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But they’d forgotten.
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 17:36–37).
Worship is simply a shift of attention that allows us to see God better. Worship is like corrective lenses for our souls, bringing God clearer into view. That’s important for all of us, especially when life goes off the rails.
But it’s still a fight, because even dead giants can still call your name.
If we truly want to change, then we need to understand our dependency on the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ. Our change is more about trusting and less about trying.
See, whenever a problem is concealed, it finds power in the darkness. But when a problem is confessed, it loses that power. Confession brings the light of Christ to shine upon that problem. In most cases when we confess something, people aren’t all that shocked either. Usually the reaction is like, “Yeah, I kinda knew anyway.”
You stop listening to what Goliath is saying, and you start listening to what God is saying.
For a lot of us, we settle into a dual existence, a schizophrenic faith. One part of us fully believes in the rule and reign of Jesus, confident he is able to change things for the better. The other part of us
accommodates the “pet tiger,” caves in to the giant, and lives in the valley of defeat. Sadly, this is the norm for a lot of us.
No matter what the process is, it begins with confession.
It’s this: my God is able to save.
“I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken” (ESV).
He chooses the weak things to confound the strong, the simple things to upend the wise.
I said, “I don’t know exactly what you’ve been trained to think just as you stand on the blocks ready for that beep that signals you into your race. Whatever you’ve been taught to think by your
coaches, think that.” I glanced at the head coach and he nodded and smiled. “But if you have a split second to spare, look down at that block and imagine the word accepted written on it with your name. Hear your heavenly Father saying for all to hear, ‘This one is mine.’ Imagine him whispering in your ear: ‘I really, really love you. I am already pleased with you!’ “And then,” I added, “swim your tail off! Not because acceptance is waiting for you at the end of the race—but because you already have it.”
If our only motivation for taking down a giant is our freedom, then we won’t have all the motivation that’s needed. God’s glory is also the motivation for us to walk in victory over the giants in our lives. Our freedom and God’s glory are forever intertwined, and if we forget about the glory of God, then we won’t be willing to pay the price of whatever step it is that God’s asking us to take. When we see the glory of God, we’ll understand that there is no cost too great to pay to make his name known in our life.
God doesn’t call us to avoid the danger of a lost and dying world. Rather, he leads us into it with the sword of the Spirit in our hands. He says, “We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work” (John 9:4 NLT).
‘In the name of the Lord God Almighty, I will step into the fight.’ Not in my ability. Not in my power. Not in my strength. But in the name of Jesus. Life is short, and I don’t have enough time to have a complacent heart.”
When we live in families that compare and compete, but can’t celebrate and affirm, we live at war.
The key to real, lasting change in our spiritual life is consistently filling ourselves up with faith.
We replace the angry conversations in our minds with praying for the people we’re angry at. We begin to see others through Jesus’ eyes. We invite Christ to have the full rule and reign in our hearts.
Living with a smoldering fire is a sorry way to live. Living like a victim is defeating and imprisoning. Sooner or later, we have to get fed up with the giant and take it down.
With God, we are able. We are able because God is able. Thanks to our vulnerability, we are weak. But thanks to God, we are strong.
The plotline twist of this book is that Jesus is David in the story of David and Goliath. It’s ironic—because the giant called Goliath was taken down by a shepherd boy named David. Ironic because Jesus describes himself as our Shepherd many times throughout Scripture. And he promises to lead, guide, and protect us—not in the absence of our foes, but in the presence of our enemies. That’s the irony—the outcome is the opposite of what’s expected. While we are praying something like, “God, get me out of the Valley of Elah,” God is keeping us there, yet he is sending a Shepherd to deliver us right
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Don’t give the Enemy a seat at your table.
