Wednesday, May 3, 2017

May 4, 2017

"Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine." I Samuel 17:40

There has been a lot of speculation about why David took five smooth stones in his bag when he marched out to confront Goliath, the giant.

Was he afraid he would miss with one shot?

Where there more giants who might come after him if he somehow managed to get lucky enough to take out this one? Some have suggested that Goliath had four brothers and perhaps David was making sure he was prepared if they came after him.

Was five his lucky number?

Obviously, we will never know what he was thinking but we do know what he did. He took five stones and had four of them left over (along with a dead giant).

It is no small thing to kill a giant. Goliath was not just big, he was fierce! He was not just big and fierce he was an experienced warrior. David had better know what he is doing and be sure of his aim. He probably wouldn't get a second chance!

I am not sure of what David was thinking when he took the five stones but it is obvious that he was creating a margin in his life. A margin is making sure you have more than enough to be successful in any situation. Call it a margin for error. Call it playing safe. Call it caution. Call it preparation. Having a margin is a good thing.

We know now that David didn't need the extra stones but he had them if he had needed them.

During the blog posts this weeks I am going to talk about the five stones necessary to slay a giant. And let's be real - we all have at least one giant in our lives.

The five stones I will be talking about are the stones of purpose, passion, plan, perspective and prayer.

Do you know the purpose of your life? Why are you here? What in the earth are you doing for Heaven's sake?

Are you living with passion? Are you fully engaged spiritually, emotionally, willfully, mentally, and physically? Or are you going through the motions?

Do you have a plan for successfully serving God? Do you have a strategy for taking down the giant(s) hindering your life? If you are failing to plan you are planning to fail!

Do you have a perspective on life? Do you see the giant like David did and as God did? While everyone else was saying Goliath was too big to challenge, David was thinking Goliath was too big to miss! Do look at the giants in your life with faith or fear?

Are you praying for God's strength to face your giants? Some might say that prayer would be the first weapon you should have. I could not argue with that. I believe, however, that you can pray more effectively once you have the other four stones in your sling. It certainly doesn't hurt to pray at every point - pray about His purpose for you - pray for Him to fill you with passion - pray for His plan to be revealed to you - pray until you have a faith perspective and pray for God to fight for you as you face your giant.

Giants are made to fall! The bigger they are the harder they fall but you must have the proper weapons and the right ammunition!