Have we asked a fleece prayer to only get mixed or confusing results? Is there more to a fleece prayer than we thought? How can we get an accurate answer to our fleece prayer? To find the answers to all these questions and more, check out this Journal Entry!
Making decisions can be difficult at times. There are so many ways our choices have long term effects that we may want to avoid stepping out of our comfort zone to obey Yahweh’s directing for us until we are really really sure that we are doing something right. However, that’s not how the Kingdom of Yahweh works. Yahweh expects us to respond quickly to His call and directing for reasons only He can see from where He is at with His understanding. He knows what path is before us, and He knows what will help us and others, or not.
When we read through the Bible we come across a story about a man named Gideon (Judges 6:11-40; 7:1-22). He was afraid of what Yahweh had called him to do, and thus prayed a prayer that seemed different from most. First we notice that Gidion tests the Angel of the Lord – Jesus, before He comes to Earth as a man, to be sure this Messenger with this message for him is from Yahweh. Then later we see him pray a fleece prayer; and lastly we see Yahweh give confirmation without Gidion asking for more confirmation.
With any message we get from someone, a spirit, an angel, or even a voice inside us, the Bible says we are to test it before receiving or acting upon it (1 John 4:1). Gideon tested the Messenger by giving an offering to Him like Abraham did when the Angel of Yahweh came to him at that time. The Messenger burned the offering like He did with Abraham and then disappeared. Gidion then knew the Angel of Yahweh was the Messenger, and the message was truly from Yahweh. Gideon praised Yahweh and built an alter for Yahweh in that place (Judges 6:12-24). We may not be able to test the spirit or the message with burnt offerings, but we do have Holy Spirit within us to discern who the spirit and message are from. We can start to do this by recognizing what fruit is produced with the spirit or message. We know the fruits of the Spirit are “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). We know the character of Yahweh is of hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). We know that fear or terror, confusion, rebellion, unrighteous anger, gossip, depression, hopelessness, and so on are not of Yahweh, but rather of the enemy (James 3:16; 1 Corinthians 14:33; 1 Samuel 15:23; 1 John 4:18; Ephesians 4:26-27). We know that Yahweh speaks truth, not lies of any kind (John 8:44).
Let’s look at what Jesus tells Gideon. Jesus says to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (Judges 6:12). Then a few moments later He says, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” (Judges 6:14). Then a little later He says, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.” (Judges 6:16). So what Jesus is saying to Gideon is that Yahweh is with him, and it is in Yahweh he gets his fearless courage. In Yahweh with this fearless courage Gideon will lead the people of Israel to release Israel from the stronghold of the Midianites. Yahweh has sent him. Yahweh is with him, and as the leader he will take down the stronghold of the Midianites as though they were one man, even though the Midianites were many like the sand on the shore. What we see over and over is that Yahweh is with Gideon, Gideon can only do the impossible task with Yahweh, and Yahweh has sent him. There is nothing in the message that is prideful, selfish, arrogant, hotty, perverted, rebellious to Yahweh’s boundaries, confusing, hopeless, and so on. There is nothing in the message outside of Yahweh’s character. What we do see are the promises of Yahweh that He will never leave us, nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), that we are to be courageous in Yahweh (Joshua 1:9), that we go where He prepared a way for us (Ephesians 2:10), and all the praise goes back to Yahweh (Psalms 9:1). It’s all Biblically sound.
Jesus then leads Gideon into a cleansing. His family and community were worshipping Baal, and had been for years. It was something established. They also kept the teachings of the Penituch because Gideon knew all the stories of old about the miracles of Yahweh and the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. Gideon had a mixed faith. Jesus required Gideon to have one faith in Yahweh only, which meant Gideon had some serious in-house cleaning he had to go through by tearing down the Baal statues on the high hills of his family’s property, and make them into an alter to sacrifice unto Yahweh. The sacrifice was a sign of surrender and thanksgiving to Yahweh. Gideon did this in one overnight job. His family, and even those in his community did not like it, but it opened the pathway for Yahweh to bring deliverance for the whole people of Israel.
