FAINTED YET PURSUING

Introduction
It is not everyman that fights Gods battle. With God the adage that says majority
carries the vote does not hold any ground. The instruments God chooses are
generally unlikely, but they will be ever found the best qualified when Gods hand
comes upon them. When God wants a man to fight His battle, the first thing He does
is to help him to know who he is. If you dont know who you are you will suffer from
identity crisis. God, in preparing Gideon as one who is going to fight His battle,
revealed to him who He was in judges chapter 6:12
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with
thee, thou mighty man of valour.
Gideon was a mighty man of valour, yet he did not know. He was hiding from the
Midianites. The angel of the Lord said to him in verse 14 God in this thy
might.
Inside Gideon resided might that he has never known of. His might was based on the
fact that Jehovah was with him. It is often said that one with God is majority. God
sending a man for his battle is evidence that He has already qualified or equipped him
for the work. It is often said that God's commandments are God's enablements.
Once God has called and commissioned us, all we have to do is obey Him by faith
and He will do the rest. God cannot lie and God never fails. Faith means obeying God
in spite of what we see, how we feel, or what the consequences might be.
FAINT YET PURSUING
And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that
were with him, faint, yet pursuing them; Judges 8:4.
When God shows you a dream, He doesnt tell you the price. Loosing one or two
battles doesnt mean you will loose the war. It is true that God assigned Gideon for
the battle but it does not necessarily mean that there will not encounter some
challenges on the way. Gideon and his men were much exhausted but very eager to
continue the pursuit till the victory was consummated. They were faint, and yet

pursuing. They were very much exhausted by what they had accomplished but yet
very eager to go on until their enemies are completely wiped out. Most often as
Christian we feel that our strength is very little for the task that is ahead of us but we
must come to a point whereby no matter how small our strength may seem we will
still be pursuing.
-

Fainted and yet pursuing

Exhausted yet pursuing

Stretched beyond limit but still in the battle, have every reason to surrender,
still did not surrender.

Discouraged, disappointed, frustrated and damaged spirit soul and body, yet
pursuing. Thats the spirit.

In times of crisis your gifts and talents cannot sustain you. God is looking for men
whose passion does not die down in the time of crisis. You must be passionate about
your goals. Your passion needs to reach the point that it is affecting your dream life.
God is looking for men who are ready to be stretched beyond limit. When Gideon met
with discouragement from his own people; they mocked at what he was doing. Some
even said he was going about what he could never accomplish, yet he went on with it.
God is in this Endtime is looking for men who though may have enough reasons or
scriptural backing to quit but will not quit; Men that will still be standing even though
their problem have resisted all spiritual therapy and spirituality has no answer to your
challenges.

Gods criteria in choosing men for His battle

Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, whosoever is fearful
and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of
the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. And the
LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the
water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee,
This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto
thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the
people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the
water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every
one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped,

putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the
people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the LORD said unto
Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the
Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place;
Judges 7:3-7.
Gideon started with 32000 men. 22000 of them were fearful and afraid while ten
thousand bow down upon their knees to drink water and were sent back. Only 300
men lapped water with their tongues as a dog and these were the people that God
chose for the battle.
Why did God choose 300 people out of 32000 thousand?
Despite the fact that the Bible says the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the
children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their
camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude as seen in
verse 12 God selected only 300 people to go against them. What was so special about
these men? What actually qualified these 300 men to conscript into the army that
brought liberation to the Israelites? What did God see in them that made to be
selected?
And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that
were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.
And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the
people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and
Zalmunna, kings of Midian. And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah
and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army? And
Gideon said, Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into
mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with
briers. And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them likewise: and the men
of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him. And he spake also
unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this
tower. Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about
fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for
there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword; Judges 8:4-10.

What God sees in them is what makes men more than conquerors. The gifts of the
Holy Spirit are not the answer here. Talents and potentials will not produce any
tangible results in situations like this.
He is looking for men with the following qualities:
-

He is looking for men who will be persistent in their pursuit even when there
is life threatening crisis.

