Conquering Returning Problems

Goliath wasn't the only giant David ever faced, years after Goliath's death, a descendant of Goliath attacked David. This time David was weak and exhausted and was not able to face his giant alone, Abishai, David's nephew came and killed this giant for David.

We all face giants in our lives and maybe even have kill those giants, but like a bad zombie movie sequel they come back to attack. Giants may represent sin or a problem that we may have had the victory over and thought we would never have to face again. David was known as a giant killer so it would surprise an outsider that he was unable to fight this battle, but Abishai as David's nephew would have seen David the man, not David the giant killer and realized that David was indeed human and at times weak and it was in his weakness that God used, not his strength. This gave Abishai the courage to face this giant in confidence that even though he was human like his uncle David maybe he too could slay this giant. Abishai had never fought a giant before but he had seen David have the victory so he had the courage to take on the giant and protect David during his weakest moment. Abishai learned from being in the house of David from being in communion with him and having seen what he did made him able to do the same.

As believers sometimes our victories are for ourselves and sometimes they are for others to witness and emulate. When we are weak and our giant returns, like David we need our closest friends to help fight our battle. Sometimes our weakness is an opportunity for others to step up and carry us giving them authority and strength they didn't have. This requires us to be weak and vulnerable, something men often don't want to be in front of other men. But in our vulnerability, friendships are strengthened and victory can be ours.

It was Abishai's ability to kill Ishibenob that enabled others to have victory over the giants. Up until David, no one had killed a giant, but after Abishai killed his giant, several others (Sibbecai, Elanan, and Jonathan) are credited as having killed giants. I would argue that if David had defeated this second giant, David's reputation would have increase as a giant killer but no one else would have been able to kill a giant. But in Abishai's victory, others realize that the power David had was not exclusive but was something that was available to anyone who believed.

David's inability to fight this giant is a great example of how we can't always rely on our leader's to fight our battle's for us. We have to learn from their example, grab our sword and slay our giants because YOU CAN.

Sun Stand Still

Too Busy

Once I was driving on the highway and I saw a bumper sticker that read, "Jesus is Coming: Look Busy." I thought this was hilarious, but it also got me thinking that we are actually sometimes too busy. We are busy with work, church, family, school, sports, entertainment, our days are filled with so much stimulation I wonder if Christ appeared in the room, would we realize he was there.

This reminds me of the story of Martha and Mary. Martha asked Jesus to to reprimand Mary because she was just sitting at the master's feet while Martha was doing all the work. I have found that whenever I pray I seem to find work or entertainment to do instead of just sit and prayer at the master's feet. Just now I was praying before writing this entry and I got up because I realized I hadn't put away all the fruit from my peapod delivery. I started to cut away the bag that contained a beautiful ripe pineapple, I took a whiff of this lovely fruit and thought I need to cut up this pineapple right now. Then it dawned on me, I had left the presence of the Lord to work and when the work was over it lead me not back into the presence of the Lord instead the work lead me to seek pleasure. I was Martha.

The Martha syndrome is the enemy's way to keep us from talking to God and hearing from Him. And if the enemy can keep us from hearing God, he can cloud our vision and without vision the people perish. That is why it is so important to keep the Sabbath holy. We need to dedicate quiet time every day but specially on Sundays to hearing from God and talking to him. There is nothing more powerful that spending some time in the presence of the Lord. When we read the passage on Mary and Martha most of us cannot identify with Martha. Jesus was right there in the room with them, of course we would be like Mary. But we are all Martha's because Christ left us the Holy Spirit and He is right there with you right now as you read this, knocking on the door of your heart wanting to sit down with you and spend sometime. There is no job, no deadline, no deliverable, no exam, no meeting that can't wait until after you have had time to sit at the master feet.