How that would look in our lives today would be that we would have to first tear down all the lifestyles, perspectives, and habits passed down from our father and mother’s family’s generations, and from what’s socially acceptable that’s not in alignment with Yahweh’s Ways – the big idols and mixed faith in our life, before we are ready to fulfill the calling on our life. Overall, this is always a life time processes; however, with Gideon’s story, we see it’s the big close to home idols that he had to take down first. The rest of Israel still had Baal statues up. So in other words, Gideon had to decide in his heart and proclaim with his lifestyle that he was going to serve Yahweh only, he was not going to have a mixed faith with Yahweh and Baal worship. This decision and act was an overnight processes, meaning it doesn’t have to take days weeks, months, or years to do. We receive Jesus as our Savior in a moment of time, and then we walk out our faith with Him as we continue to receive Him. It’s in essence an overnight decision. Was Gideon a perfect believer inYahweh? No. He still had fear and doubt. The difference is that now he was going to serve Yahweh whether he was afraid and doubted, or not. He was going to choose to trust the leading of Yahweh.
We should not be too suprised with the agressive resistance Gideon’s family and community had with him. Sometimes the change we have in our life when we surrender our all to Jesus is uncomfortable to our family, and even to those in our community or social network. There may be persecution or push back from those we least expect, and/or from those we think we need the most in our life (We think we need them, it doesn’t mean we do.). Remember the fragrance of Christ is to those dying in the world the smell of death, but to those living in Christ the smell of life (2 Corinthians 2:16). It’s hard to be around a smell that reminds us that we are on a path to eternal separation from Jesus. It makes us uncomfortable, and we want it away from us. Keep praying for those who do push us away because there is still an opportunity while they are alive for them too to have salvation, and carry the sweet aroma of Jesus, as well.
After Gideon is surrendered to Yahweh, Holy Spirit came over him and empowered him to blow the trumpet to call the other Israelites into action. In today’s perspective, this could mean that we are filled with the empowerment of Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in toungs or/and a passionate move of Yahweh rises in us to reach out to those who will help us to set into action the plan Yahweh has on our life. This can look different for each person because we all have a different plan on our life. However, the overall look would be a team work with Jesus and others, Jesus as the foundation of the plan, and it all works through Yahweh’s Biblical boundaries. For example, if Yahweh is calling us to build a church building, He is not going to lead us to steal the money from anyone to pay for the project. We may fundraise, pray for Yahweh to bring the donations in, and save money up, but we are not going out pick pocketing and putting a gun to someone to rob them for the money. That would not be in Yahweh’s character, nor His Biblical boundaries of “do not steal.”
Ok. Now we come to the part we have all been waiting for … a fleece prayer. After everything was in action then Gideon got overwhelmed, and wanted confirmation and reassurance that this plan was really from Yahweh, and that he was on the right path. What we notice through Gideon’s story is that he wants to see the Yahweh of old Who did miracles. When he tested the message and Messenger at the first of the story he did what Abraham did to see the miricle of Yahweh. He experienced Holy Spirit coming over him to blow the trumpet to call the others into action like the people of long ago. Now we see him again asking for something to be done that would be a miracle of Yahweh to happen.