He is looking for men who are so passionate about their goals that they
careless about convenience and comfort.

He is looking for men who are not satisfied with the statosquo. Men who are
ready to go extra miles.

He is looking for men who are ready to be stretched beyond limit.

He is looking for men who though have may have good reasons and scriptural
backing to quit in the time of trouble but will choose to die rather than to quit
or surrender.

He is looking for men who though may be discouraged, frustrated, rejected

and battered spirit soul and body; but there is something in them that will not
let them go.

Four things that makes a man to still be in the battle or race when he is fainting
1. Vision
Vision is seeing the future, in the present. It is seeing the invisible and making it
visible. Vision keeps a man working when principles and so on seem not to be
working for you. Vision keeps a man pursuing, keeps him fighting, keeps him running
even when he hindrances to His dream resists spiritual therapy. Vision keeps a man
fighting when keys, laws, and principles prove important in the midst of trouble.
Vision keeps a man going when spirituality has no answer to your challenges.

Joseph had a great destiny; God actually showed him twice in a dream what he was
destined to become in his life time.

For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also
stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to
my sheaf.
And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have
dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made
obeisance to me; Gen 37:7, 9.
Things did not just go the way they seemed in the dream he saw. Instead, he moved
from one problem to the other. When he was about seventeen years old he incurred
the jealous hatred of his brothers. They hated him and could not speak peaceably unto
him. They got offended with him because he reported to their father about their
misconduct; Gen 3:2. Their anger against him increased when he told them his
dreams.
Before the dream of Joseph could ever come to pass he suffered conspiracy from his
brothers. His brothers envied him so much first because his father loved him so much
and made him a coat of many colours. His brothers ceased the coat of many colours
from him, cast him into a pit and later on sold him in to slavery to some merchants.
He ended up in the house of Potiphar in Egypt where he served as a slave. Potiphar's
wife became infatuated with Joseph and tempted him to commit adultery with her.
When he refused, she accused him of the crime and Joseph was sent to prison. There
in the prison he was forgotten by the butler of Pharaoh after he interpreted his dream
and he was released from the prison.
Throughout all these challenges vision kept Joseph until he was promoted from the
prison to the palace of Pharaoh after interpreting the dream of Pharaoh. He became
the prime minister of Egypt. Before his dream could materialise he never gave up. He
still persisted despite all the challenges he encountered. He lived an upright live, yet
he was accused. His spirituality did not keep him from entering the prison. On the
pathway to your destiny there are some prisons that you must pass through which will
serve as the only visa to your next level. You must never loose sight of your vision.
When God is silent
The opposite of Joseph was Naomi. Naomi left Judea with her husband and two sons
in a time of famine and went to the land of Moab. There her husband and sons died
and she was left with the two widows of her sons. She was living in a company of

widows. All hope was lost. She was depressed and battered. I believe she asked her
self this question that many often as when they encounter trials. Where is God that
all these things are happening to me where was God when all these things were
happening to her. Where was the covenant keeping God? Heaven was silent. When
God is silent it doesnt mean that He is not working. His angels are not silent. Naomi
had a great destiny. Unlike Gideon and Joseph, in her own case God was silent. She
had no vision. She had no dream. God never showed a picture of where He was taking
her to. She had no clue that God was working out something for her. It appeared as if
Naomi had no future, vision or destiny; but she did have one only that God concealed
it from her. Her name means delight, sweetness or pleasantness, agreeable and even
beautiful but the circumstances in her life had nothing to reckon with all these.
Throughout her life she experienced the opposite of what her name meant.
On her return to Bethlehem she wished to be known as Mara, bitterness, instead of
Naomi, sweetness. And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for
the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye
me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted
me? Ruth 1:20-21.
There will be situations, problems and crisis in our lives that will definitely confront
our faith in this race and in the pursuit of our dreams.
Who would have told Naomi that God was working out something for her? She was
very bitter. She felt that she was cheated by God and nature. She even denied the right
to joy. She also had a very low self esteem to extent that she changed her name. She
was so frustrated and depressed. Completely consumed with a sense of failure; she
had already resided to the fate that she was a failure but at last God showed up in her
case. After her husband and two sons died, Naomi returned to her home in Bethlehem,
accompanied by Ruth her daughter in law. Naomi advised Ruth to work for a near
kinsman-Boaz and to seek his favour. When Boaz and Ruth eventually married, they
had a son, whom they named Obed. This child became the father of Jesse, the
grandfather of David, and an ancestor of Jesus Christ; Ruth 4:21-22, Matt 1:5.
Alleluia!
2.

