Are you focusing on what you are fighting or Who you are fighting for?

I could feel the Holy Spirit today @ Hillcrest Baptist Church Austin, from the first song to the last prayer.

Pastor Tom started teaching on David today, but what got me was this;  little teen David was facing a giant. A giant that an entire army was terrified of!  Yet without fear, and even more, with absolute conviction, David stepped forward and said to Goliath .......1 Samuel 17: 45 " You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord All Mighty" 

wow! David was confident. David knew he had God on his side and you know why? Because David didn't lose sight of Who he was fighting for.  David wasn't fighting for his ego, or for his own petty desires, David knew without a doubt he was fighting with God and for God.

David then went so far as to tell Goliath he was going to kill him. I can see it now, this little teen boy informs a ginat who has been terrorizong an army of seasoned fighters that he, David will kill him? i just bet Goliath was sneering and laughing at this kid who dared to oppose him, but 1 Samuel 17:46b, 47... David says " and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. all those gathered here will know that it is NOT by sword or spear, that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lords"

When is the last time you faced something difficult with this much confidence and faith in God ?

I saw a cartoon my friend Tony Viby, posted on Facebook today. It showed a man who prayed for Gods protection then  was hit by one rock and he began with an angry face asking " Why me God, Why didn't you protect me?"
Then the cartoon showed Jesus standing large in front of the man blocking a rain of rocks and Jesus turns to the man saying " Did I miss one, I am sorry, are you all right? "

How many times have we done the same? We expect nothing bad to ever happen to us as Christians yet we don't reply on Jesus  or thank Him for the love and protection He gives us. we take over and then wonder why things don't go according to our plan.

I have been fretting over my job. I am having to travel more than was agreed to in my interview and am now gone more than I am home.  I fear I will soon be asked to re-locate to S. California and leave my home in Texas. I don't want to. I have been sick with fear and anger.  Today Pastor Tom said many of us have become so focused on what we are fighting that we have lost sight of Who we are fighting for.

Think about that a minute. Have you become so focused on fighting job loss, or financial struggles, or illness or family problems, that you have lost sight of Who you are supposed to be fighting for?

Hebrews 13:5. Jesus promises " I will never leave you nor forsake you" . so if you feel far from God, who is the one who moved?

I know in this struggle I have been going through, I have felt further and further from Him, and it was all me. I was trying to control my life instead of trusting God.  I can't begin to describe the weight that left my shoulders when I gave that worry to God today with tears running down my cheeks and a smile on my face.

And you know what is absolutely awesome about it all? God doesn't expect us to be big and strong. He can use us as we are. David didn't fight Goliath with armor and a sword. He went out armed with a shepherds slingshot and it was enough. God gives us the tools we need if we only trust Him.

Hillsong  - Mighty to Save
Savior
He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave


So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender 


I love that song! don't you?