Gid‘on said to God, “If You are going to save Isra’el through me, as You said You would, then, here: I will lay a wool fleece on the threshing-floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, while all the ground stays dry, I will be convinced that You will save Isra’el through me, as You said You would.” And it happened! He got up early in the morning, pressed the fleece together and wrung dew out of it, a bowlful of water. But Gid‘on said to God, “Don’t be angry with me because I am asking one more thing, let me make one more test, please: this time let it be dry only on the fleece, with dew all over the ground.” And that is what God did that night — it was dry only on the fleece, even though there was dew all over the ground. (Judges 6:36-40 CJB)
What is seen first in the Gideon story is that a fleece prayer is not the first thing Gideon does when Yahweh called him into an action of obedience. It was actually the fourth thing he does. This is important because we may be tempted to use a fleece prayer right at first. Fleece prayers seem easy and even convenient to use, almost like a magic 8 ball. “Hey Ball! Am I suppose to run a mile today?” The Ball’s answer, “Not looking good today.” So you think, “Yes! Ha! Party day it is!” Yahweh is not a magic 8 ball. He is a person who is alive and aware of our heart and motives even more than we are. He knows this life is hard, and He knows we need a lot of help; however, He wants us to come to Him in relationship, not in frequent do this or that questions to answer us. He wants us to know Him: to know His character, to know His boundaries, to know His heart’s desire, to know His will. He wants us to obey Him, and show Him we are faithful to Him, that He can trust us with the plan He has for us. If we are doing fleece prayers for everything, we are not learning how to communicate with Him personally. It would be as if we only put two options in front of someone every time we talked with them. “Do you want a plumb or a strawberry? No! You can’t choose a pear because that’s outside of my question! No? For both? That makes no sense! It has to be one or the other!” It’s not a logical way to focus communication with someone, especially Yahweh. Yahweh and others are more than yes or no answers.
So, when do we use a fleece prayer? We see in Gideon’s story that the fleece prayer was used just before taking the next big step of obedience to Yahweh’s plan. Gideon had already tested the message and Messenger to know they were from Yahweh; he had already yielded to Yahweh in his life by surrendering to Yahweh, and cleaning out the other idols in his life so that his faith was not mixed any more; and he had been filled with Holy Spirit’s passion and prompting to connect with those he would team up with to help him fulfill the plan Yahweh had over his life. When he comes to the time of about stepping into action with the team, he then asks the fleece prayer. Gideon, at this time, is perceiving that he is going to take all these people with him into battle. We know that he will actually take much less, but at this point he thinks this group is his team. So, for him, he thinks, “This is it. Oh wow! There’s not a lot of us. Is this really Yahweh?” This would be like a time when a leader has all the people gathered to do a great work, and then all of a sudden gets overwhelmed by the task at hand, and questions whether he heard from Yahweh or not. Or an individual who is waiting to step onto a plane to go to another country on a missions trip, gets overwhelmed all of a sudden, and questions Yahweh if He really sent her or not. A fleece prayer is used at a critical moment in the process of obedience, not the first step in obedience.
What does a fleece prayer look like? First, we see who the fleece is for. We see that Gideon’s fleece prayer wasn’t about another person; about what someone thought, liked, or wanted. It wasn’t about if a person liked him or not. Gideon didn’t do a fleece on whether the Isreilie people would accept him as a leader, or not. Rather, It was about himself, and what he was suppose to be doing. Fleeces are in regard to ourself and to confirm what we are suppose to be doing. They are not in regard to other people and what someone else is suppose to be doing. When we look at Gideon’s story we see that his fleece prayer involved two parts. Why two parts? The Bible says that “by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established” (Deuteronomy 19:15). Gideon knew that for a matter to be established, or to be true, there needed to be at least two confirmations, or two witnesses. Gideon wasn’t second guessing Yahweh or trying to avoid or make excuses to not do what Yahweh was calling him to do, but rather, he was establishing the validity of the fleece prayer. The first part of the fleece prayer was one way, and the second part was the opposite way. So, he kept his fleece prayer with the same environment, objects, and natural occurrence; however, he asked for two different outcomes. He asked for something to be done that normally or naturally does happen, but in a way only Yahweh can do it. Using Inanimate objects is wise because it puts the whole fleece prayer in Yahweh’s hands, and not on another’s will or boundaries. We will look more into what happens when we use live beings for a fleece prayer later on.
