There are a few songs we sing that talk about slaying giants. One song called “Every Giant will Fall” by Rend Collective says, “Every giant will fall, the mountains will move, every chain of the past, You've broken in two, Over fear, over lies, we're singing the truth, that nothing is impossible with You.” Another song by Francesca Battistelli called “Giants Fall” says, “Don't you be afraid of giants in your way, with God you know that anything's possible. So step into the fight, He's right there by your side, the stones inside your hand might be small but watch the giants fall.” Casting Crowns song “Voice of Truth” says, “Oh what I would do to have the kind of strength it takes to stand before a giant with just a sling and a stone surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors shaking in their armour wishing they'd have had the strength to stand but the giants are calling out my name and they laugh at me reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed. The waves they keep on telling me time and time again "Boy, you'll never win! You'll never win" But the stone was just the right size to put the giant on the ground. I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth.”
The only way giants fall is in the power of the Holy Spirit. If you attempt to fight giants in your own power, you will loose. Since there is such a lacking fear of the Lord, we see an increase in fear in the army of the Lord. Psalm 36:1 “I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” This is not how it should be. We see several times the army of Israel shaking in their armour. One of them was when Saul was told to wait. 1 Samuel 13:6 “When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 7 Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. 8 He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter.” Here Saul disobeyed because their situation was critical men were afraid and scattered. If he had waited for Samuel he would have seen his enemy defeated. This was the beginning of the end for his kingship. 1 Samuel 13:13 “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” Then Saul disobeyed again and 28 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbours—to one better than you.” 1 Samuel 15:35 “Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. Samuel then anointed David. 1 Samuel 16:1 “Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” 13 “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.”
Another time we see the army of Israel in fear is when Goliath the giant challenged them. This represents our enemy satan. 1 Samuel 17:16 “For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand. 1 Samuel 17:8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other. 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. 24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.”
Now we must remember David was previously anointed king even though he had not assumed the position of king yet. When this anointing happens it was a sure thing. We see this when Jehu was anointed king. 2 Kings 9:4 “Elisha sends a prophet to Jehu to say, “This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run; don’t delay!” 5 When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said. “For which of us?” asked Jehu. “For you, commander,” he replied. 6 Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu’s head and declared, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the Lord’s people Israel. Then he opened the door and ran.11 When Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him, “Is everything all right? Why did this maniac come to you?” “You know the man and the sort of things he says,” Jehu replied. 12 “That’s not true!” they said. “Tell us.” Jehu said, “Here is what he told me: ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’” 13 They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!” David would be king.
In David’s case this took place in the course of time even though he was anointed king already. When he was anointed 1 Samuel 16:13 “in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.” So here we see the power of the Holy Spirit. Now he hears the taunts of Goliath and says, 1 Samuel 17:26 “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” Meanwhile everyone else is shaking in their armour except David. He says to Saul 1 Samuel 17:32 “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” 33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” David knew he could defeat the giant because the Lord was with him in the power of the Holy Spirit, otherwise the giant would have slaughtered him. Yes David was well trained with the slingshot but with the power of the Holy Spirit behind that stone, the giant falls. 1 Samuel 17:45 “David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
Yesterday we talked about the anointing of the Holy Spirit. You are deceiving yourself if you think you can fight giants without it. The enemy satan day in and day out is defying the army of the Lord but the beauty of this is that a shepherd boy with the power of the Holy Spirit, a sling and a stone defeated the giant while all the others cowered in fear. Later we see David’s army. 1 Chronicles 12:22 “Day after day men came to help David, until he had a great army, like the army of God.” When you read about the mighty warriors who fought with David you also see the power of God in them also. 2 Samuel 23:8 “Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter.” You can read further about the exploits of these warriors. We also see 1 Chronicles 20:5 “In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod. 6 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 7 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him. 8 These were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.”
There will be giants in your life. We have been talking about entering the Promised Land where we will be victorious if we are wholehearted as Caleb and Joshua were. There will be giants in the land and yes they will be ominous. In the power of the Holy Spirit we will defeat them unless we cower and do what Israel did. When they spied out the land they Numbers 13:27 “They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.” 30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” Deuteronomy 1:26 “But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. 27 You grumbled in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.”
Joshua was told Joshua 1:2 “Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” In order to take this land we must obey. If we want to see the giants fall before us, we must go in the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember Ephesians 3:10 “to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.”
As we prepare to battle, know that the battle is the Lord’s. If we go on our own, we will be defeated. So we continue to wait to be clothed with power as we were commanded to. We can only go in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Be strong and courageous and do not be afraid. Deuteronomy 9:1 “Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. 2 The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?” 3 But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the Lord has promised you.” The giants will fall!
