HOW DO WE REACH THE TOP OF THE STAIRS?
ONE STEP AT A TIME!
What else do we do one step at a time? How about growing our faith? There are no skipping steps. Each challenge we face prepares us to reach the next step, just like climbing stair steps. Although Jesus may not cause the challenge, He will use it for good to prepare us for the next step to grow our faith. Look at David.
DAVID AND GOLIATH
Remember the story of David and Goliath? (1 Samuel chapter 17). David traveled to the Valley of Elah to visit his brothers in the Israeli army. There he witnessed the army fleeing from the Philistine giant Goliath.
Imagine how frightening Goliath must have looked to be able to scare the whole army of Israel! He was a strapping 9 ½ feet tall, covered in bronze combat gear and strong enough to handle the 15 lb. iron spear he carried.1 Not someone you would want to meet in a dark alley.
THEN ALONG COMES YOUNG DAVID.
Many of us think David’s journey in faith began with the battle between him and Goliath. But it didn’t. Just like the Lord grows our faith one step at a time to prepare us for the future, he did so with David.
To grow David’s faith step by step, David had to victoriously oppose lions and bears while shepherding sheep. Relaying his experience to King Saul, David said:
“When a lion or a bear came
and carried off a sheep from the flock,
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.”
1 Samuel 17:34b-35 NIV
Now, lions and bears may seem big and scary to use as practice, but that’s what they were. Opposing them prepared David to confront Goliath whose size and strength invoked giant fears in all men. But not in David.
“Your servant, (David), 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.
The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear
will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
1 Samuel 17:36-37a NIV
HOW DID DAVID CONFRONT GOLIATH?
FIRST WITH WORDS!
Goliath stood in the way of God’s victory over the Philistines. David was there to move Goliath. To do so, David first confronted Goliath with words of faith speaking of God’s power and victory.
David said to the Philistine,
“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 deliver you into my hands,
and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.”
1 Samuel 17: 45-46a NIV
Don’t we have things that block our victory? Aren’t they like mountains? We can certainly say that compared to David, Goliath was a mountain. Like David spoke, Jesus told us to speak in faith telling our mountains to move, Matthew 17:20.
Speaking words of victory grew David’s courage and faith preparing him to take action.
NOW WITH ACTION!
David’s experiences battling the lion and the bear, also prepared him to act in faith. He knew that those battles, and the one he was facing, were in the Lord’s hands. Whatever situation we face, we can have faith that the battle is the Lord’s.
“Then all this assembly shall know
that the Lord does not save with sword and spear;
for the battle is the Lord’s,
and He will give you into our hands.”
1 Samuel 17:47
David acted in faith. He didn’t run away in fear like the Israelite army. David ran towards Goliath going forward in faith under the power of the Lord.
As the Philistine moved closer to attack him,
David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
Reaching into his bag
and taking out a stone,
he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead.
The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
1 Samuel 17:48-49 NIV
DAVID DEFEATED GOLIATH!
David couldn’t defeat Goliath without first growing his faith through success. His prior victories infused him with courage that the Lord would bring victory again.
God through David did the seemingly impossible because David believed God could do it. By growing his faith step by step, David was able to believe our loving God for the impossible.
REFLECTION
How has the Lord been preparing you to take that next step of faith?
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, as I write Matthew 17:20 and say it aloud, grow my faith to move mountains. Open my mind to remember what You have already done as you prepare me to take that next step of faith. In Jesus name. Amen.
JESUS GROWS OUR FAITH
STEP BY STEP
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*For information on making Jesus Christ your Savior, email me or visit, http://www.peacewithgod.net/
1 bibilium.com
Photo Masada, Nivaldo Martins-
Photo David, rcascoherrera
Photo lion, DaFranzos
