Have You got a Sword?

Proverbs 1:33 But whoever listens to me will dwell in safety, and will be secure, without fear of evil.

Listening to the wisdom of God is reading and understanding what He gives us like reading the book of Proverbs. Was thinking of David and Goliath this morning and how he came with a sling shot to face a giant!
And in meditating on this I was reminded to ask:

·   Is our trust really in God or in ourselves?

·   Is it really a God-thing: that is, does it look & sound like His life, look like His love, appear as His peace, His joy & power?

·   Are there still some that have heart issues that will be revealed in the next  encounter we have & see a hit to our emotions?

·  Do we check ourselves on that issue of the heart?

                         

1 Samuel 17:1-20 NKJV Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim. 2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 4 And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7 Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his iron spearhead weighted six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.

1 Samuel 17:8 then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, "Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us."  10 And the Philistine said, "I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight together." 12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah whose name was Jesse, and who had eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years, in the days of Saul. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Saul. 15 But David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. 16 And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening. 17 Then Jesse said to his son David, "Take now for your brothers a ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp, 18 and carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them." 19 Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper and took the things and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle.

Now we are told in verse 17 of chapter 17 that this Goliath presented himself daily for forty days and he did it both in the morning and in the evening. Sounds like a lot of bullying, does it not?
David obeyed his father Jesse. He takes the food down to the men who are serving Saul. And David left his sheep with a keeper.
David has arrived with cheeses, the grain and ten loaves to check on his brothers as requested by his father Jesse. And what reaction is seen?
And remember David is to return to his father with the news from the front-line with the Philistine's!

1 Samuel 17:22 And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. 23 Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them. 24 and all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. 25 So the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him, the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father's house exemption from taxes in Israel."
1 Samuel 17 :26 then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, "What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? 27 And the people answered him in this manner, saying, "So shall it be done for the man who kills him." 28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger was aroused against David, and he said, "Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?  I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle." 29 And David said, " what have I done now? Is there not a cause?" 30 Then he turned from him toward another and said the same thing; and these people answered him as the first ones did.

So what David has spoken is given to King Saul! Seriously he is interested in not paying taxes, would you not be interested in this as David was?
And of course you know how Saul tries to put his armor on David and it does not fit nor has it been tested. But David has fought the lion and the bear! David knows what works in the wilderness! 
1 Samuel 17: 34 But David said to Saul, "your servant use to keep his father's sheep and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be  like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God." 37 Moreover David said, "The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go and the LORD be with you."

The paw of the lion and the paw of the bear....is viewed in the natural as a conflict of interest. The lion and the bear wanted to eat sheep, but David was there as the protector of his father's sheep. It is a place of violence spoken and can be against you and about you. It involves you and will appear as the 'up close and personal'. It will be a 'rolling in the dust'. It will attack your character, and your voice. And it will specifically point to what you give regard to as in God, His word, His Son and life!
This appears as a scheme to shut you down and if you are ruled by your emotions, you are already defeated! Our faith is to be in God, knowing He is our righteousness and without Him we can do nothing. He is truth that should prevail in our lives, whether it is a rolling in the dust with sickness, or a rolling in the dust against your good name. We are to stand firm voicing freely of God and His love for us and His love for others. 

From verse 28 Eliab, the oldest brother heard David speak to the men. And in his anger he spoke out negatively against David. Was Eliab upset at David for being anointed by the Prophet Samuel. You see that in 1 Samuel 16: 13....how Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers and the Holy Spirit came on David in power. You know Jesse lined up his sons before the Prophet but David was with the sheep in the field. And the prophet asked if Jesse had anymore sons! Yikes! Yes, he certainly had the youngest in the field with the sheep! And who did the prophet want to anoint: David!


Now we know of the sling from verse 40: Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag in a pouch which he had and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine. 41 So the Philistine came and began drawing near to David and the man who bore the shield went before him. 42 And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. 43 so the Philistine  said to David, "Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 And the Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!" 45 Then David said to the Philistine, "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. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 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.

Our speaking must always be speaking of God's deliverance He has done through Jesus Christ! David chose 5 stones, one for Goliath and the four for his brothers. David's faith was in God and it was God Who would deliver the Philistine into David's hand!

