Day `65, 06-March-2015, let us continue to meditate and pray the Lord's Prayer today.
Send a great revival in my soul, send a great revival in my soul, let the Holy Spirit come and take control, Lord, send a great revival in my soul.
" A dead calm is our enemy, a storm may prove our helper. thought may come Divine Controversy may arouse though, and through thought may come Divine change"- C H Spurgeon (Revival year sermons)
48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
1 Samuel 17: 48-50
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34 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, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
1 Samuel 17:34-37
2Samuel 21:22: These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
David was designed to be a giant killer but that part of him did not come forth in his father’s house. He had to move away from the comfort zone, face criticism from his brothers for being too nosey, and then he dealt withGoliath the giant (1Samuel 17). However, there are giants that he needed to confront in himself before he could confront the giant outside. The giants within Overcoming criticism As mentioned above he had to respond adequately to criticism. He did not allow the criticisms to derail him from his purpose. If you are going to be a giant killer, that will be true in your life. Jesus said that blessed are you when you are hated by others (Luke 6:22-26), and you can’t be a giant killer without have the favour of God on you, which is the blessing that comes from being hated by men. Contradictory? Jesus is the ultimate giant killer, and his life was marked by criticisms. He said that if he is called Beelzebub, we should expect that we would also be called worse names, those of us he is training to be giant killers like himself (Matthew 10:24-25). The giants represent people’s fears, bondages, what dominates them and the ultimate thing that dominates humanity is sin. Jesus was born to be deal with the problem of sin, even his name testified to that. He was named Jesus because he will save his people from their sin (Matthew 1:21). David killed his giant and he had men who following after him, also became giant killers just as Jesus said that his disciples will do greater things than he did (John 14:12). Overcoming tradition Apart from criticism, David also had to overcome tradition, how things used to be done. Saul offered to give David his armour (which represent tradition), if David had worn those and defeated Goliath then some of the glory would be to God, but he defeated him with a stone picked from the stream. David used an unconventional method. He dealt with Goliath with an object that he picked up on the spur of the moment. That was an expression of divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He picked it up from a stream which represents the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39). Samson had the experience of the Spirit of the Lord coming upon him on the spur of the moment to deal with opposition. He doesn’t have to prepare for the opposition, but when in danger, a spiritual adrenaline gets activated in him, as the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him. And he becomes spiritually energised and can confront any opposition no matter their number, or skill set. We need to move from tradition to the Spirit. It is not a day’s job, but we need to get moving in that direction. Elijah experienced the hand of the Lord on him when the rain was about to come down after three and a half years of drought, and he was able to outrun chariots drawn by speeding horses (1Kings 18:42-46). That was beyond normal. Killing a giant is not normal, it is extraordinary. It requires the operation of the hand of God. Overcoming fear Another thing you have to overcome, to be able to kill a giant, is fear. The whole army of Israel was in the throes of fear with Goliath taunting them for weeks. But here comes a teenager (David) who has had the opportunity to deal with fear in the wilderness. While he was looking after his father’s sheep there, a lion and a bear came after the sheep. But he had more concern about saving the sheep than saving his own life. That was an exceptional mindset (he exhibited selflessness), that was a man who had mastered fear, stepping forward in spite of it. |
He was exceptional in secret (in the wilderness where no one was applauding him) before becoming exceptional in the public. When we walk in the realm of fearlessness and total trusts in God, giants are nothing.
What we need to have to kill the giants Remember that shortly before David vanquished Goliath, he was anointed by Samuel. Giants get knocked by stones released by the anointed. Those anointed stones can hit the giant where he is exposed; there is no struggle, no combat, only penetration by the Holy Spirit. Therefore to get the giant on its knees what is needed is penetration. And for effective penetration we need vision and speed and skill. Vision Without a vision of what is possible, no giant gets hit. Vision is about focus. The bible records: without vision the people perish (Proverbs 29:18). Conversely with vision, we get the opposition to perish. We have the ability to penetrate and bringing the giant down, the giants of lack, of sickness, or all manners of problems that we can be faced with as individuals or as a community. Everything answers to vision; answers to what God is saying, because what God says paints a picture. Elisha was in training under Elijah for a period of time, by the time that season was done, he was equipped enough to be a solution bearer for people and nation of Israel. The city of Jericho was facing the giant of bad water system, Elisha had the insight into the mind of God to have them take salt and put into the water and he spoke to that water; bringing down that giant of environmental degradation (2Kings 2:1-22). A woman came to Elisha with a giant of lack threatening to “eat” up her two sons. But via the anointing of a prophet on Elisha, he gave the woman instructions that ensured that lack was dealt with in that life (2Kings 4:1-7). Speed David moved with great speed towards the giant. That speaks of intensity. That speaks of passion. You need to get your passion level up before you can experience a shift, because you are going to have things that want to move you off your track. When it comes to winning a race, it is not just enough to follow the rules; you need to have some speed. Elijah had passion/intensity. And he was able to deal with the giant of godlessness in his time. The bible recorded that he prayed earnestly that it should not rain (James 5:16-18), towards restoring godliness to the nation of Isreal. You can’t be laid back and kill a giant. Skill There is knowledge and expertise involved in getting down the giant. The bible says, my people perish for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). The giant is not going to fall because of wishful thinking. You have to know what you are about. Use all the opportunity that you have to push your training to the next level. Your skill can be a gifting and developing it will definitely lead to vanquishing the giants. Paul told Timothy that he needs to get his gifts revved up, because through that, his profit will be seen by all men. David exhibited skill in the use of a sling. Goliath had no answer to that skill. He had to protection against it. He was unprepared for it. He was actually taken unawares by it. Many people despise their skills. But you should take your spiritual equipment seriously; it is the key to your killing the giants. And don’t get choked up by fear. Paul told Timothy exactly that. He added that he should focus on love, power and sound mind that he has from the Spirit of God, in stirring up his spiritual gifts. They are needed to express his spiritual gift. That is his spiritual skill, and key to his becoming a giant killer (2Timothy 1:6-7, 1Timothy 4:13-16). http://dailymedit.com/2013/05/27/giant-killers/ |