Where is your meeting place with God? Do you meet God behind a mask of polished performance and personal strength? Our loving Father already sees and knows our points of weakness and vulnerability; and this is the very place He wants to engage us.

In Judges 6, the Angel of the Lord meets Gideon who is threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. He is not courageous, a great leader, or full of hope. As with Gideon, God encounters us in our place of weakness, fear, and hiddenness.

Allow God to meet you in your personal area of weakness. Invite him into that bad business deal, the hurting relationship, the financial turmoil, the “last time” addiction, and the struggling thoughts. It is in this place where God encounters us and says, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (Judges 6:12 NKJV).

This is the greeting the Angel of the Lord gave to Gideon. In a place of hiddenness, battling with low self-esteem and fear; God calls Gideon “mighty” and a “man of valor”. This is the same message God declares over you. He is with you, you are mighty, and full of valor. When we invite Him into our seemingly dark place of weakness; our Heavenly Father brings the light of freedom, strength and grace.

God loves to find people who are hiding and feel inept at what God is calling them to. God used a man hiding in a winepress, full of doubt and fear to rally an army, become a courageous leader and bring deliverance and victory to God’s people. What’s your personal equivalent to Gideon’s winepress? Meet God there and watch as He turns what you thought was weak into strength.