You see here that David's older brother Eliab evidently has big issues with his younger brother. Being a mighty military man you would think this trained military type would have it altogether for that which was before him, but his heart reveals many things as he speak to David. YOU also have many men who are afraid of the giant and they hide when he comes out to speak. And this sling David used is not one you stretch out like a length of a rubber-band to spring forward when forced backward at length. No this sling is a width of something that can hold the stone in place but David had to fling it in a way that the stone would reach the giants forehead with accuracy to knock him to the ground!

We face the enemy like David did with Goliath……and certainly…..the battle is the Lord's." Goliath was a Philistine. A Philistine spirit is an unclean spirit. Unclean spirits manifest in many different ways and one of the ways is by an attack through attempts to keep us silent – to shut our mouths.

An unclean spirit will directly target our testimonies of victory and God's goodness. Another manifestation of the unclean spirit is a demonic attempt to clothe us with legalism. Legalism involves a rigorous adherence to doctrines of man, and to religious performance.

Performance robs us of strength. Yes, if we are working hard to perform for God, it will exhaust us – therefore leaving no strength to take true dominion!

If we really believe, then our trust will be in God and not in ourselves.

Faith comes to us by hearing God’s Word taught to us. Faith comes by our reading it. At some point we have to grow up and really know who we are in Christ Jesus! At some point our faith must be tested as David's was tested many times in the wilderness. And yet I hear people say they will not be tested in any way, shape or form of testing! And I say you are so wrong!

We know from reading on in this passage that David is given a royal robe, a suit of armor, and even the sword of Saul's son Jonathan. For this was given as a covenant between Saul's son Jonathan and David.

David slew Goliath by using the giants own sword against him! And we too can face an enemy and use the very sword that the enemy would use against us but in turn take him down never to rise again.

1 Samuel 17:50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Therefore David ran and stood over the  Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistine's saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

May you know what has been placed in you from the foundation of the world, that God is with you and will release you into a sphere of authority just like He did David. For you are to demonstrate God's kingdom on earth as Jesus did and when you do, that power of the Holy Spirit and that godly authority will be seen and heard in you indeed!

The courageous like David need never to pretend for they carry an undaunted courage in their heart! They will run toward the giant. They have no fear for they carry no discouragement for they are armed with the presence of God!

New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

Birds of the Air

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ABOVE ALL

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Open Book Test

Yes, this may date the person writing this blog today, but there was a time when it was possible to have an open book test. I only remember experiencing this twice in elementary and junior high school. But for these two tests, the book we were studying was opened up to the specific chapter or chapters to be covered and the test began.
In one regard, this open book test was given to prove we were actually reading the text within those pages of our history class. On the other hand, it was a test given to an "already multi-tested group of individuals to discover our comprehension ability to work through and find a solution to the question asked us. So after all the comprehension testing, we opened our book once again to be tested with answers out of the book!

Now I was very familiar with the books that were given into my care for that 9-month period and each had been covered with  a paper book cover with my name written on the front cover specifying who was using it that school year. And though the book on the outside appeared clean, with no damage, I certainly turned each page to find out how they were titling each chapter and with regard to what the information was given in each chapter including their study and reference suggestions!

In my history book, one could see which part I read and returned to refresh and be reminded of what text was covered. The corners of those pages were rather gray in color instead of the pure white color it had been when I had received the book into my care. Yes, turning the pages and reading continually to know information for the coming test, I searched it out.  I found the main subject, what the body of information was and started making my notes, I would put the main heading and all that pertained to the subject.

The other class we had an "open book test" was for science. This subject matter proved easy especially when you had read the chapters many times before the actual test and then find out that it was for "open book" was a good thing in my thinking. In writing this, my husband had mentioned he had an open book test in his school years, but the teacher made note that for this class they could open their math book, but this was not a math test they were taking! So for whatever humor this guy had for his class, it was no joke on this day .....for each of those students had to know the information given.

We have a book we could open and I wonder if God gave the test today, where would we open it or would we even go near it to find out what is written. If a severe test of trial in the body came near, would we know where to look and where to read for comfort for the trial we are going through.  Now understand that God does not give sickness. There is no sickness in heaven! Everyday we have opportunity to open the Bible and find what is promised to us who believe in the name of Jesus Christ. ( John 1:12-13 NKJV But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, those who believe in His name, 13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.)