A subtle aspect of a fleece prayer is that we are active with the prayer. When Gideon asked the fleece prayer he didn’t sleep in until noon before going to check to see if the fleece was wet or not. He got up in the morning when the fleece would be its wettest to see how Yahweh answered his prayer. When we do a fleece prayer we must participate in it to see the results. If we do a fleece asking for all the morning flowers to be open in the sunshine, not one closed, then not go out and look until it was dark that would not provide an accurate answer. If a fleece is done by asking for the lights to flicker in a church service, then not go to church thinking, “I’ll notice it online,” but who’s to say we would? We have to participate in the fleece prayer to see the answer to our prayer.
Another subtle aspect about fleece prayers is that they are specific. Gideon asked for a specific thing to happen, with specific items, in a specific place, for a specific time frame. Gideon asked for specifically the dew to be on specifically the fleece or specifically the ground. Dew only comes at specific times of the night and morning. This was also something to be done immediately that night, not at some random point later on that week. He asked for the test to occur on the threshing floor, not in his house or barn. We see the fleece prayer is very specific, and this is important. If we are vague with our fleece prayer, or not specific enough, we may have a confused or wrong answer from the fleece prayer. We may have had a specific task, a specific item, a specific time, but maybe not specific enough. We may have asked for something to happen at a specific place, like a specific church, however, we didn’t specify the time at the church. We assumed the time we would be at the church, but maybe the fleece came about later when we were not at the church.
Even though using people in a fleece is not the best idea, I think this example will make it a little more clearer what I’m talking about. We may have done a fleece prayer that asked Yahweh for a specific person to hug us today. We expected them to hug us at church when we saw them, but instead we got a text later that day where they “Hugged” us in the text. So it may have not been how we thought, but it was still how we asked. To be particularly specific with a fleece prayer is not that Yahweh is trying to be meticulous with us, but rather He is having to work with environments, people’s will, with pre-existing boundaries, and circumstances to fulfill what we asked Him to do. That’s why we must be specific with a fleece prayer. It may even be a good idea to write it out, so when we do see the answer we can be sure how it aligns with what we asked, instead of what we thought we asked.
Ok. So, this is a big point to address about fleece prayers. Why would it be unwise to use live beings in a fleece prayer? The answer is simple; however, in some ways it may seem unpractical. If we have a question about continued interaction with someone that Yahweh had directed us to interact with, we may think it’s practical to do a fleece prayer using that person; or since the fleece prayer is about ourself, we may think it’s practical or logical to do a fleece prayer with ourself. The problem with using people is that people have free will, and Yahweh won’t force His will on us. Also, often there are pre-existing boundaries. If we do a fleece prayer for a specific person to come and talk to us, that person may be afraid to talk with us, and in her free will she does not fulfill the fleece to give the correct answer. In that same senerio, the specific person may have a pre-existing boundary to not talk with us specifically or people in our likeness. So, even though she may want to talk with us, the pre-existing boundary keeps her from talking with us. It’s the same with other live beings. For example, we ask a fleece prayer about our dog to wet on the carpet in a specific spot. Well, we have already trained him in a boundary to not do that, so as much as he may want to wet on that spot on the carpet he won’t because that’s outside his boundary. Another aspect is, if we are doing a fleece prayer about John, and we don’t use his last name or a specific description of him, we may have one or more other Johns to fulfill the fleece prayer which makes a confusing or wrong answer. Basically, it becomes more complicated when involving people or other live beings as part of a fleece prayer, and can lead into a confusing or an improper answer.
So, this is another big point to address. What happens when we use fleece prayers often, or over fleece pray a matter? Fleece praying over everything we do takes away from us being obedient and trusting Yahweh. Instead we are trusting in fleece prayers, and rebelling against Yahweh’s directing. We are avoiding obedience to what Yahweh directed us to do, and are making excuses instead to not do them, or not to do them right away. We are also not learning to hear and obey Holy Spirit any more. We are relying on a demonstration to happen to decide what to do, instead of learning to move with Holy Spirit’s leading and guidance.
