[S] 1 Samuel 17:3 --
3 The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side while Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with the valley between them.
[O] This whole scene of the battle formation on either side of this valley seems to depict the spiritual battle right in the midst of the spiritual community of our church where the enemy sends out their "Goliath" to challenge us to come out and fight him day in and day out. And to a certain extent the tension's been building up in our battle situation and more heat is being put on with so much stuff happening. How can we find a breakthrough? I see the boy David's total reliance on God as the foundation of our breakthrough. Despite the few number of sheep (verse 28) he was tending, he shepherded them with total reliance on God and what he trained for came out when he heard Goliath mocking the God of Israel and with that confidence in God he defeated Goliath. What is interesting is that as soon as Goliath fell, the Philistines fled while the Israelites stood up in confidence and pursued the Philistines. In the original picture painted in verse 3, we see this terrible enemy scaring the Israelites with this giant in front of them; but the scene changes quickly when the little boy with some stones in his pouch breaks through and knocks out their flag ship.
[A] The enemy's tactic has not changed where he just scares us to keep us at bay when there is no substance at all behind his deception. When the power of God flows through just a few (or one) people, the enemy will be on the run. This is a very crucial period for our church to break out of the apprehensive holding pattern. This is the time for the leaders to step forward and face the "fake" giant and slay him with the confidence of our day-to-day God Stories. I am requesting God to use me in such a way -- 100% God factor, 0% me factor.
[P] Dear God of Heaven, I feel it is time to break out of the cold war as in verse 3 by shifting the focus away from the "giant" to the real Giant faith in the Big God I worship and praise. May I have the faith like David in result of my daily victorious experiences of You. May Your power breaks through in the midst of our community. In Jesus' name. Amen.
From my Life devotional journaling and more (Read Today's Passage)
Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
Showing posts with label Overcoming Giants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Overcoming Giants. Show all posts
Friday, April 15, 2011
Friday, March 05, 2010
Bigger, Taller, Large, and Fortified to the Max
[S] Deuteronomy 1:22-33 (boldface added by me)--
22"Then all of you approached me and said, 'Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter.'
23"The thing pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe.
24"They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol and spied it out.
25"Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought us back a report and said, 'It is a good land which the LORD our God is about to give us.'
26"Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God;
27and you grumbled in your tents and said, 'Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.
28'Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, "The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there."'
29"Then I said to you, 'Do not be shocked, nor fear them.
30'The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
31and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.'
32"But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God,
33who goes before you on your way,to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.
[O] In this passage I've noted the process of how the Israelites responded to God's promise and command of entering into Canaan and conquer that land. Initially they requested Moses to send a survey team to scope out that land which sounded good to Moses and 12 representatives were sent into the land for 40 days to survey and report back. They returned to acknowledge that the land indeed is good as God said (v.25) but 10 of the 12 spies reported that the risks of getting beaten by these "giants" are too high and they should not enter the land. This report discouraged the people to a point of melting their hearts (v.28). The obstacle they were facing grew bigger and bigger and their hearts sank deeper and deeper. Moses' reminder that God promised to fight for the people ahead of them didn't help much. They already forgot about the miraculous exodus from Egypt as well as how God had led them through the Red Sea and then through the desert while providing food to eat from heaven. Moses says in verse 32: "But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, ..." Many of us believers often say, "trust and obey" but how many times do we really trust and obey when we're up against the obstacles that are far bigger than what I can ever imagine? That's when I need to surrender my fear and move forward if, in the first place, I trusted God's promise for me. Why is it that we quickly forget about the commitment and begin to justify using our own logic to veer away from the original bearing? In my observation, the main cause for this is because, 1) we lack the experience of God "defeating the giant obstacles" so we don't have any reference point in our lives to latch on to God's powerful promise; 2) we don't give our spiritual leaders enough credit & trust to follow their path.
