Do you ever feel like the battles you face are simply too big, or too much for you to take on? You feel defeated before you even try to win. Sometimes you get up just to get knocked back down again. You hear of other people’s victories and the faithfulness of God, you have even praised God with them for their victory, while you are thinking to yourself, where is God in my battle? Have you said to yourself things like, I wish I could get the victory, or I wish I could be like them. If the answer is yes, then this is for you.
The Goliath Factor, as I call them, are battles, problems, and situations that disrupt our lives and try our faith. We all have Goliath Factors that come and go, and sometimes we get through one and immediately there is another Goliath Factor coming at us. The Goliath Factors can range from losing a job, receiving an unexpected bill, to a car accident, and anything you can imagine that comes to steal, kill, and destroy your life and eventually your trust in God. I did not say your belief in God, but your Trust.
Many times, in your life you will face Goliath Factors. Situations that shout you are defeated. You think to yourself that you don’t have the strength or the tools to overcome. That you are too small, too young, or too old, and shrink back because, if we are honest, it’s easier to wait until the bully leaves or finds someone else to pick on. But wouldn’t it be better to start fighting and especially at the beginning of a Goliath Factor before it gains a foothold. Instead of living in one defeated state to another, you are to stand for the life God intended for you to live. Let’s take a look at David.
In 1 Samuel 17 we read the account of King David as a boy when he faced a Goliath Factor. Goliath was there to destroy the people’s trust in God, and it was working. Goliath was very big and represents very big problems. Goliath began taunting God’s people and stated that they were not even of God’s army but of Saul’s. This continued taunting caused the people to start looking to a man and themselves for the deliverance instead of looking to God. When they measured themselves against the Goliath Factor, they found themselves lacking.
David comes up to the “battle” which was really a standoff at the time, to bring food for his brothers and while there he too heard the taunting of the Goliath Factor, basically saying, there is no one great enough to defeat him. But David, who not only believed in God, but had trust in God was not overcome by these rants made by Goliath.
Previously, God had strengthened David to get through the Goliath Factors of a bear and a lion that stole his lambs. The bear and the lion showed up and David did not simply pray, “Lord please remove these beasts from me!” and then waited to see what would happen. No, David went after the animals, rescuing the lambs from their mouths, and killing them with his own hands. David understood that God does not just simply wave a magic wand or push the easy button to take you out of the battle, but that God empowers you to stand, face, and triumph over them and David knew this Goliath Factor was no different than another. So how do we activate the empowerment of God in our Goliath Factors?
How to activate Gods empowerment
Now I don’t want to negate the actions of Love, for our faith works in and by Love. But we are talking about standing against your Goliath and activating the Power of God in order to defeat it. In Ephesians 6: 10-17 we learn of the Armor of God. Each piece of Armor has its function. However, there are two pieces to focus on. The shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. The shield of faith grows bigger as your trust in God grows and the sword of the Spirit which functions when the Word of God is spoken. The definition of “Word” in the Greek is Rhema, meaning that which is spoken or uttered. Then always in all that we do, we do in the Name of Jesus.
David had a large shield of trust in God due to the previous victories, and as David rehearsed these victories over and over. We could say that David was speaking all that God had previously given him, which is using the sword of the Spirit. David was saying, “God gave me victory, and God gave me victory, and God gave me the victory. Next, David stated the outcome before it happened. David said, this day the LORD will give you into my hands and I will strike you and take your head from you. Whatever Goliath shouted David denied and rejected it by saying that those things would not happen to him but to Goliath. David also evoked the name of the LORD, saying, “I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, who you, (Goliath Factor) have defied. David then picked up what he knew to do, (the sling and the stones), and RAN, and RAN, RAN toward the Goliath Factor. In all that David did the declaring and doing, God empowered David with boldness to speak and to run toward the Goliath Factor. God gave David His supernatural strength to stand firm when no one else would and to sling a stone with such power that is sunk into Goliaths head. God provided all the provision that David needed because God provided Himself. Sometimes, we think we need more than God to defeat the Goliath Factors in our lives, but truly we don’t because He is greater than, more powerful than, and smarter than any Goliath Factor we could ever come against.
In closing, I want to leave you with a few statements.
- No one was on David’s side; not his brothers, not the people around him, and not even the king. Yet, David did not back off because he knew God was with him.
- David, at the point of no return, was mocked by Goliath. Goliath yelling that David was too little, too young, and unworthy of consideration. Yet David was not gripped with fear.
- David not only stood against Goliath, but the people who also supported Goliath. Why? Listen to what David said, “That all the earth may know that there is a God!” (then in Israel, but now in you)
- David understood that the Goliath Factors were not personal, but attack against God Himself and that these battles truly belong to the Lord. Learn to allow Him to fight through you and with you.
Remember this: Psalm 23:5
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.” (NKJV)
The Lord prepares for you a table of goodness and blessing and we will always have Goliath Factors that come to steal from that table. But God has already anointed you for the life you are living, you are enough because God is enough. Your cup truly runs over!
-Stephanie Ellsworth
KINGDOM LIFE AZ 
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