If we are doing multiple fleece prayers about one subject matter, we are no longer looking for confirmation from Yahweh, we are instead looking for excuses to not do what Yahweh called us to do. For example, Yahweh directs us to go talk with a person in a store. We start making fleece prayers until the person walks away. “Well, I guess it was God’s will I didn’t talk with them.” No. It was our disobedience that passed the opportunity by. We may try to do multiple fleece prayers over one subject matter because we are afraid, because we are rebelling Yahweh’s directing, or because we are confused because we haven’t done a fleece prayer correctly, so we have mixed results. Multiple fleece prayers over one subject matter can cause confusion because there is more room for doing a fleece prayer improperly causing an improper answer. If we find ourself over fleece praying a matter, we should step back, see if we need to readjust ourself to be in alignment to Yahweh like we mentioned earlier about the steps Gideon went though, re-evaluate our fleece prayer to be sure it’s specific, and then try it again.
When Yahweh directs us, we must move quickly to obey because the opportunity Yahweh created or orchistraighted is a “now” moment, and may not be later down the road available, or doable in the way He is directing at that moment; plans may have to change, and maybe not for the better; or the task may be harder to do later, instead of the moment Yahweh directed when it was easier. More problems or bad outcomes happen because of hesitating or disobeying Yahweh’s directing, or/and we miss the good thing Yahweh had planned for that moment in time for us, or for the over all outcome. The outcome may be greatly different or partly different if the opportunity is missed, and must be rearranged to come about again. If Gidion had spent days, weeks, months, or years fleecing whether this message was of Yahweh or not, the enemy would have changed tactics, the enemy would have had more warriors to attack the Israelites, Gidion would have convinced himself the message wasn’t for him, the Israelites would have had more sorrow from the enemy’s attacks, and/or Yahweh would have found someone else to fulfill His plan.
Often we do multiple fleece prayers because we feel inadequate for the job Yahweh called us to do. First, lets point out that when Yahweh calls us to do something we will at some point feel inadequate because it’s not for our glory and praise, it is for Yahweh; so we must always do the work with Him, not on our own strength and abilities. With that said, if Yahweh asks us to do something we don’t have pre-skills in then He will give the skills to us as we walk in obedience with Him. For example, Yahweh tells us to talk to someone. What about? We don’t know. But in obedience to Yahweh we go start a conversation with them. In the conversation we find out what we are suppose to talk with them about. It may be they need help with something, or they need prayer. If we kept saying to ourself we can’t talk to them until we know what we are going to talk about with them then we would miss the opportunity Yahweh had for us because we decided we had to have more skill and knowledge to do what Yahweh called us to do. It is not up to us to decide if we are ready to do the job Yahweh asked us to do. It’s up to Yahweh to decide, and for us to obey Him whether we feel inadequate, or not.
Now let’s look at why we would need to be surrendered to Yahweh before doing a fleece prayer. The reason for us to be surrendered to Yahweh to do a fleece prayer is because if we are still doing our own thing, not surrendered to Yahweh, then our heart isn’t right to do a proper fleece prayer. We are looking for an excuse instead of confirmation, or we are asking for something outside Yahweh’s boundaries. In other words, our motives are wrong. When our motives are wrong we will misinterpret or miss ask the fleece prayer. The Bible says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3 NKJV). When our motives are wrong when we ask a fleece prayer we are looking to fulfill the desires of our flesh, not to get confirmation of whether we are on the right path Yahweh has set us on.
For example, say Yahweh called us to be someone’s friend. We are walking in obedience to Yahweh and interacting with the person as a friend, but then the person begins to turn away from Yahweh and participate in ungodly practices. Then it’s a legitimate question to ask Yahweh with a fleece prayer. The question could be stated something like this, “Am I suppose to continue hanging out with this person as a friend, or do I need to back off?” Then the fleece is stated in the prayer. We are not in rebellion looking to make excuses to not be a friend, but rather we see a shift or change in the relationship, and are wanting to know if its wise or safe to continue on the path with this person. It may be that Yahweh says, “Yes, be a friend, but not to hang out with that person outside of the boundaries He has given us for our own life.” The point is to have a heart that is yielded to Yahweh’s directing and looking for clarification with confirmation on whether to keep moving forward in what Yahweh first directed, or that plans have changed.
