Hi there and welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Today's reading titled The Way of Faith was written by Lisa M. Samra.

In a 2017 World Cup qualifying match that pitted the U.S. against Trinidad and Tobago, the Soka Warriors

shocked the world when they beat the U.S. men's national team, a team ranked considerably higher.

The upset eliminated the U.S. team from the 2018 World Cup.

Trinidad and Tobago's victory was so unexpected in part because the United States population

and resources dwarfed those of the small Caribbean nation. But those seemingly insurmountable

advantages weren't enough to defeat the passionate Soca warriors. The story of Gideon and the Midianites

features a similar upset, one between a small group of

fighters and a large army. The Israelite army actually had more than 30,000 fighters, but the Lord

whittled the army down to just 300 warriors so the nation would learn that their success was

dependent on God, not the size

of their army, the amount of money in their treasury, or the skill of their leaders.

It can be tempting to put our trust and confidence in things we can see or measure, but

that's not the way of faith.

Though it's often difficult, when we're willing to depend on God

to be strong in the Lord and His mighty power,

we can go into situations with courage and confidence,

even when we feel overwhelmed and unqualified.

His presence and power can do amazing things in and through us.

Today's our daily bread devotional scripture reading is from Judges Chapter 7 verses 1 through 8 and verse 22.

Early in the morning, drew a bail, that is Gideon, and all his men camped at the spring

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