The Israelites refused to trust what Moses (plus Joshua and Caleb) told them that this land is already given to be theirs regardless of who lives in there now. They were probably thinking who is this guy telling us some crazy thing to do. Can't he see who lives in there? Instead had they overcome such a fear with "but" Moses is a man of God and he is in tuned with God and so I give my trust to him as our leader to take us into the place God desires for us to be -- in Canaan -- to bless us. This is not easy with all the circumstantial influences but God is looking for such a follower to do His works here on earth.
[A] I need to examine my heart about how closely I am following my spiritual leader and whether I'm giving them my trust because God's proven to me they are His people. Based on this, I must collaborate in spirit to work through some of the challenges in the ministries I'm involved with by claiming the original promise God placed in my heart about how He desires to use me there -- rain or shine.
[P] Dear God, "rain or shine" I desire to stick close to You by committing my services to the spiritual leaders You placed over me. I do not want to veer away like the Israelites here just because my own outlook seems too gray or even fearful that I will be swallowed up by the forces against me. I trust You oh Lord Jesus. In Your name. Amen.
22"Then all of you approached me and said, 'Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter.'
23"The thing pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe.
24"They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol and spied it out.
25"Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought us back a report and said, 'It is a good land which the LORD our God is about to give us.'
26"Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God;
27and you grumbled in your tents and said, 'Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.
28'Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, "The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there."'
29"Then I said to you, 'Do not be shocked, nor fear them.
30'The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
31and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.'
32"But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God,
33who goes before you on your way,to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.
[O] In this passage I've noted the process of how the Israelites responded to God's promise and command of entering into Canaan and conquer that land. Initially they requested Moses to send a survey team to scope out that land which sounded good to Moses and 12 representatives were sent into the land for 40 days to survey and report back. They returned to acknowledge that the land indeed is good as God said (v.25) but 10 of the 12 spies reported that the risks of getting beaten by these "giants" are too high and they should not enter the land. This report discouraged the people to a point of melting their hearts (v.28). The obstacle they were facing grew bigger and bigger and their hearts sank deeper and deeper. Moses' reminder that God promised to fight for the people ahead of them didn't help much. They already forgot about the miraculous exodus from Egypt as well as how God had led them through the Red Sea and then through the desert while providing food to eat from heaven. Moses says in verse 32: "But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, ..." Many of us believers often say, "trust and obey" but how many times do we really trust and obey when we're up against the obstacles that are far bigger than what I can ever imagine? That's when I need to surrender my fear and move forward if, in the first place, I trusted God's promise for me. Why is it that we quickly forget about the commitment and begin to justify using our own logic to veer away from the original bearing? In my observation, the main cause for this is because, 1) we lack the experience of God "defeating the giant obstacles" so we don't have any reference point in our lives to latch on to God's powerful promise; 2) we don't give our spiritual leaders enough credit & trust to follow their path.
The Israelites refused to trust what Moses (plus Joshua and Caleb) told them that this land is already given to be theirs regardless of who lives in there now. They were probably thinking who is this guy telling us some crazy thing to do. Can't he see who lives in there? Instead had they overcome such a fear with "but" Moses is a man of God and he is in tuned with God and so I give my trust to him as our leader to take us into the place God desires for us to be -- in Canaan -- to bless us. This is not easy with all the circumstantial influences but God is looking for such a follower to do His works here on earth.
[A] I need to examine my heart about how closely I am following my spiritual leader and whether I'm giving them my trust because God's proven to me they are His people. Based on this, I must collaborate in spirit to work through some of the challenges in the ministries I'm involved with by claiming the original promise God placed in my heart about how He desires to use me there -- rain or shine.
[P] Dear God, "rain or shine" I desire to stick close to You by committing my services to the spiritual leaders You placed over me. I do not want to veer away like the Israelites here just because my own outlook seems too gray or even fearful that I will be swallowed up by the forces against me. I trust You oh Lord Jesus. In Your name. Amen.
Labels:
Commitment,
Devotion,
Leadership,
Overcoming Giants,
Trust
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