant to pay attention to His call like Othniel did. Like Othniel, you and I are called to trust in God's strength and provision as we step out in faith to fulfill the purpose He has for our lives. Let's pray together, Heavenly Father, we come to you Lord with what we have learned from the life of Othniel, the way he paid attention to your call, the way he was willing to do what you called him to do. We pray that you will give us the courage, you will empower us to do things when you have called us to. Thank you that you continue to be faithful to our lives, may we step out bold into the purposes of God, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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Daily devotions to strengthen your faith each day. Daily Devotional for Spirit filled living. Each daily devotion is about five minutes in duration. These daily devotionals are centered around a weekly theme. So there are seven daily devotions that focus on the theme and bring you insight, understanding and revelation from the Bible. Each week’s theme is listed as a series. So you can listen to the current week’s devotions or go to any previous theme/series that speaks to your present need (https://apcwo.org/resources/daily-devotions ). Also available free sermons (https://apcwo.org/sermons), and free Christian books (https://apcwo.org/books) to nourish and strengthen your faith.