Passion

Passion is that care that ignites the soul and keeps you ablaze. Passion is a propelling
force in a man that consumes his innermost being. Passion is the fuel that conveys the

invisible to the visible. Passion reduces the weight of problems. A passionate man
sees problems as the price to pay. Passion is of the heart, it is having a large heart. A
passionate man is not a lazy man. Ninety percent of those who fail are not actually
defeated; they simply quitted. It is either you give up or you get up. Passion makes a
man cry for change. It is a desperate cry for change. It is like a liquid fire in the soul
of a man. You know! Men naturally dont like change. The only person that loves
change is a baby whose diaper is wet. There is no passion without the following:
a)

A burden: Passion cannot come until you have a burden. Burden in

the heart of a man is seen in his interests and concerns. It is needless to pray
without a burden.

b)

Conviction: Passion comes with conviction. Convictions are our

values, principles and belief. It is a firm opinion or belief in a thing. When you
put principles and respect them men will also respect them. You need to be
principled and disciplined in order to succeed in life.

c)

Desperate needs: A man that is genuinely thirsty will do every thing

to make sure that he gets water to drink else he will die of thirst. Desperate needs
sometimes are the driving force of most of our actions.

A strong burden, convictions and desperate needs are the things that convey passion.
3. Faith
What is faith? Faith is the heavenly currency that connects you to divinity.

When

do you need faith?

- You need faith when there is no answer to your dilemma.
- You need faith when you cannot explain the things around you. The times that
challenges you faith are those times when all you know about doesnt seem to assist
you get results.
- You need faith when situations go out of control. When vision and passion are there
faith consolidates your move.
- You need faith when great effort brings little or no result. Sometimes faith is
perfected more when things do not change than when they do.
- Faith is not always an instrument of change. Sometimes it is a means for survival.
In pursuit of your dream you need faith. It is very necessary if you will care to make
it to the end. You faith is dependent on the amount of light you have- understanding.

Proper understanding of Gods word will broaden your faith. A man can never rejoice
above the light he has. You can never grow above your illumination.
Have you ever seen a blacksmith work with a piece of iron? He holds it in the fire to
soften it and make it pliable. That is exactly why God permits the testing of your faith
by temptations and trials. He wants you to acquire patience and pliability. If you and I
are constantly out of the fire of affliction we become stiff and useless. Sometimes in
the pursuit of a God given dream men tend to use the arm of the flesh in order to
make it come to pass hence pushing God aside. Many at times because we do not see
God with our physical eyes we tend to be afraid to take some steps forgetting to know
that He is seeing us. It is better to work with God and not for God. We should never
doubt His love and wisdom. You may not be seeing Him but trust in Him will lead
you to jump into the water knowing that He is there to part your red sea and you will
walk on dry ground and cross over to the other side.

