My Foes
Identification:
The final opponent that is mentioned in the 27th Psalms is my foes. The word foe means hateful, hostile, and an adversary. To truly understand what a foe represents, we need to look at the story of David and Goliath. David’s final individual battle as a shepherd was with Goliath the giant. He has had previous battles with a lion, a bear, and finally a giant. Our foes have the same agenda as Goliath, and that is to stop our progress, prosperity and praise. They simply stand in the way. Notice that the lion, and the bear came and took something from David, but the giant just stood in the way. He never took anything, but prevented Israel from going any further. He was an obstacle. Here’s why foes are so dangerous. God was positioning David the shepherd to become David the warrior, on his way to becoming David the king.
This was a transitioning moment for David. God is trying to position and transition you to move to the next level in Him, but you have an obstacle in the way, namely your foes. Our foes hinder our blessings. These are the people that do not want you to go higher in the Lord. They are fine with you as long as you don’t get ahead of them. They get jealous and upset when blessing come your way. As long as you are struggling, they are with you, but the moment God blesses you with a new house, new car, new spouse, better job, or anything better, then there is a problem. Their attitude changes almost overnight. Rather than be happy for you, they begin to despise you, and that’s all the devil needs. As long as you are broke down, and things are going bad, then they are your so-called friends, but the moment things turn around for you they become your foes.
Characteristics:
The characteristics of our foes mirror the characteristics of Goliath the giant, and the Philistines. I Samuel 17:1 state that the Philistines gather together to do battle with the men of Israel at a place called Shochoh. The only problem was that Shochoh belonged to Judah. Here is the first character trait of your foes. They try to stop you from possesses what belongs to you. God has already given you the victory, but your foes try and hinder you from taking possession of what belongs to you. Jesus said in Matthew 6th chapter “thy will be done in Earth, as it is in heaven.” God has already willed it for you in heaven, and your foes are trying to stop it from happening on Earth.
Our next character trait is found in verse 4 through 7 of I Samuel 17th chapter.
“4And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. 6And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. 7And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.”
Notice that Goliath was something to behold. The records vary, but most agree that Goliath was somewhere between 10 to 13 feet in height. His shield was so heavy that someone carried it for him. He appeared larger than life. To look at him in the natural eye, he would appear to be an undefeatable opponent and very impressive. Our foes appear the same to us. Many times are foes and our problems look bigger than they really are. They seem like they are larger than life, very impressive and undefeatable, but that’s only in the natural. They seem to be giants. Here is an acronym for GIANT.
Great
Image
Appearing awesome
Nevertheless
Tiny
They seem so overwhelming at first, but the God we serve is greater than our foes. The third character trait of our foes is found in verse 11, which says, “When Saul and all Israel heard the words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.” Your foes will use intimidation to try and instill fear in you. Goliath stood and cried out one verbal assault after another until he had instilled fear into all of them. They saw his size, they heard his threats, and they were convinced they could not beat him. Everyone bought into the intimidation except one, David. Your foes will try and use the same methods of intimidation, but don’t buy into the lie. Anyone who constantly puts you down; finds fault in everything you do, and always criticizes you is a foe. So how do we battle our foes?
Plan of Attack against our Foes:
To understand how to fight our foes, we can look at how David fought Goliath as an example. When Saul agreed to let David go fight Goliath, the first thing Saul did was to give David his armor. David said to Saul “ I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them,” and David put them off him. David had not use armor before, and now was not the time to try something new, but he decided to go with what he knew, which was a sling and stones, and plenty of faith. David had never fought with a shield, or helmet, but his weapon had always been a sling, and it had worked for him in the past. He used a proven weapon. When we are battling our foes, we must apply the same concepts, which is to use proven weapons. Now is not the time to try something new, but go with what you know. If you know how to sing, then sing your way through this battle, but don’t start preaching. If you know how to praise, then praise your way through the battle. It is your proven weapon. You have used it in the past, and it worked for you then and it will work for you now. So when you are fighting your foes, use proved weapons.
Secondly, declare victory before the battle ever starts. Look what David said even before he begun to fight in verse 46 “ This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee.” David declared victory, and he was victorious. Remember your foes use intimidating words as their greatest weapon to instill fear in you. Well you can use the same thing, the power of words, to serve notice to the enemy that you are going to win. David said this battle is the Lord’s; and He is going to give me the victory.
Thirdly, David didn’t waste any time, but quickly took the battle to Goliath. Verse 48 says “And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.” He ran to meet the giant. He was not afraid, but quickly and boldly took the fight to him. When dealing with a foe we must not let the issues linger, but quickly deal with it. David was not scared, neither was he impressed or intimidated by Goliath. This has to be the approach and the attitude that we use against the foes we face today. We must deal with them quickly and decisively.
Finally, David struck Goliath in the head with a stone, and then he cut off his head. When dealing with our foes we must go for the head. Don’t waste time dealing with other petty issues, but go to the heart of the problem, and deal with the head. Deal with the one who is causing the problems, because that is your foe. Many times we get so caught in the battle that we lose focus on who the enemy really is. Identify the enemy, and cut him off at the head. So the plan of attack for our foes is:
1. Use proven weapons
2. Declare victory before the battle starts
3. Deal with your foes quickly and decisively
4. Go for the head
