Battle, Meant...

When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” (Deuteronomy 20:1-4)

David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear. (First Samuel 17:22-24)

In the book of Deuteronomy we read the laws given by Moses to ancient Israel. Chapter 20 begins with a directive concerning warfare. The directive can be broken down into seven points:

v  The people were not to fear their enemies;

v  The people were to remember that God delivered them out of Egypt;

v  The people were to know that God would be with them in the war;

v  The priest was to announce Israel’s entry into battle;

v  The priest was to remind Israel not to be afraid;

v  The priest was to reassure Israel of God’s presence and role in the war;

v  The priest was to declare Israel’s victory before they began to fight.

The army of Israel, concerning Goliath and the Philistine army, failed to do what their law provided as standard protocol for warfare… but we see that David was not affected by Israel’s failure to keep the law. Let’s take a minute to consider the source of David’s success as a warrior. Pastor Sam shared two things about David that can encourage us today:

1. David had experienced the power of God. As a shepherd, David had received God’s power: to rescue his father’s sheep, and to avoid being killed by wild animals. First Samuel 17:37 gives us David’s mindset: “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

2. David had experienced the presence of God. First Samuel 16:13 shows us that David had an encounter with the Spirit of God: “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.”

Our modern-day warfare may not seem as dramatic as that of a boy defeating a giant, but in fact you and I may have to do some serious battling in the realm of the spirit. We face relatives who have given themselves over to deep evil. We hear the voices of prominent people, sometimes even those who claim to be people of God, and their words are full of fear. These who we love, and who are “the sheep of God’s pasture” (see Psalm 100:3), need to be rescued. And if we have experienced the power of God and the presence of God in our personal lives, then we are equipped to fight and win.

Today is a good day to take your experience onto the battlefield. The LORD is with you. Fight fearlessly.

All Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.