Goliath Must Fall: Winning the Battle Against Your Giants

by Louie Giglio

He chooses the weak things to confound the strong, the simple things to upend the wise.

it’s not the outward appearance that impresses God. It’s a heart of faith.

Psychologists tell us that one of the most powerful forces in humanity is acceptance.

We clothe ourselves in acceptance when we understand we are the work of God.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well”

We are each reverently and wonderfully made. God doesn’t make mistakes. God doesn’t make rejects—that

“Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be”

God made you. Uniquely. Beautifully. Intentionally. Purposefully. Wonderfully.

That means from the very beginning of time, God chose you. Long before you knew him, he knew you. He loved you long before the world began.

Before you ever felt the sting of rejection, God had already gone on record as choosing you. Before people decided whether or not you are good enough for them, God had already decided that he wanted to bring you into his family as a son or a daughter of almighty God.

Jesus chose you.

“In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.”

Our net worth is forever anchored in the fact that Jesus was given for us.

You are worth Jesus to God.

We live from acceptance, not for it.

All this, yet God still cares for us. All this, yet the God of the universe still knows our names. All this, yet God has chosen us. He’s made us his sons and daughters. He loves us. He cherishes us.

the worship of God shuts down the giants. Rejection and worship cannot exist in the same place. One displaces the other.

Giving to God is an act of worship,

Stop adding things up. Stop worrying.

I am God and I’ve never let you down.

Trouble arises when the desire for safety and security becomes the dominant theme of our lives.

Our abundant life on earth and our eternal reward in heaven aren’t robbed by the “bad” stuff. Our chance for a meaningful life and a happy forever is robbed by comfort.

This is a picture of our life in Christ. A nest is a good thing for a while. It’s safe and comfortable and sheltered, and all our spiritual baby-needs are taken care of. But if we’re not careful, then the giant of comfort tempts us to stay in the nest forever. Maybe we’re worried about leaving the nest. We see a big dog below on the ground. We’re not sure if we can fly or not. But staying in the nest is never our end goal. Comfort and familiarity are not what God points us toward. Jesus isn’t in the business of flying to and fro for the rest of our lives, hand-delivering spiritual baby food to us.

Faith thrives in holy discomfort.

Rest assured, God is a generous God. He’s not stingy. He doesn’t need our stuff.

What God is doing is trying to help us see that there is a fight to be fought, a race to be run, something of eternal significance to be contended for. He’s calling us to greater purpose, but he knows how easy it is to just eat a good meal, relax with a nice drink, and forget about the brevity of life on earth.

If our hearts are wide open in faith, then God is wide open to us. If we take the risk and go where God invites us, then God’s conduit is deep and wide. In faith, we’re invited to enter into the story of a generous God. In faith, we’re called to rally around the war cry that Christ has come and the battle is already won.

I am the God who can bring salvation today. Your giant is going down. In faith, you can step out of your comfort and go where I show you to go.

By my hand and by the might and the power of God, this victory is going to come.

We don’t need to learn how to fly before we jump out of the nest.

“Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”

the gospel is rooted in a place of discomfort—Christ’s discomfort.

The cross brought pain to Jesus in the same breath it brought freedom to us.

To die with Christ and also to live with him.

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.

we don’t end up where we hope to end up. Our lives ultimately end up wherever our path is headed right now.

To walk with Christ is to imitate him. To imitate Christ is to live with ultimate purpose.

He says, The battle is already won. I want you to step out with me right now, today. Don’t delay. Life is short. Don’t waste your days.

Complacency springs from the root of me that says we should protect what we have because we earned it—and we deserve more. That kind of thinking results from having our eyes glued to the wrong world. Namely, this passing world, instead of the one that’s coming.

Life is short. God is big. Life is short. God is big. Life is short. God is big.

the greatest regret any of us will ever know is that of standing before Jesus knowing we lived too safe, too comfortable, too short-sighted.

We fight complacency whenever we ask God to help us see what hangs in the balance. Faith is never just about us and our lives. Faith is about benefiting people we don’t even know. Not only is our freedom, our salvation, our purpose in life, our getting on board with what God has for us hanging in the balance, but other people’s lives and freedom are at stake too. God has a plan to move us out to help other people. It’s all done for his glory and fame. We have the ability to do what Christ wants us to do. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”

Most anger is rooted in some form of rejection. Something that was or wasn’t said. Something that was repeatedly done to us. Something we deserved but were deprived of. A hurt. A wound. A stab.

Anger is not wrong. But if anger is uncontrolled, stuffed, misplaced, or given full vent, then anger can do us a lot of harm.

Scripture is clear that anger is a giant that can shut down God’s possibility for our lives.

Ephesians 4:26 says, “In your anger do not sin.” And James 1:19 says, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” Jesus himself felt anger.

Scripture shows that there’s a time to be angry and a time to rightly express our anger.

Repressing anger can be one of the most destructive things you can do. It poses a huge health risk. Not to mention you’re living a lie.

Someone abandoned me.

Someone wasn’t interested in me.