Conquering Your Goliath (Part 1)

Introduction: In this lesson we will learn the ways we can overcome obstacles that the enemy puts in front of God’s children while on the journey with Christ. We will review the steps we must take in order to conquer the giants that come up against us to hinder the work God has called us to do.  There are specific steps we can take to live in the destiny and purpose that God has planned for each of us since before the foundations of the world.

Handout:  Conquering Your Goliath

In life, we all have obstacles we must overcome.  Sometimes before we can step into the destiny God has planned for us, we must overcome many obstacles.  They are usually a variety of obstacles that bring many different emotions along with them.  So often I think about King David and the recordings of his life in the Word of God.  He was a man after God’s own heart.  He was a man with a pure heart.  He wasn’t perfect, he was human just as we are, but he loved God and he had a wonderful relationship with the Lord.  He was chosen by God to be the King of Israel.  He was also an ancestor of Jesus. 

In God’s written word, we read that before David became King, he was a shepherd boy.  He worked in the fields keeping watch over his father’s sheep.  David had many obstacles to overcome before he was King, but God was with him and God was David’s source of strength.  In the Psalms we read many of the songs, praises and the times David cried out to God in times of trouble.  He had to run and hide out in caves from those who sought to kill him for many years.  David kept his trust in the Lord. 

Today, I want us to read and focus on 1 Samuel chapter 17.  Here we find where David goes up in battle against Goliath, a giant man and war champion of the Philistine people, who are at war with the armies of Israel. David battles this giant when everyone else is afraid to.  It was a scary time, but David trusted the LORD to help him conquer Goliath.  God was with David and brought him to victory. Conquering Goliath was a turning point in David’s life and helped bring him into his destiny as King of Israel.

If you are facing your giant, know that God is with you and will help you conquer your Goliath as well.  There are different steps we must take like David, in order to conquer our Goliath.  This week, let’s focus on three of those steps.  Next week, we will continue this lesson if it be God’s will.  Right now, let us go to God’s word together and review 1 Samuel chapter 17. 

 

 

 

 

In order to conquer your Goliath, you must take the following steps:

1.  Be Obedient

1Samuel 17


1Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.


 2And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. 3And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.  4And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.


 5And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. 6And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. 7And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.  


8And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.  9If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.  10And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.  11When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

Here the armies of Israel were faced by their enemy, the Philistines and their champion who was a giant.  He was over 9 feet tall!  He was an enormous man with big armor.  The men of Israel were frightened to go up against this champion for fear that he would kill them easily.  What could they do against this giant?  Who could stand against him?  Let’s read on and find out what God’s word says beginning in verse 12.

 12Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.

 13And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.

 14And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.

 15But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.

 16And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.

 17And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp of thy brethren;

 18And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.

 19Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

 20And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle.

 21For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army.

 22And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.

 23And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them.

 24And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.

 25And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.

David was the youngest of his brothers who stayed in the camp, while David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father Jesse’s sheep.  His father has asked him to take some supplies to his brothers.  God had already chosen David to be the King of Israel, however he was not known yet. 

David knew that God had chosen him to be the King of Israel.  He could have gone out and boasted to everyone and tried to become King on his own, but he remained patient and obedient to his earthly father Jesse and to God and His good will and timing.  He trusted God and knew that God was working behind the scenes to place him in the purpose and plan meant for him.  You may be facing a giant in your life today, but do not be discouraged, perhaps God has placed you here for such a time as this and he is working behind the scenes to place you in your destiny as well.  Be obedient in what God tells you to do and trust Him to take care of the rest. 

David was now seeing Goliath for the first time, and viewing the situation. He was hearing the men talk about how there is a great reward for any man that could fight this Goliath and kill him.  He could choose to be frightened and run away like everyone else had, or he could choose to trust in the LORD.

2. Remain Positive

In order to defeat your Goliath you must stay positive.

26And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

 27And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.

 28And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.

 29And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?

 30And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.

David heard this Philistine defying the armies of God and he says, who is this man anyway that everyone is allowing to abuse and defy Gods armies?  David’s oldest brother heard him asking questions and he said, why did you come here anyway David? 


He reminded him that he was “just” a shepherd boy with a few sheep, in other words who do you think you are little David, what do you think you can do?  Then he accused David of pride and just being nosey and coming there to see the battle.  When in reality David was there because of obedience.