Things that destroy Faith

a) Fear
Fear cripples creativity and diminishes efforts. It exaggerates and magnifies things
beyond their normal proportion. Fear paralysis initiatives. It fertilised by words; not
the words of others but the words you say to yourself. Fear causes men to be
overprotective. A wise man said that when you are too careful you will be come
careless. You cannot succeed without risk. There is no faith without risk. Fear will
always remind you of what men will say if you fail. Fear strangles boldness.
To overcome Fear
- You must develop a new mindset about yourself.
- Constantly load yourself with positive words and thoughts.
- Be ready to take risk.
- Feed yourself with the testimonies of overcomers.
- Stay away from negative people.
b) Regrets

Regret is the voice that always nags you in your head that you could have done better
if only you have done this or that. It is a contemplation that saps all your strength that
makes you think you would have done better if not that mistake, that decision, that
overreaction and so on. Regret is the murder of optimism and the evangelist of
despairs. It causes brings up past failures and causes retrogression. You must
overcome regrets. Like Apostle Paul we must come to the point we can say,
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Phil
3:13-14.
How to overcome regrets
Whatever that has the ability to keep your attention has mastered you. It must be a
conscious fight. What it takes to stay up is more than what it takes to go up. Dont let
regret pull you down.
-

You must understand that yesterday is in the tomb. Past hurts failures and
memories are all in the tomb.

You must be futuristic. Always think about tomorrow.

You must be very enthusiastic.

Avoid sympathetic environments.

c) Procrastination
Procrastination breaths on alternatives; it is the mother of complacency and laziness.
Procrastination will tell you, you still have time. It will tell you to wait a little until
the conditions are favourable. It is self deceit. It saps out energy by keeping you busy.
To overcome procrastination
- Come up with an agenda and make sure that you are disciplined enough to follow it.
- Always avoid keeping what you can do now or today for tomorrow or another time
when you have all it takes to accomplish the job at the moment.
- Always make sure that you complete the tasks that you embark on before
considering other new ones.

c) Inferiority complex
It is low self esteem. Status is a state of mind and not height. A man with inferiority
complex is always intimidated by other peoples success. He focuses more on his
weaknesses than his strengths. He strives for perfection and not excellence. He
always feels that people want to take advantage of him. This attitude in the life of a
man with a low self esteem will scare away men and success from him. It is the
breeding ground for envy, bitterness, secret competition and even murder. It actually
hinder ones faith.
How to overcome inferiority complex
d) Since a man of low self esteem is definitely suffering from an identity crisis, in
order to overcome inferiority complex there must be a discovery of self. Gideon
had this same problem that is why he was running away from the Midianites. The
first thing God did to him was to reveal to him his true identity. Initially Gideon
saw himself as a grasshopper before the Midianites. That was the image he had
about himself. During his encounter with the angel of the Lord- Jesus in His preincarnate nature, He redefined his identity. He told him that he was a mighty man
of valour. This enabled Gideon to overcome his inferiority complex and so he
became a mighty warrior who fainted and yet was pursuing until they emerged
victoriously at the end.
e) You must learn to love yourself. Not being self-centered or selfish but accepting
and loving who you are in Christ-by stature, gifting and callings, talents etc. the
bible says in Mtt 22:39 the we should love our neighbour as ourselves. Which
means you must first of all learn to love yourself before you can love others.
f) Stop trying to be like another person because you will only emerge as second best.
It will make you to loss your personality.
g) Put in your best in being yourself and love and appreciate others for who they are.
d) Anxiety
Anxiety is desperation. It sees delays as denials. It is a proof of lack of faith. God
cannot do anything with an anxious person. Our faith must grow to the point whereby
we will still believe God even when answer to prayers delay and challenges and trials
seems to know no end.

