Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please take the time to see a video of organ music and lyrics to Charles Wesley’s hymn Father of Jesus Christ, My Lord, which strongly proclaims that our relationship with Christ provides us wit the power to overcome all enemies. … And THEN TO THIS LINK to view a 90 minute movie of the life story of Dennis Jernigan, whose testimony can help anyone who has been oppressed by personal “Goliaths.”
Highlight Passage: 1st Samuel 17: 37 [NKJV} … David’s confidence in His God to defeat Goliath …
37 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!”
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Highlight Context - NKJV: 1st Samuel 17: 31-37 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK …
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Reference Passage #1: 2nd Corinthians 12:9 … [NKJV] …
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Reference Passage #2: Galatians 2: 20… [NKJV] …
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Reference Passage #3: 1st John 4: 1-6 … [NKJV] ... GO TO THIS LINK … Especially note verse 4 -
... 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Poh Fang Chia, opens with a very familiar Bible story - that of David confronting his Goliath; and Chia predictably uses the story to reference the “Goliaths” we all face in life as Christians.
Perhaps, today, like most of us, the world is presenting itself as a “GOLIATH,” trying to get us to wilt under the stature of its intimidating presence and fierce rhetoric. Maybe, you’ve been beaten down by past wounds to think that you’re worthless and have no real importance in this world. … Perhaps, like Dennis Jernigan, in the movie [linked above] which came to my attention by God’s timing yesterday, there are those who believe - by the intimidation of the so-called “gay lobby” in the world, that they were born gay and will always be gay. … Maybe the intimidation of radical Islamic terrorists, which we thought about yesterday on 9/11, has many thinking that we must cower to its tactics of terror. … And I think of many young people these days, who are totally intimidated by the bullying tactics and sexting extortion of their fellow classmates.
Yes, we all confront “GOLIATHS” in our lives, don’t we? And these forces of evil can be just as intimidating as was the original Philistine, Goliath, was for the Israelites under Saul’s command [see the 1st Samuel passage above]. But for Saul and God’s army, David showed up and actually believed that this Goliath didn’t stand a chance against his LORD. David, even as a young lad, actually believed what Paul had to learn in 2nd Corinthians 12: 9 and what the Apostle John taught in 1st John 4: 4 … that we serve a God Who is always greater than the “GOLIATHS” we face in life.
What is your GOLIATH? Are you combatting a father wound, having been beaten down to believe that you’re worthless? … Have you come to fall prey to the lies that if you have same-sex desires that you were born “gay?” … Are you captive and bound up by some addiction in your life, believing that God could never give you the strength to overcome these demons? … Maybe you’re like many young people today, who are thinking that suicide would be better than to face up to bullies who would do all they can to make one feel unwanted, alone, or worthless.
I don’t know what your GOLIATH might be, dear one. But whatever or whoever it might be, I pray we take in the truths above today, and BELIEVE - as did young David - that our God is greater than any Goliath. And if you can carve out 90 minutes from your life, I would exhort you to use the link above and watch the testimonial movie of Dennis Jernigan, the well-known Christian music artist, who was close to suicide in his college days, believing the lie that he was “born gay,” and living for several years captive to that lifestyle. Well, you may know some of Dennis’ story, now that he and his wife have nine (count them, NINE) children;. Dennis J came to die to himself (see Galatians 2: 20) and was reborn with Christ’s strength to overcome his goliath.
So, now, … let’s go out and believe that we have a God who will help us defeat any “GOLIATH” in our life.
My Prayer for Today … Lord, You are my power to overcome! Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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