Gladiator“Then David said to the Philistine [Goliath], ‘You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.’” (1 Samuel 17:45) David the young shepherd heard the challenge from the Philistines to fight their champion the giant, nine feet six Goliath. No one volunteered to fight except David. King Saul reluctantly agreed and offered David his armor. David put on the armor, a bronze helmet with a coat of mail, but decided he could not fight in this heavy armor. David instead took five smooth stones, a sling and his shepherd’s staff and ran to confront Goliath. God equips each of us in such a way that is unique to our strengths and abilities. David was trained as a shepherd to use a sling and showed great maturity in realizing he could not be effective in fighting Goliath with Saul’s heavy armor. Long before Dreamworks could cast Russell Crowe, David was a successful real life Gladiator because he came to Goliath in the name of the living God, he prophesied victory over Goliath and gave God the glory before he ran toward Goliath full of faith that God will deliver Goliath into his hand. David was more powerful than General Maximus because he served God, not the Roman Empire. David used his skills and talents as a shepherd and did not even try to use another person’s tools he was not trained to use. God allows each of us to develop skills that are unique to our life and calling and will not call us to use someone else’s tools. These God-given talents, however, must be mixed with faith. Talent alone will get us nowhere and faith alone is not enough. It is only when the two are combined that God’s power is supernaturally released and manifested in the physical realm. A single stone and a sling when combined with God’s power became a guided missile locked onto Goliath’s forehead at warp speed. Fear looked at Goliath and said he is to big to kill, but faith looked at Goliath and said he is too big to miss! Combine your gifts with faith in the Word of God and you’ll be surprised at the power of God that will be manifested in your life as you put God FIRST and serve Him, and only Him. Copyright © 2002 Eddy Ministries. All rights reserved. Subscribe/Unsubscribe:
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