Showing posts with label Philistines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philistines. Show all posts

Monday, 22 July 2013

Facing Your Giants

You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. (1 Sam 17:45-46 NIV)

David sees what others don't and refuses to see what others do. All eyes, except David's, fall on the brutal, hate-breathing hulk. All compasses, sans David's, are set on the polestar of the Philistine. All journals, but David's, describe day after day in the land of the Neanderthal. The people know his taunts, demands, size, and strut. They have majored in Goliath.

David sees the armies of God. And because he does, David hurries and runs toward the army to meet the Philistine (17:48).

You might say that David knew how to get a head of his giant.

When was the last time you did the same? How long since you ran toward your challenge? We tend to retreat, duck behind a desk of work or crawl into a nightclub of distraction or a bed of forbidden love. For a moment, a day, or a year, we feel safe, insulated, anesthetized, but then the work runs out, the liquor wears off, or the lover leaves, and we hear Goliath again. Booming. Bombastic.

Monday, 22 April 2013

Defeat Your Giant

"Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" (1 Samuel 17:26)

You may be facing a giant today. He may be a giant of sickness or failure, of financial shortage or another kind of trouble. But don't let him scare you. You have a secret weapon. A weapon that once turned a shepherd boy into a bear-busting, lion-killing, giant-slaying champion. That weapon was a blood covenant with Almighty God.

Back in David's day, circumcision was the sign of that covenant. So, when he called Goliath uncircumcised, David was saying: This guy may be a giant; he may be strong; but he has no covenant with God and that's why I can kill him.

Like David, you, too, have a covenant. But yours is better. The covenant David had offered a wealth of blessings to those who kept it, but it also included curses for those who broke it.

Yours doesn't. Yours is a New Covenant that Jesus bought with His own blood. It doesn't depend on your ability. It depends on Him and what He has already done. He has done it all! All you have to do is believe it and receive it.

Sunday, 24 March 2013

Defeat Your Giant


"Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" (1 Samuel 17:26)


You may be facing a giant today. He may be a giant of sickness or failure, of financial shortage or another kind of trouble. But don't let him scare you. You have a secret weapon. A weapon that once turned a shepherd boy into a bear-busting, lion-killing, giant-slaying champion. That weapon was a blood covenant with Almighty God.

Back in David's day, circumcision was the sign of that covenant. So, when he called Goliath uncircumcised, David was saying: This guy may be a giant; he may be strong; but he has no covenant with God and that's why I can kill him.

Like David, you, too, have a covenant. But yours is better. The covenant David had offered a wealth of blessings to those who kept it, but it also included curses for those who broke it.
Yours doesn't. Yours is a New Covenant that Jesus bought with His own blood. It doesn't depend on your ability. It depends on Him and what He has already done. He has done it all! All you have to do is believe it and receive it.
Right now, read Deuteronomy 28:16-68. That's a list of the curses Christ has freed you from. You might even call it a list of the giants Jesus has already slain for you. It contains every diabolical thing the devil could ever use to destroy you.

Read it and rejoice. God has healed you and delivered you from those things!

Don't let any giant intimidate you. You have a blood covenant with Almighty God. There's no uncircumcised circumstance on the face of this earth that can take your victory away from you.

Scripture Reading: Galatians 3:13-29


Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Like the Nazis, Islam Carries Deadly Agenda


ELHANAN BEN AVRAHAM/JNN
Islam Jihad
A short time ago, few ever heard the word Hamas. Today, that name is part of the daily vocabulary of populations across the Earth. The term is synonymous with another Islamic term, jihad, which is “holy war” in Arabic.

Here in Israel, we are facing the ongoing and relentless hatred of the Arab Islamic world, and recently fought a war of missiles sent from Gaza, the ancient homeland of the Philistines, from which the term Palestinian is derived.

Since vacating that area some years ago in an experiment of “Land for Peace,” the Palestinians under the rule of their elected Hamas leadership has chosen, instead of using that now Jew-free territory to create a viable economy and a peaceful life, to smuggle in and launch thousands of rockets into Israeli civilian towns and cities.

Monday, 15 October 2012

Conquering Giants


Written by Rick Hepler

Do you have unbearable giants in your life? We’d like to pray with you.

“All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:47

Have you ever experienced the giants of Monday morning?  You go to bed on Sunday night dreading getting up the next day, because you know the problems you have in store for the week. I remember one place I worked, early every Monday morning we had an officers’ meeting. I hated going to bed on Sunday night because I knew what the next morning would bring. I would have nightmares concerning the job. This became a giant of a problem for me and almost made me sick. Finally I quit and found a job I enjoyed.