David’s own family member was talking down to him.  His brother told him he had no business there.  David could have let this hurt his feelings and hurt his confidence.  He could have tried to defend himself to his brother and started an argument.  Instead, David behaves very wisely and simply asks his brother what did I do?  I am just asking a question.  Then instead of arguing or just leaving in defeat, David walked away from his brother from whom he was getting no answers, and he tried again by asking other men these questions.  Sometimes when we are not getting answers from one source, we must try again from another.  We should not be so quick to give up and give in.


Have you ever had someone falsely accuse you of wrong when you were trying your best to do the right thing?  Have you ever had someone you care about talk down to you or try to discourage you?  Those are tricks from Satan trying to discourage us and get us off track.  He causes stumbling blocks to try to get our focus off of the real task at hand.  He does this to try to hurt our confidence in the Lord so that we will give up.  However, we must be like David and live with integrity and behave wisely.  Sometimes we have to turn and walk away from someone or something that is trying to hinder us.  We must encourage ourselves sometimes and stay positive and focused on what must be accomplished.  We do not have to defend our actions when we are being obedient to the Lord, Praise God, He is our defender.  What would have happened if David had let his brother’s words get to him and just gone back home?  He would have hindered his destiny to be King.  We can always trust God; He is working on our behalf even if we can’t see it sometimes.  He is always on the side of right and truth.  He will never do us nothing but good for our good and for His glory!  We can trust it every single time!  Thank You Father.

3.  Trust and Stay Confident in God

In order to conquer your Goliath, you must trust and stay confident in God.

 31And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him.

 32And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.  33And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.  34And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: 35And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.  36Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.  37David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

Saul heard about David’s questions, and he sent for him.  David told King Saul, I will fight this Philistine who defies God’s armies.  Saul said to him, you can’t do it. Again, someone was telling David that he is to young and inexperienced. Not just anyone but the king of Israel at that time. Saul told David he could not do it.  Sound familiar?  Again, David ignored the negative remarks and told Saul, I killed a lion and a bear and saved my father’s sheep from harm.


 The Lord delivered the lion and bear to me and HE will deliver me from the hand of this giant.  David didn’t try to boast of this in himself but knew that his strength was in the Lord and gave the glory to God.  David trusted the Lord and he allowed the Lord to be his confidence.  We have the same God, and when we trust Him, we can have that same confidence.  God will never fail us, and anything we must face He will be there to help us overcome in victory. 

38And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.

 39And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.

 40And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.

David was so adamant and confident, that Saul said, ok David, God be with you.  Saul then armed David with his armor.  David tried Saul’s armor out and then said I can’t go with all this, I’m not used to it.  It just isn’t me.  I don’t need it, and he took the armor off.  Have you ever tried to do things your own way or others way?  Have you ever tried to protect yourself or tried to find a way around an obstacle according to your own understanding alone?   When we do this instead of going to God, and solely relying on Him, we get burdened down.  We make things complicated when we try to rely on ourselves or the things of the world to do only what God can do.  He wants us to obey and trust Him whole heartedly.  We must be who God wants us to be no matter how silly or small it may seem to others.  We are not fighting the battle anyway, our God is and only He can conquer.  We can do nothing without Him.  David was wise and knew this.  So he got his shepherd’s staff and five smooth stones from the brook, (smooth stones fly straight as opposed to sharp or jagged ones.)  David was not relying on these stones.  He had already said that the LORD would deliver him. However, he knew that those stones would be the tools used to conquer Goliath. 

We will stop here, and continue the rest of the lesson next week.  Know that today, whatever giant you are facing, God is with you and you can have victory in Him.  Be obedient, stay positive, trust and keep your confidence in the Father and you will triumph.  Until next time, God Bless you.


Dear Righteous and Lovely, Heavenly Father,


We come to You another week thanking You again for who You are and that you are all powerful and all knowing.  We thank You for the many blessings You have given to us.  Father we ask You to help us apply the word to our hearts and to obey.  We understand that You will help us with every giant or obstacle that may come up against us.  We know that You will take bad and use it for our good.  Thank You for being a lovely and Holy Father.  Thank You for loving us the way you do, even if we can’t totally comprehend or understand it.  Father we love You and thank You for Jesus and the free pardon from sin.  We ask You to help us keep our confidence in You and not of ourselves or others.  Please help us  to always remember that we need You more than anything and without You we can do nothing.  Help us to love one another and be kind to one another in the name and attitude of Jesus.  We ask You to watch over us and our loved ones yet another week and we thank You for hearing and answering our prayers.  We will ever love You, praise and worship You, and we will always give You the glory that is Yours alone.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

 

God Bless you…

~*Cindygirl*~                                                                                                                

March 20, 2011