Scripture: 1 Samuel 17-18.  

OBSERVATION
(What is God saying here?)

1 Samuel 17:41-47 (NLT)

41 Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, 42 sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy.

43 “Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?” And he cursed David by the names of his gods.

44 “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled.

45 David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! 47 And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!”

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

This is such a familiar passage of scripture, but yet it is filled with encouragement for the believe, so it is always beneficial to be reminded of the story. For over 40 days this Philistine giant appeared before and intimidated the Israelite army, parading his physical strengths and abilities. Without thinking about the power of the God that they knew, and supposedly served, they trembled in their boots and retreated. Suddenly David comes on the scene, and seeing only the strength of God in and through His people, David just couldn’t understand what the problem was. Wow, this is a reminder to us friend, that those ‘giants’ that we meet every day in our workplace, in our health, in our church, in our family, in the lives of our closest earthly friends, these are nothing for our God. Furthermore, as we stand bold in our faith, strong in the strength of the God of this universe, others who stand and watch will want to know our Savior. So victory will come in two ways: 1). Those mountains/challenges/impossible tasks in our eyes will suddenly become dim as we will only see God and His victorious hand at work, and 2). Others who stand by and question if there is a God, will suddenly know for sure that the God we serve is the God they want to know and also serve. God is waiting and available for us to do just like David did – turn the battle over to Him. I guarantee you that God will not see our challenges as ‘mountains’ He can’t cross, for our God is greater than any mountain we face today. This means that when we place God before our mountain in life, we will only see the wonderful face our Jesus, and no longer be bothered by the mountains that may tend to overwhelm us, or frighten us or even seem to block our view from the glorious sights of heaven. Got any mountains you think are uncrossable today? God specializes in things we think are uncrossable or impossible. He can handle it brother! He can overcome any obstacle that may stand in our way today! Why not let go and let God? Do you know Him? This is the first step in communicating with Him. Why not make that choice today friend? Respond to this post today and allow me to pray with you or introduce you to my friend, the Savior of this world!

PRAYER
(With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

I don’t know about anyone else that may read this devotional today, but being reminded of this today is perfect timing for me. Not that I have large ‘mountains’ that are overwhelming me, but just life itself can be overwhelming, with all the decisions, problems and challenges that we often bring on ourselves. Father, I believe today that You are in charge of all this and that You have the power to overcome these ‘mountains’ in my life. Please take control today. Please be my guide, my deliverer, my overcomer, my decision maker, my comforter and reassure me of Your presence always. I adore You Father and welcome You to handle my ‘mountains’ for me. Thank You for being such an awesome God!

 

àWords underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com.
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