So who's the winner???

1 Samuel 17
This is perhaps one of the most talked about chapter in the Bible, its about David and Goliath. Well we all know the story so lets go on to the lessons I learnt.

1. False fear-The giant Goliath, came out just to scare them, if he really wanted to fight he could have attacked the Israelites.He instead was controlling the Israel's victory by just scaring them by his size. "16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand. "This gives me a clear picture of what satan tries to do. Now since Goliath was a Philistine, I think they had a long history of Israeli-Philistine war before them, that had evidence of how God gave Israelites victory over them. So his job was probably not to fight but just stand there scaring people. If the Israelites would have not considered him and fought with the Philistines, I think they would have won. In our lives too, our defeated foe, keeps bringing up things or makes situations "seem" as though he is the tough guy, but actually we are the ones with a history of our victory along with Jesus, who made such a spectacle of the enemy when He rose up from the dead."And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Colossians 2:15 (Whole Chapter) "So who is on the Winning Side?
2. Talking about the situation- What were the soldiers from Israel doing, if they weren't fighting. They were talking amongst themselves."25 Now the Israelites had been saying, "Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his father's family from taxes in Israel." (1 Samuel 17:25). Don't we all do that sometimes, when facing a situation that "seems" huge we talk about it, describe it in detail to each other, and probably hope for how wonderful it would be if somehow we won over it, but we dare not go and fight with the "sword of the Word of God" . Why?
3. David is not afraid of Goliath!!!- David here shows us a wonderful example of how a believer can live in victory rather than in fear. Goliath wasn't attacking them, he was simply scaring them so they wouldn't attack the Philistines, if in any case, the Israelites ran away from their place in fear, the Philistines would have captured that much land. Hey doesn't satan also do the same with us believers, but did you know, he cannot touch us "18We know [absolutely] that anyone born of God does not [deliberately and knowingly] practice committing sin, but the One Who was begotten of God carefully watches over and protects him [Christ's divine presence within him preserves him against the evil], and the wicked one does not lay hold (get a grip) on him or touch [him]."(1 John 5:18). So what are we afraid of, like the Israelites? If we're on the right track and obedient to God, we have nothing to fear.
4. David's First Response-".... Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" (1 Samuel 17:26) It sounds to me like, how dare that fellow come against the people of a Living God.What an example!!! So should the response of the people of the Living God be, if someone in your family is unsaved and you've been praying hard...lets say ". satan, how dare you touch my family, I belong to a Living God, and the Word of God says in Ps 24:1 the earth and everything in it belongs to my God, so take your hands off of my property and my family."
5. Not only in words but in actions too-Now David wasn't just talking fancy about how Goliath was defying the army of the Living God. He meant every word, because he was willing to put his words into action. He meant every thing he said. "What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him." David was willing to fight, he took his stand.
6. What's our background for the battle-What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. Ok, now take a look at this conversation "33 Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth."
   34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." (1 Samuel 17:33-37). Now I am surprised, at the comparison David makes with what he has done before, a battle is totally different from hunting, don't you think so? Here, for David, its the same...you know why? because his baseline or anchoring point that joins all this together is "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine..". So what's our anchoring point when it comes to our battles, when our seemingly giant problems holler at us? Are you getting it??? David didn't go to fight thinking of the type of victories he won, but Who enabled him to win them all.

Conclusion: David has taught us some very important things about our spiritual battle, its up to us to pick up the lessons his life experience teaches us. Problems in life may seem to stand up and shout at us, but I hope now you know who's bigger, the problem or our Living God. How dare the loser satan try to defy the army of God. So stand up and be bold and strong and win the battles in life with the power that back you up.