We are not looking to squirm out of obedience to Yahweh because we don’t want to do it for whatever reason, nor are we trying to manipulate Yahweh’s directing so its more how we want to do what He’s calling us to do. For example, with being a friend to someone specific. We may be trying to squirm out of the friendship by trying to only be a friend when it’s convenient, or keeping it only at school on weekdays or other school events, but not expand the friendship outside of school where we would have to go out of our way to be a friend to that person. So we do fleece after fleece trying to manipulate Yahweh’s directing or trying to make excuses about how to be that person’s friend. This rebellion to Yahweh’s directing opens the door to the enemy to bring in confusion and wrong answers to fleeces. Our heart is not looking to obey Yahweh, but rather to fulfill the desires of our sin nature.
Another example would be, if we are asking a fleece prayer about whether we should have sex with someone or not, that is not a proper question for a fleece prayer. It is obvious what the answer is. If we are not married to that person in Yahweh’s boundaries, we should not be having sex with them. That would be contrary to the Word of Yahweh. It’s the same perspective if we are asking something outside Yahweh’s boundaries to happen for our fleece prayer, such as, asking to have sex with someone if we are to marry them. These are acts outside Yahweh’s boundaries and character. When we pray fleece prayers outside of Yahweh’s boundaries, we open the door for the enemy to come in and bring confusion for direction in our life, and we are snared by sin. Remember, we have free will, and though we are asking for direction with a subject matter, if we ask amiss, we will act with our flesh, and not in alignment with Yahweh’s correct answer. It will be just like what the Bible says, “It is the evil that a person wants that tempts him. His own evil desire leads him away and holds him.” (James 1:14 ICB). We need a genuine heart that wants to obey Yahweh, so that we are open to hear and ask Yahweh a fleece prayer.
After Gideon got the confirmation with his fleece prayer he immediately stepped into action to continue obeying Yahweh’s directing. As Gideon continued to obey Yahweh in spite of the fear inside him, Yahweh chose to give Gideon extra confirmation just before He sent him into battle. Gideon had already decided he would follow through with Yahweh’s directing even though he still had fear of moving forward; however, Yahweh wanted Gideon to be comforted and strengthened for the job at hand, so he would be sustained through the long battles ahead. Yahweh knew Gideon needed to have the courage to follow through with Yahweh’s plans, so He sent Gideon with a companion to hear the extra confirmation, so that he would have a witness to establish the matter, that way there would be no second guessing of what he heard (Judges 6:13-15). We often feel afraid to do what Yahweh has called us to do, and Yahweh knows this about us. When we have a heart to obey Him, and continue to follow Him in spite of fear, Yahweh will encourage us like He did with Gideon. Yahweh will give us confirmation that we are on the right path that He has planned for us even without us asking for the confirmation. Yahweh has never abandoned nor forsaken us. He doesn’t call us to obey Him only to leave us to do it on our own. He will encourage us continually through every step of the way.
Some times asking a fleece prayer gives us the confirmation we need to trust Yahweh, and to keep moving forward. I hope what was shared about fleece prayers gives us clarity to an accurate path to move forward on.
Thank You, Yahweh, for helping us who need direction. Thank You for giving us discernment as to how to ask the fleece prayers, and how to follow through with them. Thank You for Your confirmations You give us, and the options You give us to find those confirmations. Thank You for giving us a hope for the future, and a clear path to run on with You. Thank You for all Your goodness You have stored up for us and bestowed on us as we follow in obedience with You. In Jesus’s beautiful name. Amen.
