All present felt the force permeating this young snotty nosed nobody's, war cry! And even though Goliath laughed mockingly, in his heart, he sensed something in this disrespectful, wet behind the ears young punk, that felt a whole lot like…AUTHORITY! And in that moment, as Goliath laughed to himself, he mused in his heart that, he had faced and vanquished some of the mightiest men of his day on the field of battle since the days of his early youth...and in all his battles—great and small alike, he had never witnessed someone so unlikely, yet so convinced, so sure of his coming victory, that he almost seemed to be in AUTHORITY...as if he had laid claim to the very battlefield for his possession! Goliath's extensive experience on the battlefield where he had ruled quite literally as a GIANT among men, allowed him to perceive things that most other men could not fathom as reserved only for the eyes of a champion or battlefield ruler! This vantage allowed the giant to noticed that, this kid was so committed to his presumed authority, that some kind of POWER seemed to almost emanate this idiotic, teenage upstart!  

But the giant laughs it off, as he looks down at this young almost grasshopper by comparison, figure before him, and continued to mock this nothing of a kid, by his gods! Still, it was undeniable to Goliath and to both assembled armies, that this boy wasn't just 'junk talking' or running his mouth in an 'out-of-touch' with reality, hype! There seemed to be something about him! He seemed to be making declarations of what he was about to do to Goliath, in the name of the LORD...so AUTHORITATIVELY, that if you didn't look and see who was actually making those pronouncements, it would almost feel...believable!

Can you see David charging the giant with all his might...shouting in utter outrage at the blaspheming Goliath, as if he were the giant—not Goliath! Oh, what a moment! What a sight that must have been! What a moment! A hush of curious anticipation must have fallen over the entire crowd, as this indignant kid thundered across the battlefield, as if he couldn't wait to get his hands on this uncircumcised Philistine! What FIRE! What AUTHORITY! What BRAZEN AUDACITY! What GALL! Oh...what a MOMENT!...."PREPARE TO DIE!"

Many of us have felt a similar kind of conviction, a similar kind of fire—in our lives before; utterly convinced of our imminent victory over our giants...yes, utterly convinced! And many of us have witnessed as some of those giants fell, like great oak trees chopped down in their prime...humbled by the meager stone of our childlike, yet mountain mountain, fiery faith! 

And yet, for as much as our faith victories feed and build up our faith, our faith losses have an even greater power to undermine and tear down that very same, faith. In fact, if we're not careful, one great loss can seemingly shatter the confidence developed by many victories...much as David's single stone was able to shatter Goliath! 

When David went out to face Goliath, he was on a winning streak because of his consecutive victories over both the lion and the bear! His faith was high, whole and unimpaired by any memories of past failures! David was hot!

In fact, it's only when we've suffered defeat at the hands of one of our giants that our faith ceases in being innocent, child-like—pure faith. Instead, it very much becomes as a virgin who has been violated…and begins to behave as someone molested—wounded and unable to easily trust anymore!

And yet the giants keep coming! And we may continue with bold talk but, with words unbacked by a fire long snuffed out! Now, as we stand to face our giant threats, our hearts are no longer whole, or whole heartedly steadfast in faith! Instead, it has become double-minded... fragmented—divided over the traumatic memories of past failures! And of course, the Bible says that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, and will receive nothing from GOD! (James 1:7-8) Aware of this, and understanding the need and reward for having faith, we attempts to ignore our doubts, pushing them down and try to mentally focus on having faith…not aware that—that kind of faith originates more so from our 'head' than from our hearts...that have become polluted by those trauma-based doubts! And of course, it's only believing from our heart, that saves us...not our head! As a result, failure and defeat multiply itself against our unstable and so unrewarded, faith...until our poor faith becomes so beat down, so traumatized, that many former fiery-faith, people are now suffering from what I've come to call 'Spiritual PTSD' or 'Shell Shocked Faith'!

These formerly, on firey-faith people, have had the fire that once fueled their faith...violently snuffed! What was once a raging and glorious flame, is now reduced to a barely flickering and smoldering wick! And we have become a people, whose hearts have been shackled by unanswered trauma-based questions about GOD's unconditional love for us, as we now struggle desperately...to believe—albeit, with our 'head'.

What do you do when you find yourself intimidated at the threats of your giant so that you are tempted to feel like a grasshopper, in your faith...in the presence of your GIANT ISSUE?! What do you do when your Goliath—your GIANT PROBLEM, looks down upon you in utter disdain, and you find the legs of your faith broken to the point of being too crippled to stand up on them?!

FIGHTING FOR YOUR FAITH 

Oftentimes, even before we face the enemy of our faith, it is important, no imperative, to allow the LORD to heal us of our Spiritual PTSD. Or else we will find ourselves flinching or reacting shell shockingly to our present giants or even rumors of approaching giants, because of the devastating and demoralizing memories of defeats from our past giants! The Bible says: "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." (Eph 6:16)

Those fiery-darted lies must not be allowed to penetrate our hearts to nest themselves therein! Those lies must be faced down with GOD's truth spoken in authoritative, faith! Sometimes, before you face your enemy, you must first confront his lies! Trying to ignore those fiery darted lying doubts, in the name of trying to believe is failing to block the blows of the enemy...and instead, allowing his lies to penetrate the inner recesses of your heart to metastasize and gnaw away at your already fragmented, faith! Your shield of faith has been given to you for a reason! Don't be afraid to use it for it's intended purpose. Therefore, before you can be free to attack, you must sometimes block the attack of the enemy—by confronting his lies, with faith's proclamations!  

