Will Faith Still Stand When Giants Come Knocking? 1 Samuel 17

 

I realize that many Christians have not been praying because they have not accepted the reality of war in which we find ourselves. There is a spiritual war mode that we must appropriate. It is an aggressive stance that we take against evil. It is governed by love for people, but it is fearless and uncompromising with the powers of darkness that manipulate people to fulfill evil plans.   Francis Frangipane  .

God doesn’t pull punches when He sets out to knock out our enemy. He also doesn’t sugar coat our problems or our sin or failure. In these verses Israel is still at war with the Philistines many years into Saul’s kingship and now they had a champion of the line of giants to make a stand for them. The Bible gives us a detailed description of Goliath. The giant is painted for us in high relief, the picture so clear we can see his 9 foot frame and tonnage as clearly as the army of Israel saw him. This is a warrior meant to strike fear into Israel. A warrior who puts Israel to the test – your ancestors refused to follow God into the Promised Land because they saw themselves as “grasshoppers” compared to the giants in the land – will you fail to trust God again?

Goliath sets the challenge and the stage he wants to present with the wording of his challenge in verse 8. “I am the Philistine; you are the servants of Saul.” To rephrase that, “I am the powerful warrior of a warrior people blessed by a warrior god. My people are not afraid to kill, kidnap, rape and pillage any tribe we meet. I am one of those who strike fear into our enemies just by saying our name. But you Israel – you are nothing more than slaves. You were slaves in Egypt, now you’re slaves to Saul. You are tiny and insignificant and I will eat you for lunch.” The worst part is, Israel fell for this argument!

For 40 days Israel got up and went out in battle array to face off against the Philistine army. For 40 days they listened to the heckling and challenge of Goliath. For 40 days they returned to their tents dejected and defeated in their hearts, minds and spirits. For 40 days they entertained the enemy’s taunts and allowed their faith in God to erode. They didn’t see the faithful God who destroyed the walls of Jericho with naught but a shout from Israel – their faith was only as large as their own arms.

But Jesse sent David to his brothers on the battle line. The anointed boy was now a bit older and more confident in the God who had chosen him to be the king a few years back. David knew from experience what Israel had forgotten – God brings victory by His own power and He brings it through unlikely, small vessels. If God can give victory over lions and bears to His chosen shepherd boy then His power can certainly overcome any giant who tries to attack His chosen people. David did not need the accoutrements of war to defeat Goliath. No armor of man would give David enough physical size to intimidate the giant. The reality is, that slip of a young man facing the giant without fear was all it took to intimidate the enemy of Israel.

Israel may have forgotten all God had done to bring miraculous victories for them, but the Philistines had not. This young man, coming without armor or sword, facing off the giant was a picture the Philistines understood. Little Israel was backed by a God who would take out the armies of Egypt, Amor, Canaan and Midian – even when Israel fled the field, even when Israel was led by a woman! The sight of this young man armed with nothing but Faith struck fear into Goliath and the Philistines. Something bad was about to happen, they could feel it. Oh, Goliath didn’t give up, he still challenged and tried to intimidate David with the same chants and attitudes that had been working so well – just as Satan does with us in our own weaknesses or areas of past failure. But David wasn’t buying it.

David had already made up his mind. God was on his side. God was more powerful than this enemy. God intended for David to take the victory in this arena. This is the stand we need to take in life. To make up our mind that God is for us. To look our enemy in the eye, or speak to the attacking thoughts, and say, “You accusation or reminder of my past or temptation to sin, you come to me with lies and accusing arrows to stab at my faith but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the army of my soul, the God who is for me and who is my protection and guide. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands and I will strike you down and remove your head from you.”

Today is a good day to defeat any giants of sin, deception, rebellion that have been keeping you captive. Today is a good day to take your stand for God, with God. Today is a good day to say no to your enemy and yes to God’s power.

1 Sam 17:4-8, 45-47Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. ⁵He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor which weighed five thousand shekels of bronze. ⁶He also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. ⁷ The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; his shield-carrier also walked before him. ⁸ He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, “Why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. . . ⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. ⁴⁶ This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷ and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.”

 

The Philistines Are Upon You – 1 Pet 5: Judges 16

9/27/11  “Many would be scantily clad if clothed in humility.”   Author Unknown   .

1 Pet 5:6-10Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Humbling ourselves involves casting off anxiety and accepting God’s care. I think that translates to letting God control my life instead of keeping my hands tightly on the reins of how tomorrow will go for me. Humbling also involves being of “sober spirit” and being an alert person. So I can’t go off half-cocked or hilariously ignoring the realities of my life in Christ and ignoring the need to be His child. I can’t leave off paying attention to the spiritual battle around me if I want to remain a humble servant of the living God. Satan is always on alert to catch us in small areas of falseness. He will exploit every weakness and push against us at every opportunity. If he can frighten us, he will. If temptation to certain sins works, that will be his strategy against us. If you allow sin, anxiety, pride or a desire for control to gain more traction in your life than God and His Word, then Satan will be quite happy to take advantage of any or all of those mistakes.

God has a strategy as well to bring us into victory. Resist the voice of the enemy. Grow firm in faith, build on it, expand the tent pegs of your faith and pursue faith in growing measure. Don’t allow suffering, temptation, failure or accusations to take you out of the battle. No matter how hard it is to fight or how much suffering it takes to bring you through to the place of standing rightly with God, don’t stop speaking and thinking victory. By His grace He has called you. You are His now and He will take on the responsibility to perfect you, to confirm you, to strengthen and establish you in His power and mercy. As you grow you will be expected to share all He has provided to you. Don’t shirk the grace. Don’t throw it off and expect someone else to do the work of sharing His love with those you know. He put you in that neighborhood, workplace or classroom so that you would be the witness of His love and grace. Don’t allow any attack from Satan in your own thoughts or through the words and actions of others to stop you from taking up all His grace and running to Him. There are many who will follow and run alongside you but they are waiting for you to begin, to lead.

Read 1 Peter 5 click on http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20pet%205&version=NASB

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Judges 16:19-23 She made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him. She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison. However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off. Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands.”

“But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.” Those are probably some of the saddest words recorded in the Bible in reference to a man God intended to be a spiritual leader for His people. Samson never lived up to the expectations of wisdom and leadership God intended for he allowed his lusts to rule his life rather than God. It would be so easy to point the finger and say he should have known better and hold Samson to a higher standard than the rest of us; we often do that to church leaders today as well. It’s easy because we would rather hold someone else to that standard and deflect the eye of the Holy Spirit from our own sin and failure to live by the power of God. Samson had a lot to pay for and he suffered greatly for his sins, but right to the end he was still loved by God.

I have been irritated by God using men I thought were charlatans or users to bring healing to the sick or preach salvation to the lost. I’ve questioned why He uses men whose lives are a shambles, at least as I saw it. I may not be satisfied with the answers but apparently God calls men and women to serve Him as His voice or His hands of mercy and because He loves those who are being ministered to, He allows His power to work through the minister. Never think that the minister who fails to live righteously will escape the judgment of God, they don’t. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that the ministry to the lost or the hurting or sick is being empowered for the sake of the man – God provides His power for the sake of those who RECEIVE, not for the sake of the one ministering to others. Each of us must die to self and live in the power of God in order to fulfill our destiny. Any of us can fail to fulfill that destiny by allowing our lusts, envyings, selfish habits or self-absorbed attitudes to overtake our love for God. Let us then take care to keep God first and to take captive every thought that raises itself up against the name and power of God. Keep Him first and you will save yourself and those who need to see His power moving will be blessed instead of harmed by your ministry.

Read Judges 16 click on http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+16&version=NIV