By Kim Kelly

Turn on your computer, and you will find all the help you need to become a completely self-focused person. You will see titles and headlines such as “Prioritize You! Here’s How to Focus on Yourself,” “How to Focus on Yourself More and Prioritize Your Own Needs,” “8 Easy to Build Healthy Self-Focus Habits,” “Small, But Powerful Steps to Love Yourself.”

There is no shortage of self-help books to ensure you get the most out of what life offers you. You can build a man-cave or she-shed to make sure you get enough “me-time” without anyone bothering you…

When we first encounter Gideon, the fifth of the 12 leaders of Israel described in the book called Judges, he is definitely a man who is overwhelmed, even dominated, by fear.

Gideon lived during that long stretch of time—more than three centuries—between the days of Joshua, and the launch of the monarchy, which is captured for us in the shadowy book of Judges.

Now, Gideon’s fears were not unfounded. Over the course of seven straight years, the Midianites, Amalekites and other Easterners had swept through Israel at harvest time and taken every shred of their crops, along with…

Read Part 1 and Part 2.

The second front in our three-front war, according to the common saying, is “the flesh.” The Bible uses this word in a couple of ways, one positive and the other negative. Sometimes the word refers to the sensitive part of us, the tender part, the living part—similarly to the way we use the expression “it cut to the quick.” Twice through the prophet Ezekiel God says, “I will take the stony…