Which Would You Choose?

What Would You Choose?

Sunday, January 09, 2011 - AM

By Pastor James May

David was known as a man after God’s own heart. What a wonderful thing it would be to know that God though of each of us in the same manner. I believe that I am looking out over a lot of people in the church who fit into that same description. One of the things that I ask for in prayer is that God not helps me, but that he helps all of us to know the very heart of God so that we may be useful vessels in God’s House.

David was truly a great man, chosen by God to lead Israel and anointed by God to be king and rule his people and lead them into becoming a great nation. I believe that, in similar fashion, God has chosen each of us and anointed us to become people who will lead many souls into the kingdom of God.

Even though David was a man after God’s own heart, he was also a man who experienced some tremendous battles in his life. Jut because he was called and anointed didn’t mean that he would go through life and serve in his appointed position without troubles.

One thing that we should never forget is that David was a strong leader, and with strong leaders comes strong weaknesses.

Many of us consider ourselves as truly sold out Christians. There is a true conviction in your heart that you will serve the Lord all of your days. You feel that your eyes are fixed on Jesus and your heart’s desire is to know him and become more like Jesus every day.

There is no doubt that God’s love is in your heart. There is no doubt that you have a true commitment to Christ. Your salvation is not in question. But I want to tell you to beware of the enemy of your soul because just as surely as I stand here this morning, there is a great spiritual battle on the horizon. Satan is not going to allow any of us, not one of us, to serve the Lord and seek his face without bringing temptation to sin into our lives.

I am going to tell you part of the story of David this morning, not as a stinging correction for sin, but as an exhortation to beware of the wiles of the devil. He is a subtle enemy and he can often send thoughts into our minds that don’t seem so bad at first, but can have terrible consequences in time.

This is God’s love reaching out to each of this morning, with a gentle nudge brought to us through the convicting power of the Holy Ghost, to help us to be on guard for our souls. Satan is like that roaring lion, walking through the jungles of life, looking for someone, anyone, whom he can destroy. God doesn’t want you to become one of his victims.

This story of David that I want to tell this morning can be found in the Book of 1 Chronicles beginning at chapter 21. David was coming out of a time of great trouble and had won some great victories. There had been a war with the Philistines Gezer and David’s army had won. Then there was another war with the Philistines that was also won, and one of the brothers of Goliath, whom David had killed many years earlier, was also destroyed. No doubt David had been threatened with revenge many times by the family of Goliath who had several brothers who were also giants. No sooner had these two wars been won a third war was forced upon David at Gath, where the son of a giant who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. David had destroyed Goliath, but he had many more giants to defeat before he could claim full victory over the Philistines.

Sometimes we face some pretty big giants of our own. Some of you have faced great giants of physical distress in your family, and just when you thought the war had been won, along comes another giant attacking your body. Some of you have fought the giants of addictions perhaps to drugs, alcohol or tobacco and you finally have won the victory over those terrible giants only to discover that there’s another giant attacking your finances and causing you much trouble. Perhaps you’ve faced both of those giants and God has helped you to overcome them, but then along comes another giants where your relationships between spouses or with your children are strained almost to the breaking point. This is another attack of your own personal “Philistines” and another war to win. Sometimes the war just seems to never end and you begin to wonder how long this can go on. Let me tell you that this too shall pass. You won’t go down in defeat if you just keep holding on to God. Somehow it will all work out to your good in the end if you can just trust the Lord and walk in faith.