God initiates this relationship and sent His Son to seal it! With His blood it brought a way where there was no way before Him. I was reading an article on Alaska and in one sentence that stood out to me was 'nobody comes to Alaska because it is easy'. 'They come because whatever the element they encounter there, they will thrive there'. I remember in our early years of marriage, my husband mentioned many times he wanted to go to Alaska. I told him I was not going that far north, and that according to my thoughts, Wyoming was plenty cold and as far north I had wanted to go from my birthplace in the south.  And living in that region, in those decades of extreme cold in the winter with strong winds and white-outs, to the other extreme of rainless summers and heated summers  I desired not to test the elements of Alaska with its wildlife of many bears, avalanches, earthquakes and sudden storms. Yes, to me Alaska was the harsher climate, meaning harsh in commuting to work, harsh in the terrain of which you lived and how many mosquitoes did they have in the month of May if it warmed up then? JUST how big were those mosquitoes, if they are came in the month of May, and how much blood would they suck from you? I do not like hitch-hikers!

John 3:21 tells us that he who does the truth comes to the light, that His deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. If something does occur in our life, either with the family or our body, our book should be open and give answers to what has been provided to us through the written word of God.
What Jesus gave to us was a testimony of truth! And Jesus was equipped, as He Himself of divine origin taught of His own divine experience. He had received the Holy Spirit that He promised to us. So as Jesus had an unlimited source, we as obedient disciples can expect the same power in our lives.

Our parents were given an open book test and becoming parents for the first time and the second time and possibly that third time,  answers were available to them, for it is in the Bible that God had prepared the way for them and us......if we are choosing to walk in it. And many do not find it that way and is evident on the scene of many societies and cultures of today where there are those choosing their own identity instead of the one God gave them at their birth!

Our daughter has been going through a trial and she never backs away from the fight. For in her, she has Jesus Christ the Lord of her life that strengthens her day by day. His word of truth is her stronghold and her shield. And when we submit to His authority there is the time to walk on through the trial, not set up a camp and live there, but continue to trust that the best is on its way when we truly set our heart of what is truth and life to us. As the parent I know I am always reading and looking for answers for health in body, soul and spirit. And together with my husband, we have looked for that which affects health and well-being for those we love. We can certainly change the foods we eat everyday, and we can change the way we look at exercise, but in a fallen world, our only answer is in God and in HIM we are to rely on no matter what is going on or what the trial may be He is with us and will show us the way in His light of truth!

If you are going through a trial or just came out of one, please be reminded that God is still on the scene. He never leaves us orphans.
May these words lift you and breathe life into you as you reflect on His goodness: The LORD is my strength and my shield, my heart trusted in him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise Him. ( Psalm 28:7)  Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ( 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.....we give thanks as we go through, not for the trial, but because God is with us and is our HELP) The entrance of YOUR words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. (Psalm 119:130) But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint. ( Isaiah 40:31) Jesus said in Mark 9:23......If thou can believe all things are possible to him that believes.  You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. ( Psalm 32:7) I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O'Most High. When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at Your presence. For You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat on the throne judging in righteousness. (Psalm 9:1-14)

You can pass this test, the mountain has to move, our faith is in God and in Him we trust and believe and see our faith work as we walk through! Holy Spirit enable these readers to adhere to truth of God. As these dear ones adhere, their spiritual honesty of heart is revealed for Your goodness to flow like a river. May each who receive this word be energized and refreshed in their worship to YOU in the word of Your truth. In this open book test: we are transparent, we are sincere according to the path YOU have prepared for us to walk. It is in Jesus' name that we believe we receive health and wholeness today!

Father, we give thanks for Your word of truth that brings light unto dark places. In this day and hour, what appears is not what the world or man speaks but what You have given us through Your word that is of You, the God of perfection, holy, merciful, glorious, and to be magnified! Our earnest desire is to see Your kingdom come today in our lives, in our bodies and in our spirit man. We believe the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to us and in that Bread of Life we receive more life, we receive abundantly above all that we may ask or think today. Thank You for mercy in sending Your only Son for us. We  give thanks with the grateful heart that we have His name and we have prayed in that precious name to receive healing, wholeness and Your peace in this life now. Amen!

New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

Enduring to the End

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Also visit my You Tube channel Voice of Prayer for more teaching 

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New teaching at: Life Giving Wells

And We Speak Through Prayer

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Also visit Life Giving Wells You Tube Channel for more teaching

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