Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
6/17/2021
David’s greatest weapon was not his sling but his ______! God.
David had an outlook on this battle that caused God to bring him victory. (Think about that.) Meaning David took God’s word over the opinion of others. His brother Eliab called David every name in the book. Maybe because the oil almost poured on him to be King until God stopped that. He accused him of being a nobody, deceitful. David said, “What have I done?” David was probably that annoying little brother that everyone dismissed because he could be a real pain.
The truth is probably no one can encourage or discourage us like family. Their views are often intimidating, overwhelming, and very convincing.
If people who know us the best encourage us the least, we have few choices to develop confidence.
But David was undaunted by those criticisms for one reason only. David took God’s promises over the opinion of others. David believed the promises from around the campfire Ps 71:5 “For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.” Can you remember some of those discouraging conversations with family?
God tells us we are loved, gifted and blessed, “we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us” Phil 4-13 When the opinions of others become a stumbling block to you, lean on God’s promises.
David measured the size of his obstacle against the size of his God. We all tend to measure our obstacles against our own strength. We often feel overwhelmed, unprepared, and defeated before the battle even begins! Look just because we choose God doesn’t mean the battle doesn’t come or that our battles will be effortless. David was up against a 9-foot mammoth. But God caused his single stone to him like a boulder. God Did This!
David was obedient!
So what is the obstacle you are facing or ignoring or hiding from? We all have them. Isn’t it time we face them and grow with God to another level? Can you make a commitment today to begin measuring your giant obstacle against your God and not your strength? What is it? What are they? Write them down and let’s take them to the cross! Listen to David’s cry in 1 Sam 17:26
“Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
So I ask you… do you approach every circumstance and conflict as a member of an army of the living God? Or as a lone, solitary human hoping for a good outcome…even praying for one…as we sit on the porch waiting for someone to do something for us?
Remember we don’t stand in victory because of our faith. We stand in Victory because of our God! Faith in Faith is pointless. Faith in a living active God that has led multitudes into the promised land is the truth of it. We serve the SAME God. Whether you are in the center of your own Red Sea again or the middle of the lion’s den. We have been here before and God will deliver us again. He is active and he wants to make you living proof.
Remember, the cross would have been God’s greatest defeat had the people not had cause to proclaim…”He is Alive!”
He is alive and he is calling you to act like you are alive in Him. Name those obstacles…. Lay them before God…hold up his word to them. Have faith God is bigger than all of them.
Pray with me one hour this week for the breakthrough you have been promised.
Jeremy Camp I Still Believe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZPMZV9MVVY
