Defeating Goliath

Your future holds immeasurable value. Whatever God has dropped into your spirit to achieve, He means for it to happen.

Success? Yes.

Love? Yes.

Healing? Yes.

Deliverance? Yes.

Purpose? Yes.

Vision? Yes.

Greatness? Yes.

God desires these blessings for your life, but rarely are they easily achieved. God mysteriously has them incubated in challenges and hardships. This raises the question, “Why would God gift wrap my future in adversity?” There are three reasons:

1. Affliction provokes you to face obstacles squarely.

2. Adversity gives birth to fortitude.

3. Adverse circumstances cultivate creativity.

If this is the case, what is God telling us?

God does not want us to be fearful or worried about our situations. He instead wants us to envision them as He sees them—as opportunities. Where we see unconquerable challenges, God sees opportunity. Where we see insurmountable obstacles, God sees opportunity. Where we see danger, God sees opportunity. Where we see sadness, God sees opportunity.

What are these opportunities that we should expect? To become great, to break the chains of mediocrity, to turn hopelessness into hopefulness, to turn faithlessness into faithfulness, to turn unhappiness into happiness, and to see the true meaning of GOLIATH: God’s Opportunity Lies In Adversity, Trials, and Hindrances.

The Characteristics of Goliath

Understand your enemy’s nature and his ways; only then can you expose his weakness!

—Ellard Thomas

Gaining victory over the giants in your life requires you to identify and understand their nature. Examination of Goliath, for example, reveals three attributes of this infamous warrior.

1. The title of champion suggests he had never been defeated. Since he had never lost a battle, the Philistines gained confidence through his reputation and his accomplishments (1 Samuel 17:4).

2. Goliath’s appearance provoked intimidation. Standing over nine feet tall, heavily covered in armor and weaponry, his freakish size caused Israel to abandon hope and to relinquish their faith. Individuals gripped by intimidation will ultimately lose clarity about their God-given abilities and thus operate out of a spirit of fear (1 Samuel 17:5-7).

3. Goliath’s antagonistic and arrogant demeanor further exposed Israel’s cowardice. Standing before the men of Israel, he presented an attractive yet discouraging proposal. If the elect of Israel could defeat him, the Philistines would become enslaved to King Saul and Israel. If, however, the elect of Israel were defeated, Israel would become enslaved to the Philistines (1 Samuel 17:8-9).

As Goliath was to King Saul and his men, your opposition wants to stop your progress and snatch your desire for achievement. It wants to rob you of hope and push you to abandon your faith. That said, what about Goliath caused Israel’s fear and reluctance to fight? His size? No. His undefeated track record? No. His antagonistic, arrogant behavior? No.

A much larger, invisible issue caused Israel’s dismay and fear: misperception. The men perceived Goliath as invincible and more powerful and stronger than them. Unfortunately, this misperception, or delusion, exposed their lack of faith and misidentification of their enemy.

When dominated by the sight of opposition, you negate the power God has poured into you. You discredit your Creator whenever you place greater faith in your inability rather than His ability within you. This is unacceptable and can no longer continue!

During your moments of weakness or most difficult times, God is your source of power (2 Corinthians 12:9). He is your refuge and strength and a very present help in the time of trouble (Psalms 46:1). Important to understand is that He can do whatever you cannot. And since “God did not give us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind” and the strength “to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy,” you should never cower in the face of challenges (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV).

Before you think about fleeing from hardship, consider whose image in which you were created: God’s. As an individual created in His likeness, you have dominion over every obstacle and issue that has become a Goliath in your life (Genesis 1:26; Luke 10:19). Intimidation then is not part of your God-netic makeup.