David as a Warrior
1st Samuel 17
When it came to being a soldier, David was a very successful warrior. He knew how to fight but most importantly how to win. By looking at the way David went into his battles, my prayer is that you too learn how to become a successful warrior, a good soldier for the cause of Christ.
Whether you know it or not, you are in a battle. That’s why Paul told a young Timothy to, “…endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
David knew what it took to be a good solider and it started with the proper TRAINING.
1. Training – You can not expect to fight the “Big Battles” of life without the proper training. And you wander why you have these so called, “stumbling blocks” in your life.
Army Basic Training – the first step a 9 week course
Week 1 – Orientation:
Understanding the battle
Week 2 – Study Navigation Course:
Knowing the ground you are about to cover
Week 3 – Obstacle Course:
Learning the obstacles you are about to face
Week 4 – Firing Range:
Learning how to use your weapons or “tools”
God knew there would be a Goliath in David’s life that is why He sent a Lion and a Bear for David to receive some much needed training.
So how do we receive our training?
A. Orientation:
Sunday School, DT, Worship Services, Bible School, Daily Quite Time, etc.. you have to understand the battle you are in
B. Following Godly examples:
Learn how other Christians get through life by listening to their testimonies…
C. Just simply Fighting:
Taking on the battles in your own life
Training is so very important!
Psalms 22:6
“Train up a child in the way he should go even when he is old he will not depart from it”
2nd Timothy 2:15
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed”
If you constantly find yourself losing battles on a daily basis maybe you have not received the proper training. Get in the Word and start figuring out the bigger battle at hand.
WARNING: to all Church Teachers
You have students in your class on a regular basis. They are not coming so you can record them in attendance to help your numbers. They are in training and you need to make sure that you are using every opportunity to share with them how they can win the battle.
Get the proper training!
2. Tools – weapons to use in fighting the battle
I want you to notice two things about the “tools” that God has for you to use.
A. Use what God gives you
The world will try to tell you how to fight and with what tools to use. King Saul gave David his armor to be used against the Giant. Why?
1. It was obvious the king was going to need them
2. The king did not really have faith in David
B. Prove (test) your tools
When David put on the armor it was not a good fit. Notice what he said in v.39 “…I have not proved them”. Most people wait until they get right in the heat of the battle and then decide to try out their tools (weapons). That is not the time to be figuring out what you have and how they work. (Ex. Praying)
2nd Corinthians 10:4 tells us “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for destruction. That means to win in this battle the weapons have to come from God not man.
God says:
Gird your loins with truth
Put on the breastplate of Righteousness
Shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel
Take up your shield of Faith
Put on the helmet of Salvation
Have in hand the Sword of the Spirit (Bible)
….but it doesn’t stop there
He says with prayer and petitions pray at all times in the Spirit and with this in view be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.
God doesn’t need weapons of mass destruction:
He just needs a willing Shepard boy who knows how to fight with what he has.
3. TRENCH –
David doing what was asked of his father; he got up and went to the battlefield to check on his brothers. Notice in v.20, the Bible says that David “came to the trench”(kjv). (other versions – “circle of the camp”)
Trench – long narrow ditch, protection in warfare.
Illustration: After the Battle of the Marne in Sept. 1914, the German army was forced to retreat. They had failed in their objective to compel France into an early surrender. Rather than give up the territory which they already held, the Germans dug in to protect themselves from the guns of the advancing Allies. The trenches were protected by lines of barbed wire with No-Man’s land in between.
These trenches were use rather than giving up. They would form them in a zigzag pattern to keep the enemy from shooting down a straight line. Sand bags were also used on both sides of the trench to absorb the enemy bullets.
God has placed you in a trench for your protection:
1. It’s your trench – pre-ordained, your very own
The place where you are to be (teaching/singing/visiting/praying)
2. God placed you there – where God places you, He will keep you and protect you. No need in looking or moving to another trench.
Stay where God is. It’s when you get out of your trench when the enemy fire will begin to hit you.
4. Tenacity – persistent determination
backbone, courage, firmness, heart, nerve, perseverance, spunk, steadfastness, true grit
David had every opportunity to give up. But he wouldn’t listen to the world.
v.28 – “You’re not suppose to be here”
v. 33 – “You’re not able to fight”
v. 33 – “You’re too young”
v. 42 – The giant “disdained” or rejected David
But David didn’t give up! He didn’t allow these negative thoughts get into his head.
The enemy or your opponent can defeat you before you ever being just by “trash talking”.
People will tell you that you can’t
Co-workers will laugh at your faith
Family members will mock you
Bosses will use you as the butt of their jokes
But you can’t give up. You have to have the same attitude that David had. He determined in his heart that walking in “the name of the Lord” is enough.
Paul writes in Eph. 6
v.11 “…that you maybe able to stand firm”
v.13 “Stand firm”
v.14 “Stand firm”
1st Corinthians 16:13, “Be on the alert and stand firm”
God knows the enemy will tear you down if and only if you let him. Have the tenacity like David and Stand Firm!
5. Testimony –
The battle belongs to the Lord and you don’t mess with God’s kids.
Read v.52 –
It was David’s courage and the testimony of his defeat of the giant that allowed the men of Israel and Judah to run after the Philistines, chasing them out of the country,
Your testimony is important but only when it is shared!
Why share your testimony =
It gives God the Glory for what He had done
It reminds yourself of where you were brought from
It encourages others to continue in the fight
Battle Hymn:
It was in the midst of the terrible U.S. Civil War. Deeply anguished at the growing conflict between two sections of the country, Mrs. Julia Howe watched troops marching off to war singing, “John Brown’s Body”, a song about a man who had been hanged in his efforts to free the slaves. Julia felt that the catchy camp meeting tune should have better words. In a desire to phrase her own feelings she penned these words:
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.
You have to make up in your mind that you are not going to be defeated. And just like David you are:
Going to get the TRAINED
Learn how to use your TOOLS
Find your TRENCH and stay in it
Build TENACITY within yourself so you don’t give up
So you too can have a TESTIMONY as a victor.
