TEXT: 1 SAMUEL 17:10-11
10 And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. 11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.
And this particular battle between the Israelites and the Philistines, the Philistine champion, Goliath, applied the strategy of intimidation. The Bible states that he was a big man and equipped with big weapons, both offensive and defensive ones. He was aware that he was extraordinarily big, and he made use of it to intimidate his enemies. He used dictatorship, intimidation and repetition as his strategies. He dictated where, when, how and who would fight the war by telling the Israelites to bring a man to fight with him. He intimidated the Israelites with his size by defying their army. For forty days and forty nights he repeated the same words.
Actually, Israelite soldiers were afraid and dismayed. They were looking at his size and hearing his big voice. Many of the things that intimidate us and remove our faith from us proceed on the same pattern. Do not allow the devil to use what you see and hear to intimidate you and make you fail to do what God wants you to do. You must speak back from the Scripture to the intimidating situations around you.
As a student, do not allow some subjects in the school to intimidate you. Some of you are running away from mathematics and other science subjects because they are hard. It is not really that you cannot do it;it is just that you have been hearing others say they are hard, and you begin to see them as hard. They now are actually becoming hard to you. What I want you to do now is to begin to see those subjects with determination and eyes of faith. There are other issues in life that intimidate you in your business and family matters. By the grace of God, every Goliath in your life and before you will become a dwarf, and you will become the giant. Those things that intimidate you will be intimidated by you. When you concentrate on God, you will see that He is bigger than anything you can think of. With God all things are possible.
TEXT: 1 Samuel 17:34-37
34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept hisfather's sheep, and there came a lion, and a beat; and took a lamb out oftheflock: 35And/ went out after him, and smote him, and delivered il out ofhis mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. 36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one ofthem, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. 37 David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out ofthepaw ofthe lion, andout ofthepaw of the bear, he will deliver me out ofthe hand ofthis Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.
hen the battle between Isiaelites and the Philistines came to a deadlock, a man with a new testimony came and created a way out. That man was David. The two warring annies had remained in their respective camps for forty days and forty nights without joining the battle. Although David was a small boy and by far less experienced than Goliath, he had a new testimony. In order to convince Saul who doubted his ability and experience, he related his most recent encounters. With his bare hands he killed a lion and a bear that came at different times to snatch his sheep. These encounters increased his faith in God and emboldened him to face Goliath.
The interesting thing here is that David did not try to convince Saul with hackneyed rhetoric of how God led the children of Israel across the wilderness or how He divided the Red Sea and River Jordan. He presented new testimonies. Many of our testimonies are too old and overused. They have become mere classics. Classical testimonies are too general and tend to have lost dynamic appeal. Create new ones by venturing into fresh service to God and fresh encounters with Him. The closer you walk w •th God, the easier you will get more testimonies that will convince those who doubt. Your testimonies will make ways for you.
