Eyes Focused on God, Not the Enemy – Day 14
Focus
Shift the Nation: 24/7 Prayer 12–22 May 2023
Intention
To resolve our hearts to focus only on the Lord.
Scripture
“Then a champion came out from the camps of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was 2.7m (9ft) tall. And he had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armour, and the weight of that scale-armour was 55kg of bronze. He also had bronze shin guards on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed nearly 7Kg of iron; his shield-carrier also walked before him. And he stood and called out to the battle lines of Israel… Then the Philistine approached, morning and evening, for forty days and took his stand.”
– 1 Samuel 17:4–8, 16
Reflection
As a child at Sunday School, I was awed by the giant from Gath. Now that I can more accurately picture him, he’s frightening. As are all our ‘giants’.
Our giants can take on different forms, but they are all progeny of our enemy. Those rulers, powers, world forces of this darkness, spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12). The nations roar, rising up against one another. The world system is advancing its narrative. Like Goliath it shouts out threats of death. Death to babies and the infirm. Death to gender and death to marriage. Death to the family as God designed it. Death to everything that our Creator declared good. The devil has come to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10a).
But it was arrogance that made Goliath blind to what God was doing by His own hand. He was totally unaware God was going to trump him using His anointed one, David. He was going to redeem His people and make good His promises to them.
Israel, God’s chosen people, however, had been doing nothing for six weeks. They couldn’t. They were cowering at one end of a paddock. They were afraid. Afraid of their enemy, succumbing to his taunts. Saul, their king and leader was living in disobedience to God and was thus fearful, diffident, aimless and defeated.
David, on the other hand, was zealous for the Lord’s name and super confident in God’s faithfulness. His eyes were focused on His Lord. This had been developing through his young years while living seemingly mundanely. His heart was being moulded by God. And now it is time for action.
He was resolved to call out evil for what it was. He was resolved to conquer this evil and to be fearless. David was resolved to overcome and not just survive. He was resolved to listen to God’s voice and not Goliath’s. He exchanged the lies of the enemy with volumes of truth, straight from God’s Word. He declared justice and victory.
No wonder he was a foreshadowing of Yeshua, the King of Kings and our Redeemer.
Video
Prayer
Lord,
As we move into this season of prayer and fasting and witness, our eyes are focused on only You. You are faithful. You are sovereign. We pray Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Regardless of the enemy’s rhetoric, the harvest is ripe and there are souls to be won.
Let me not be ashamed of the simplicity of the gospel, like David’s stones. Let me not trust in methods of advertising or sharing it, or in gimmicks to attract by appeal to the senses. Let me believe, rather, in the simplicity of your “gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation” (Rom 1:16).
In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Author Bio
Vincent is a Naturopathic Practitioner in Lismore. Born in Kenya, Vincent encountered Jesus in Grahamstown through the ministry of the late Archbishop Bill Burnett. He studied at the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne as a candidate for the ministry of the new Uniting Church.
Prayer Points and Purpose for GO 2023 in May
- To worship Jesus and give extravagant praise to God. Heb 12:28–29
- Pray that the Lamb who was slain might receive the reward for His suffering. Rev 5:6–14
- Pray for revival for Australia and for millions to find Christ. Isa 64:1–2
- Pray for revival for Israel and millions to find Christ. Rom 10:1
- Pray for five friends to find Christ and share the gospel with those five in May. Matt 28:18–20
We invite you to support this prayer campaign to multiply prayer in Australia for revival and see millions come to Christ. Every donation to the Canberra Declaration helps us promote prayer and make a stand for Family, Faith, Freedom, Life, and the Good News of God’s love through Jesus Christ His Son.
Join us for our nightly Zoom prayer call:
DATES: Every night for the month of May
TIME: 8pm AEST
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Excellent word. Thanks,
Some interesting facts about David’s fight with Goliath.
So when David took his 5 stones, it was in the valley of Elah.
The mineral that stones in that valley consist of is Barium Sulphate which has a density of 4.5 g/cm3 (grams per cubic centimetre).
Most of the major rock-forming minerals in the Earth’s crust, like quartz, feldspar, and calcite, have very similar densities (around 2.6 to 3.0 g/cm3). So Barium Sulphate is about twice as dense as ordinary stones!
Slingers were part of Israel’s long range army, as were archers.
David was very well trained by the Lord as a slinger.
Slingers were effective up to 200 metres.
Goliath wanted to engage David up close, but David wisely used his slinging range as a strength.
Never fight an enemy on their terms, always fight with your advantages.
A ballistic analysis shows that at 100 metres the impact of a Barium Sulphate stone, well slung, has the equivalent impact as a .45 calibre hand gun, albeit over a greater impact area (i.e. Goliath’s forehead).
Goliath had no chance against David, because of the Lord, his training, his weapon, and the geology of the battlefield.
Note: There is no mention of giants in Scripture after the time of David. As far as we know, the gibbor David (1 Samuel 16:18) and his group of gibborim (2 Samuel 23:8) brought an end to the giants, those gibborim of old (Genesis 6:4). There are no more Nephilim, Anakim, or Rephaim on the earth.
So lets fight this fight with the Lord’s weapons (worship, prayer, and declaration of His word), the Lord’s strategy and the Lord’s battlefield (in the heavenlies against principalities and powers).