Live Like There’s No Tomorrow.
1 Samuel 17:45-47NKJV
On May 25, 1979, Denis Waitly was desperately trying to catch a flight from Chicago to Los Angeles for a speaking engagement.
There are easier airports to run through than O'Hara! When he arrived at his gate, they had just closed the jetway. Denis begged them to let him on that plane. No luck! Out of breath and out of patience, he made his way to the ticket counter to register a complaint and re-book his travel. While he was waiting in line, and announcement came over the airport intercom. AA flight 91 to Los Angeles had crashed upon take off.
The engine on the left wing of that McDonnell Douglas DC 10 separated from the airplane right after takeoff. The unbalanced arrow dynamics caused the plane to roll, a roll from which it could not recover. All 258 passengers as well as 13 crew members, died in the crash. It was the deadliest aviation accident in the United States history.
That near death experience had a life altering impact on Denis Waitly. Had he been on time, it would've been the last day of his life.
Needless to say, he never registered his complaint. In fact, he never returned his ticket for flight 191. He took his paper ticket and put it in a visible place in his office.
Denis kept this memory before his eyes in a form of a plane ticket, hanging on a plaque he never got on! He say’s until this day, “Never take one single day for granted.’ ‘Live today—Be alive today!”
In 1 Samuel 17, David faced a giant, a giant with his name written on it. His name—Goliath.
Young David had a task that he elected to take head-on, no one else would take.
The power that David possessed came from heaven. It’s not normal for a small young man named David, to defeat a giant from Gath, Goliath was a paid assassin, a champion. Demographically ‘Gath’ produced many giants in that day and time.
No one in all of Israel wanted to contend with Goliath. His reputation went before him. He’d never lost one battle, because losing meant death. He’d won every time! Let’s just say, “Goliath had many victories under his belt.”
Let me set this up for you, Israel had been sending all their army to stand before this Goliath. Everyday for 40 days as Goliath came out to fight, he would yell, and all the Israelite Army would, turn-tail and run.
This true account in your Bible tells us that only David had a vision for this cause. He spoke to before his negative brothers, that got back to King Saul. “Is there not a cause!” (This speaks of Vision)
Isaiah 43:1NKJV But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel:“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”
Somebody said, Fear is the dark room where our negatives are developed. It's interest paid in advance on a debt you may never owe.
A lot can be done as we gather a greater understanding that the Lord is with us, fear not!
Going back to our text, David was saying, “If we want to remain free we have to obtain a cause! A vision of the enemies demise. We have to see this in the spirit!” P.H
1 Samuel 17:45-47NKJV Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with 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 defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”
Think about this, this Giants help, Goliath, by name, came in the form of a sword, a spear, and, a javelin.
This Goliath was an expert with his weapons, his weapons were gathered from the ground out of minerals of the earth, to become forged into steel and thus weapons.
At the end, Goliath had nothing to offer other than this world’s goods.
David proclaimed, 1 Samuel 17:47TM The whole earth will know that there’s an extraordinary God in Israel. And everyone gathered here will learn that God doesn’t save by means of sword or spear. The battle belongs to God—he’s handing you to us on a platter!”
David’s sole confidence was through his former testimonies, of the Lion, and the Bear. How he defeated them. David understood that this battle solely belongs to the Lord!
As David spoke, the battle belongs to the Lord. This one statement proclaimed his faith in God.
The Lord spoke this in my spirit to remind me, “The day you have to chase a lion into a pit on a snowy day, and kill it.' ‘The day you have to declare this Goliath of debt, of sin, Giant of worry, of regret, Giant of fear about today, worries of yesterday and the future.’ ‘The day you declare whose battle this really is. That day, you will be free.”P.H
David didn’t carry around an airplane ticket, no, not like Denis, No, he carried around Goliath’s head, he hung his amour up on a wall, as a memorial, to be a regular reminder of the Lord in whom he served.
Think about this, at the very center of your Bible is, Psalm 103:1-2NKJV Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
At the core of it all, is trusting in the Lord. Repeatedly saying when necessary, “I will bless the Lord, I will trust the Lord, I will keep my faith in the Lord of heaven’s army, I will bless His holy name!” P.H
Again backing up, 1 Samuel 17:45TM David answered, “You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel’s troops, whom you curse and mock.
Psalm 118:6NKJV The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
Moving forward and then backwards, Franklin D Roosevelt re-entered the political arena fearlessly campaigning to become the governor of New York which he did in 1929. He then went on to become one of America's greatest presidents and guided the nation to victory in World War II. In his memoirs Roosevelt recalls how when he turned to the Lord God for help, courage, and guidance, and he received them.
Again, are you afraid today? If you are, stand on this promise the Lord is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do to me—Psalm 118:6?
“We need a continual awareness of God’s presence!” P.H
For more clarity, During the great depression unemployment hit 25% of the American population. Savings accounts were wiped out by bank failures. Farmers lost their land to foreclosures, and people were having trouble just feeding their families. During this time President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the nation in these words: “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
What most people did not realize is that Roosevelt himself once experienced some dark hours during which fear paralyzed him. Roosevelt was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he went to the best schools and graduated with honors; however, polio had stricken him, and during Roosevelt’s long, hard recovery, he developed and extreme fear of fire, he worried he wouldn't be able to escape because of his disability. In time, Roosevelt overcame his fear, regained the use of his hands, and even learned to walk again with the aid of braces.
The Lord just brought me by today to tell you that—“you and the Lord are a majority.”
Romans 8:35-39TPT Who could ever divorce us from the endless love of God’s Anointed One? Absolutely no one! For nothing in the universe has the power to diminish his love toward us. Troubles, pressures, and problems are unable to come between us and heaven’s love. What about persecutions, deprivations, dangers, and death threats? No, for they are all impotent to hinder omnipotent love, 36 even though it is written: All day long we face death threats for your sake, God. We are considered to be nothing more than sheep to be slaughtered! 37 Yet even in the midst of all these things, we triumph over them all, for God has made us to be more than conquerors, and his demonstrated love is our glorious victory over everything! 38 So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. 39 There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!
Listen to the middle verse of today’s text:
1 Samuel 17:46TM This very day God is handing you over to me. I’m about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up your body and the bodies of your Philistine buddies to the crows and coyotes. The whole earth will know that there’s an extraordinary God in Israel.
On January 30,1930, Frank Laubach initiated an experiment he called “the game with minutes.” The goal? Continual awareness of God's presence.
Six months into his research, he wrote these words in his prayer journal: “Last Monday was the most completely successful day of my life to date, so far as giving my day in complete and continuous surrender to God is concerned…” As I looked at people with a love God gave, they looked back and acted as though they wanted to go with me. I felt then that for a day I saw a little of the marvelous pull that Jesus had as he walked along the road day after day “God intoxicated” and radiant with endless communion of his soul with God.”
In closing, The Lord said these words to my spirit—He will give you more wins, days, months and years.
Benediction. One question by a show of hands. “How many saints are ready to live like there’s no tomorrow?”