I know of people struggling with addiction, trying to believe GOD for freedom from their addiction, while deep within the heart of their shell shocked faith, they believe themselves to be addicts! How can GOD liberate them from their addiction when in their faith, they believe themselves to be addicts! The lie of the enemy has successfully divided their hearts, rendering them double-minded and so unstable...rendering their faith—all but useless! I know Christians who are trying to believe GOD for success in something, while deep within the recesses of their shell shocked faith, they have received and believed the lie that they are failures...losers! This division makes them double-minded and so "unstable in all their ways", rendering their faith useless! Or when you are believing GOD to heal you when you see yourself as sick! Or when you're praying for the LORD to send you a spouse when you in your shell shocked faith believe yourself to be inadequate and not good enough for a spouse! And just because your spouse cheated on you doesn't mean that something's wrong with YOU! Hold up your worn out shield of faith…battered and beat up though it may be, it will still work if you work it! Proclaim GOD's truth about yourself with your shield of faith, whenever a fiery darted lie would attempt to divide and conquer your heart's faith! Faithfully block those lying darts with an authoritative faith declaration of the truth! You dare not let even one lie get through, unchallenged! Else you won't be fighting the enemy anymore. In your double-minded instability, you'll be fighting YOURSELF…flinching and twitching in fear and anxiety from Spiritual PTSD, every time an evil report or a frightening possibility presents itself against you; reducing you to feeling the undignified and horrifying vulnerability of being the enemies prey, or one of life's victims…wondering what happened to you and where GOD's power is in your life! 

NO! No more! Block that lying dart by authoritatively, proclaiming what GOD says about you! Protect what you believe in your heart about yourself, with your shield of faith! NO MORE! 

 

FIGHTING VS WRESTLING

Eph 6:12 Says: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." 

The fire that burned in David's faith during his battle with Goliath raged as the battle ended almost as quickly as it began! It was a great feat of faith! And if some of our battle's ended as quickly, the fires of our faith might still be burning as brightly today as it was in the earlier days of our salvation! But, this has been our problem, exactly. We have too often been looking for a quick faith fight when more times than not, it turned out to be more of a wrestling match. Indeed, there are some issues we may have to wrestle with, sometimes! The under estimation of what it was going to take to win some of our battles demoralized our faith! That which should have been under our feet but, because of a gross miscalculation of how much of our faith's stamina it would take...ended up being over our heads!

We declared war against some of our Goliath's, thinking that we were going to authoritatively 'sprint' our way to victory, through some of those battles, when maybe...we might should have better paced ourselves in more of an authoritative 'run'...short of a sprint! And in other cases, we might should have slowed down even more, in our approach and our thinking...to a brisk authoritative 'jog'! The victory would've been no less ours, and every bit as sweet! Goliath still would have fallen every bit as hard! And the head of our troubles would have been violently cut off, just the same! But, our presumption and lack of mental preparedness, took too great a toll on the stamina of our faith! We started off dealing with the situation from our GOD given position of AUTHORITY, or 'maximized faith' but, soon downgraded to a less commitment of our faith to one of just trying to trust GOD! As a result, because we were only mentally prepared for fights to end quickly—in the first round, problems that should have been soundly pinned within 3 to 5 rounds...ended up going the distance and even LOST, because of presumptuously squandering away our faith!

So, sometimes, it is just a fight! Other times, it may be something we have to wrestle with! The LORD wants that we go out unto life's battlefields prepared for both! The AUTHORITY is yours! And the victory is yours, regardless! Therefore, the LORD has called his people back to their perspective fields of battle, to finally finish their unfinished business! And even as your GIANT SICKNESS, or your BIG PROBLEM, looks down upon you defiantly, mocking you—there is an even louder trumpet sounding from Heaven, calling forth the 'David' He placed within you to come out unto the battlefield to confront your Goliath! Greater is He that is in YOU…! Lay claim to this battlefield! For, it has been given to you as your possession! It belongs to you—as does the head of your enemy! Therefore, as you stand ready to fight it out or fully prepared to wrestle it out, be fully committed in your AUTHORITY and fully convinced of your coming victory! It is time for you to shut the mouth of this UNCIRCUMCISED CIRCUMSTANCE...once and for all! The stage is set. The battle lines, drawn! The spectators are watching! How dare this UNCIRCUMCISED CIRCUMSTANCE challenge you?! It is YOU who are the GIANT! How dare he?! HOW DARE HE?! Let all those present, especially the ears of your giant, hear the thundering boom of your war cry, echoing across the battlefield...

"GOLIATH! PREPARE TO DIE!”