Fighting the giants in your life
1 Samuel 17
Prayer-
Tonight we will be having a time of worship and prayer. Josh and our sound team along with the worship team from Lebanon put together a service that will give us freedom to worship God and ask God to respond to things going on in our lives through prayer. If you would want to say a prayer, you will be able. If you would like to just pray and not be one to speak, you will be able to do that also. You will not have to do anything that you do not want to do.
We need that… all of us do. We can all find something else to do tonight and adding one more thing after a busy week is a lot to ask. But I ask you, how are things going? Are things working out or do you desire to seek God and ask him what to do?
This morning I want to ask you…
What giants are you fighting?
Are they new and occasional or are they the same old ones that you cannot get victory from? What are you doing with them? What are you doing about them?
Turn to 1 Samuel 17/ selected verses
Familiar verse and story we have probably heard. This morning let’s look at it not only as an event that happened to someone else, but let’s apply the lessons to our lives today.
It is about shepherd David fighting the soldier Goliath-
The underdog fighting and defeating a giant.
Fighting someone/something that was bigger than him and no match in any sense of the word.
How they both got there was not in this one battle. It was a nation fighting against God’s people and God showed up and showed his power.
David on the other hand was not just a soldier that was hoping to defeat His enemy but was trained, encouraged all through his life by God through the small events in his life. He defeated animals that had tried to kill the sheep that David was call to protect.
He was encouraged by a father that believed in him and showed him the way.
David was anointed by God early in his life to fulfill a purpose that was to come later in his life.
David one day, that is the way those unexpected giants show up- one day, he was following his father’s orders to go see how his brothers were doing, give them food, and report back to him. That was what was supposed to happen. He does what he is suppose to and in an instant he is now faced with a giant in his life.
No one wants to get involved- he decides he will get involved.
People give him all the reasons in the world why he can’t do it and they won’t do it.
He tries to prove to them that not only is he willing, but he has a shot at defeating the giant.
(32) “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine (giant); your servant will go and fight him.”
(26) “David asked the men standing near him, what will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel?”
The King will pour out great blessing!
Anybody want and /or need a great blessing from the King this morning?
So David is suddenly in the fight of his life with the giant of his life. He chooses to fill his bag with smooth rocks and heads into battle
The Philistine looks David over and despises that anyone would step up and challenged him- “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.”
Goliath cursed David by his gods, but king Saul had blessed him and said , the Lord be with you.
“David said to the Philistine, you come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled.”
“David struck down the Philistine and then ran over to him face to face- “David ran over and stood over him- he took hold of the Philistines sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.”
This a great story of victory- grotesque in nature, after all a man was killed and had his head cut off. But what can we learn today from this portion of scripture?
Give your giant a name- identify him.
Israel giant was a 9 foot tall Philistine named Goliath! He had a name. What is the name of your giant this morning?
Fear?
Anger?
Addiction?
Sickness?
Loneliness?
Pride?
Poverty?
Divorce?
Lust?
A certain person ?
Name it this morning!
When you give your giant a name- you know who you are fighting and then you turn that name over to your God!
I turn fear over to you, I turn sickness, I turn loneliness, what ever it is, you name and you turn it over to God this morning.
Fear keeps us from identifying the giant because when we do, we have to do something with him.
The Goliath's in our lives operate by putting us into fear mode instead of battle mode-
Goliath put fear in their hearts and never had to prove himself.
He existed in his ability to frighten the Israelites into submission.
David on the other hand was sure of himself because he had slain animals that had threatened his sheep. He was an over comer because he had faith in Who he belonged too rather than just operating in his own strength.
Here are some other reasons you give it a name and you don’t bury it in the back of your mind but face it head on!
Sometimes, you must take the fight to your giant- What the devil has stolen, you must get it back. As a child of God, you have the resources and power of all heaven fighting your battles and you need not forget who you belong too. You need to be the one giving the black eye instead of receiving it. Amen.
We must have a firm and steady defense, but offense scores the points! We have to put our enemy, or giants on defense and go at them with the power of Almighty God working on our behalf.
