Day Twelve: Fear And Despair Has Been Destroyed.

 

 

This is the last day of thisbible plan and I trust that I have planted a seed of hope into your life andthat you have received practical things you can do. You can have the victory ifyou follow the Word.

If there is one thing that standsout from the story of David, it is that he had a relationship with God. Fromthat relationship, he could do mighty exploits. He became the champion of thenation of Israel in this momentous event, and later on, he became the king ofIsrael. But it all began when he had to shepherd his father’s sheep. Never despisethe small beginnings because you don’t know where it will lead.

Every part of the Bible is forour edification and growth. It is also a very practical book that gives us thehow and the what. A manual to govern our lives and receive the victory inChrist.

Twelve is the number ofgovernment; it is the number of completeness and wholeness. God wants us towalk in wholeness every day of our lives. He wants us to have dominion in oursphere of influence. Therefore, it is important to understand that when youtake action in the right way, fear can be completely overcome.

Let’s look at the last fourscriptures in I Sam 17.

51And when the Philistines saw thattheir champion was dead, they fled. 52Now the men of Israel and Judah arose andshouted, and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley andto the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the roadto Shaaraim, even as far as Gath and Ekron. 53Then the children of Israelreturned from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents. 54AndDavid took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he puthis armor in his tent.

Because the mindset of despair and fear was broken, Israel could attack the Philistines. The battle has shifted from a victim to dominion. When Goliath’s head was cut off, the rulership returned to the nation.· Then they pursued the Philistines to thevalley and to the gates of Ekron. Ekron means barrenness and to be torn upby the roots. It is a place where many battles had taken place. It was also thelast resting place of the ark before it returned to Jerusalem. The Philistineshad to be torn up by their roots in the valley for Israel to take back what Godhas demanded and in its later years, Ekron was totally demolished. The roleswere now switched. Israel was no longer in the valley, but the Philistineswere.

·      The other point here is that they were chased tothe gates of Ekron. Gates plays a vital part within the scriptures. Godloves the gates of Zion. It is a place of victory. But in the case ofPhilistine, they had to be chased back into the gates, where they could becompletely stripped from their arrogance. They had to return to the place ofbarrenness to be torn up by the root. Gates is a place of dominion andrulership and they understood that they were now totally stripped from theirdominion. This was the final nail in the coffin.

David took the head back to Jerusalem. The head is significant because it is the place where dominion is birthed. It is the place of rulership. By removing the head and taking it back to Saul, David demonstrated that the Philistines were defeated. Remember, on day two of this plan, we learned that Goliath was the champion of the Philistines. So, David showed them that this champion is now the defeated foe. David removed the head from his body.

He placed Goliath’s armour in his tent. Goliath’s armour would have been valuable and useful. Up to this event, the Philistines had the upper hand over Israel. At that time in history, they didn’t allow blacksmiths to operate in Israel. The Israelites were virtually devoid of weapons because of the oppression of the Philistines. Again, we see David’s intelligence. He looked into the future. He knew this would not be his last battle. He prepared himself.

 

1 Samuel13:19-22:

Now there wasno blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for thePhilistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears.”  (20) But every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpenhis plowshare, his mattock, his axe, or his sickle, (21) and the charge wastwo-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and a third ofa shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads. (22)  So on the day of the battle there was neithersword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan,but Saul and Jonathan his son had them.

Whose son is this?

In the last few scriptures, welearn a few significant truths.

· You will be unrecognizable to the people youknow.

· A new leader was born.

· It changed how people looked at David.

· Saul didn’t recognize him.

· He was not judged by his looks or age anylonger.

55When Saul saw David going outagainst the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner,whose son is this youth?”

And Abner said, “As your soul lives,O king, I do not know.”

56So the king said, “Inquire whoseson this young man is.”

57Then, as David returned from theslaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul withthe head of the Philistine in his hand. 58And Saul said to him, “Whose sonare you, young man?”

So David answered, “I am the son ofyour servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

There is a lot more to say aboutthis last piece of scripture, but I will stop here for now and recapture whatwe have learned.

The story of David and Goliathgives us valuable insight into the hearts of Saul and Israel. And into thehearts of the enemies of Israel, and into the hearts of the enemies of God. Thereis a distinct difference in these enemies. Again, this is a lesson for anotherday.

And most importantly, it gives usvaluable insight into the heart of a leader.

When we know who we are in Christand who the battle belongs to, we can overcome the enemy of our minds and theenemies of God.

We don’t have to stay in despairor fear. We can overcome this mental blockage or blind spots by the same wayDavid did.

The story of David doesn’t stophere and is a great resource for our walk as believers. David is the templatewe can follow. Once we understand the application, we can overcome whatever theenemy throws at us.

But let us recap what we havelearned over the last twelve days:

1. Wemust choose our place of battle correctly.

2. Wemust understand who we fight against.

3. Goddoesn’t use the ordinary but the extraordinary to defeat the enemy.

4. Wemust understand our mandate.

5. Wemust not rely on our own armour.

6. Wemust stay connected to the Living water.

7. Ourstones must be smooth before they can be used.

8. Ourfuture is secure in Christ.

9. Wemust be an exact representation of Christ.

10. We mustknow in whose name we fight.

11. We mustknow what the practical things are to overcome.

12. Fear anddespair can be defeated.

As you continue your day, testwhere you are and align yourself with the Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead youinto all truth and walk in the victory you were meant to do.

 

Grace and peace to you.

 

Thanks for reading along. I trustthat this Bible plan has convinced you to pick up the Bible and read it again.There are so many precious things in it that are useful for our daily life.Things that prepare us for the battle and give us the victory.

Please visit my blog for morestudies like this.

Lynelle

Blogger https://authorlynelleclark.blogspot.com/

 

Day One / Day Two / Day Three / Day Four / Day Five/ Day Six / 

Day Seven / Day Eight / Day Nine /  / Day Eleven / Day Twelve