300 Culture Shifters

When God asked Gideon to fight a battle he told Gideon that his army was too large and he decreased the size of his army by allowing anyone that was fearful to go home. He further dwindled down their size by watching how they drank water from the river. The majority of those that went to the river layed down on their bellies and lapped the water like a dog, 300 of them instead cupped the water with their hands and brought it to their mouth. I have heard many messages on why these 300 mighty men were chosen and all of them are correct. The first reason is that God wanted the glory so he had to dwindle their numbers to show that even at impossible odds with God we can be victorious. An alternative reason has been proposed as to why these 300 men were chosen was because in kneeling to drink the water they were more prepared for battle than their counterparts that laid down on the ground and drank it like dogs.

In addition to these reasons, I would also like to suggest a third alternative. God chose these men because they were culture shifters. Since 10,000 of the men drank water by laying on the ground and lapping it like a dog this suggests to me that maybe that was the culturally acceptable way warriors drank water from a stream. Instead these 300 men weren't conforming to the normal practices of their culture, they were culture shifters.

If God is going to use us we need to not conform to our culture but transform our culture. We need to look at new ways of conducting commerce, new ways of spreading the gospel, new ways of ministering to people. Are we still comforting to the way the world operates or are we being directed by the Holy Spirit to act in a new way, to fight battles in our workplace and in our homes in a new way. If indeed we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, then why are we trying to operate according to the rules of our culture instead of using spiritual tools and approaches that are "outside of the box."

Lets become one of this generation's 300 mighty leaders and transform the world around us by becoming culture shifters.

Don't Give Up, Keep Growing!

Our society wants to label every action as either success or failure, but God has a third label, "growth." If I were to tell you to hold my baby daughter who is only a few months old and then I call out to her and say, "walk to daddy" most of you would expect that little girl to fall a number of times on her way. Then if I asked you if her walking a success or a failure, you wouldn't really be able to label it as either. She didn't complete the task of walking across the room because she fell several times, but she didn't fail either, she tried, because she is still growing. She will continue to try and she will fall several times as she tries but one day she will try and not fall.

In our earthly walk are continuously in the process of trying to walk out the vision God has called us to. Often we will falter and make mistakes, but God wants us to pick ourselves up and try again. We learn from our mistakes and we are growing both spiritually, physically and emotionally.

In 2010, I fell a lot in my walk, I made a lot of mistakes, I made investments that didn't work out, I took risks in the stock market that didn't pay off and I made a number of poor choices. The enemy would love for me to label these events as "failures" so I would get stuck on the missteps and not try again.

However, in 2011, I plan to not dwell on the mistakes of my past but instead I plan to pick myself up and look forward, knowing that I'm am growing, that I am learning and I will never give up!

So I gave a gift to myself this New Year's Day, the book, "Never Give Up! relentless Determination to Overcome Life's Challenges" by Joyce Meyers. I have yet to read it, but here is a small excerpt:

"Some of the most successful people in history failed and, instead of being discouraged, refused to give up. For example, consider the following:

• Henry Ford, who invested the automobile, went broke five times before he succeeded in business.
• The great dancer and movie star Fred Astaire took a screen test at MGM studios in 1933. A studio memo reported he was slightly bald, could not act, and could dance a little.
• The family of Louisa May Alcott, the great author who wrote the popular book 'Little Women', thought she shold abandon the idea of being a writer and become a seamstress instead.
• A newspaper fired Walt Disney for lack of ideas, and he went bankrupt several times before building Disneyland.
• Enrico Caruso's parents believed a voice teacher who said he hand no future in music - he simply could not sing at all. He did not believe the teacher and became one of the most famous opera singers in the world.
• Theodore Roosevelt suffered the deaths of both his mother and his wife on the same day in 1884 before he became a war hero and a very effective president of the United States.
• John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was often asked to not return to churches after preaching in them once. When he preached on the streets, townspeople kicked him out. When he preached in a meadow, people turned a bull loose on him. But later, because he refused to give up, he preached in a pasture and ten thousand people came to hear him.