THEME: “TOUGH TIMES NEVER LAST, TOUGH PEOPLE DO”
Read 1 Samuel 17:33-47
DAVID KNEW HOW GREAT GOD IS
Key Verse: “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” (I Samuel 17:45 NKJV).
Some Christians have a diminutive image of God in their minds. They regard God as powerless and mean. This is why they hardly rise above the level of their problems. They walk about with a defective mindset of God. Circumstances brought me close to the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa from 1982 to 1985. Something that I discovered that made him exceptional was his gift of faith, he believed that all things are possible in the mighty name of Jesus. He never believed that there was anything God could not do and which he could not achieve in the name of Jesus.
David was able to defeat Goliath because he had an exalted and great image of God. He believed that the God he served was mighty, incomparable and more than conquerors. He did not have a defeatist or diminutive image of God. He demonstrated this in his confrontation with Goliath. He boasted and spoke eloquently about God’s ability to deliver him and Israel from the hands of Goliath.
“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!” (I Samuel 17:37 NKJV).
Paul believed that the knowledge of God’s power comes by revelation. This was why he prayed for the Christians at Ephesus that they may have revelation knowledge of who God is and his enormous power.
“I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling—that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that he finds in us, his holy ones! I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! This is the mighty power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to the place of highest honor and supreme authority in the heavenly realm! And now he is exalted as first above every ruler, authority, government, and realm of power in existence! He is gloriously enthroned over every name that is ever praised, not only in this age, but in the age that is coming!” (Ephesians 1:18-21).
How do you regard God? How do you extol and esteem him when there are problems? Our image of God affects the way we respond to difficulties.
PRAYER: Oh Lord, open my eyes so that I may comprehend how great you are.
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