Don’t run from the battle- We don’t go looking for battles, but as children of God, we must stand firm in the midst of a battle. Remember our saying around here a few years ago. When we have done all that we know to do, we must stand firm and allow God to fight our battles.
Don’t be afraid- Fear paralyzes most. Fear keeps us from accomplishing what God intends for our lives. If God is for us, who can be against us”?
Whom shall you fear if you are operating in the blessing and power of God
Don’t worry about what other people think- care more what God thinks. Care enough to be seeking and asking God what you need to do about your enemy
Illustration-
I would like to share a personal illustration with you-
I am not a bully and I was never a bully, but I have a thing against bullies. I have always defended the underdog, not because I was a tough guy, but because I believed it wrong to harm someone for no reason except that you could. 2 guys during my school years that I would consider at the time a bully and ones that would inflict hurt on people for no reason were Clarence “Buck” Gilbert and Eugene Burrell. These two guys I believed were in their 20’s’ coming to grade school. Eugene had a mustache in grade school and is the only one that I know that got a speeding ticket riding his bike to school in Milwaukee Wisconsin. “Buck” was just mean- He would go out of his way to just torment and intimate those that did not stand up to him. Both cases I had had enough- one was bothering me and one was tormenting my friend John who you met a few years ago. I had to take a stand. I had to stand up to them. Without going into the details, which is not the point of the illustration, At some point, you have to stand up to the giants, at the risk of being hurt, but also so that the giant stops attacking you.
They had a name and I knew why they were my giant and what it would take for the giant to leave me alone.
Some of you are facing giants outside of the home.
Some of you are facing giants inside the home.
Some are facing giants inside of yourself.
If your giant is in the past, kill it so that it cannot keep you anymore from the future.
You have to cut the head off-allowing God to destroy it completely.
If it is a person, you may have to break away.
Sometimes, you forgive but not put yourself in the same situation.
Sometimes God has it start fresh and new- either way the old has got to be dealt with
If it needs to be dealt with, let’s not bury in a closet, but expose it so that it has no power over you anymore.
Giant fighters are groomed not appointed.
17:34-36
“But David said to Saul, your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this circumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.”
Let that marinate for a minute- This youth volunteered where other men were scared because David was assuring King Saul that he was no stranger to fighting for what is right. He had fought lions and bears and this Philistine will be no different. He refused the armor of the king and chose to use what he knew best- let me take these five shiny stones.
Lions and tigers and bears…oh my.
I will hit this giant right between the eyes! How can I be so sure?
“The battle is the Lords and he will give all of you into my hands.”
It seems to me that the Lord is looking for a few giant slayers to do what He has given us the power to do and take what is rightfully ours as a child of God!
2 Corinthians 12:9-11
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships ,in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Psalms 23
“The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”
Giant fighters use the past to enhance the future not destroy it.
Because he had stood up and fought before- his past was filled with God’s great power and ability to give him victory. This Philistine was no match for His God.
The very sword that was to be used against him was the weapon the Lord used to destroy the destroyer.
Genesis 50
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
God has your back! You may be going through a thing, but that thing doesn’t have you and cannot determine who you are in Jesus!
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Last one as we close,
Giant fighters use fear to conquer obstacles in their way.
David did things that he had wished you did not do- so do you and so do I- the difference is when we realize who we are in Christ and what that means for our lives- here and for eternity.
Was he afraid? Yes- but in God, He had the strength to do what was needed in the strength that God gave him.
Don’t let fear paralyze you! You have got things to do for the kingdom of God and for the Lord that you serve.
The world that we live in has many giants. These enemies seem large and strong. But they are not stronger than the God that we serve.
I love the scene from the movie facing the giants- the death crawl- football player puts a player on his back and was to go 30 yards blindfolded . the coach encouraged him and pushed him and would not let him give up. Don’t you quit on me! Give me your best! And fell in the endzone after going the whole 100 yards. God wants us to go the whole 100 yards. He will be our encourager and our strength to help us get to the finish line and accomplish what He desires for our life.
I don’t want to be tired, I want to be wired!
All I need today is a little bit of coffee and a whole lot of Jesus- I would make a sign that said- All I need today is a little bit of courage and a whole lot of God’s Holy Spirit working in my life.
Amen.