Cure for anxiety

The cure for anxiety is absolute trust in God. Trust is different from believing. We
often believe that God is able to do certain things but sometimes we dont trust him
enough that he can do them in our lives. We dont seem to trust him with our own
lives. Like a story I heard about a man that was doing acrobatics. He had a cyclewheel and will move with it on a rope that was tied up on two polls-far up. When he
told people that he could do so they didnt believe him; they only got to believe him
when he demonstrated before them. He now told them that he could carry a bucket of
water and ride the wheel on that same rope. They still did not belief him until he
demonstrated again. The people told him again that they now belief that he can do
anything with the rope. He requested that one person should come out so that he can
carry him and move on the wheel and nobody opted for that. The people actually
believed in what that man could do but nobody was ready to trust him with his life.
This is exactly how most Christians are; they believe God so much but they cant trust
him with their lives.
4. Gain
If there is no gain in what you pursue, leave it. Never go to war where there are now
spoils. Choose your battles wisely and make sure that what you fight for is worth the
price you pay. Jesus endured the cross because the gain He saw ahead.
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God; Heb 12:2
You must be profit oriented. Gain motivates a man. You must run to obtain the prize.
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So
run, that ye may obtain; 1 Cor 9:24.
5. Understanding the cost
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the
cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lk 14:28.
For you to be sustained in the time of crisis there must be an understanding of the
price to pay. Men only discover what is created. Sacrifice is a continual law of life.
You must invest time and money; deny rights and privileges and comfort. You must

give up to go up. It takes much sacrifice to be at the top than in the valley. Take time
to build relationships and credibility. If you are not ready to die for what you believe
than you have not started. Only mediocres always do things that are convenient for
them. Every dream has a great price.
Martin Luther king had a dream.

Daddy, Please help me to include the

Nelson Mandela

story of these men.

Mahatma Ghandi fighting for Indian independence he said in the occasion of violent
campaigns by the Indians said that I will ask and fast and will not stop till they stop
violent campaigns. Perhaps, if I die they will stop
Our Lord Jesus Christ gave up his life for his dream. His dream was to restore the
relationship between man and God. He paid the full penalty for mans sin and took his
place and died on the cross for mans sin. Today we have access to God because of
what he did. The eternal path to the throne is the cross.
6. Prayer
O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come; Ps 65:2
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of
Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have
heard. 2 Kgs 19:20.
God answers prayers.
John Wesley said; God does nothing but by prayer and everything with it.
D. L Moody Every great move of God can be traced to a kneeling figure.
Prayer is releasing the energies of God. For prayer is asking God to do what we
cannot do. Prayer does all that God can do. Prayer secures for the believer the
resources of divinity. Prayer is the wealth of poverty. The refuge for affliction. The
strength of weakness. The light of darkness. An old saint said, let us kneel our way
through life, for our knees are heavens knockers. Let the shame of your
circumstances push you towards God in prayers. Hannah, Elizabeth and many others
cried out to God and He gave them men who shaped the destiny of men. For Rachels
cutting cry give me a child or I die God gave her Joseph as the answer. For Hannah;
Samuel was the answer. Elisabeth was well stricken in age, the angel said to

Zachariah the husband thy prayers are answered and John the Baptist was the answer.
These were not ordinary men. If the shame of childlessness hand not subdued these
women, what mighty men would have been lost?
7. Persistence
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not
to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded
man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me
of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within
himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth
me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said,
Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry
day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge
them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the
earth? Lk 18:1-8
Persistence is the sustained effort necessary to endure faith. It produces the virtue of
patience. Patience is not a gift; it is worked out in a man the time of crisis. It is the
ability to stick to a dream or vision even when it is being opposed by men or other
occurrences. It is the state of occurring beyond the normal or expected time. That
which causes others to quit will instead charge up a persistent person. To others it
may be the end but to him things have just started. Nothing is impossible to the
persistent. They are very positive and optimistic. They see obstacles as spring boards
and not barriers. Persistence breaks resistance. It is the staying power. It changes your
perspective. The problem might not change but your perspective and approach
changes. E.g Fanny Crosby though blind from infancy became the most prolific
Christian hymn writer in the history of the church. She witnessed over 80.000 of her
poems set to music and over 100.000.000 copies of her songs printed that today is
blessing many in the body of Christ. Many different pen names were attributed to her
works by hymn book publishers so the public wouldnt know she wrote so many of
them. She produced as many as seven hymns or poems in one day. On several
occasions, upon hearing an unfamiliar hymn will inquire about the author, and find it
to be one of her own! To transmit a desire into reality persistence is inevitable.
Persistence produces experience and increases wisdom.