The giants that come against us every day can take many forms.  It could be a medical issue, debt or a boss that hates you.  One thing that remains consistent is that God is always there with you to help you through the challenging times of life.  He will either deliver you from that circumstance or strengthen you so that you can out last it.  Its natural human tendency to want to have an easy path through every area of our lives, but God wants us to grow and develop character and He uses testing circumstances to do it.  This clip is from one of my favorite movies and there are a lot of takeaways from this scene that can help us go through the tough stages of life.  Watch the six minute clip below.  Below the video, I’ll give you some takeaways that can help you outlast and defeat the giants that are against you.

God will always ask you to do more than you think you can do

At the beginning of this scene, the coach asked one of his players to do a drill and go to a specific point.  The player immediate had doubt in his heart about it.  Usually when God puts us through things or is leading us to do something, it may look like a daunting task.   You may not know how you would even start or get over specific hurdles to accomplish the goal.   This is all part of Gods purpose in wanting you to do the task.  He wants to show you what you are capable of because He sees more strength in you than you know.  Secondly, God wants you to call out to him for help and encouragement when you need it.  This will build your relationship with God and this is what God really wants.

You need to block out the mockers

When the football player in this scene started the drill you could hear the other team mates start to mock him.  You can even see one shaking his head in doubt, thinking that he wasn’t going to be able to finish the drill.  What happened was that as he started to do the drill and move further and further past the original request, the mockers got quite.  As you start out your journey or try to defeat the giants in your life, you more than likely hear people starting to mock you saying that you can’t or won’t do it.  It’s important to block these voices out.  I’m reminded of Noah when God asked him to build the arch.  The people that saw him building it

Your coach is with you

Throughout this scene the Coach was right there beside the player.  He started off walking beside him and when it got hard he was right there on the ground with him.  Every step that the player took, the coach was right there to encourage him to reach his goal.  The same way God is right there with us as we go through our challenges as well.  When things get hard, that’s when God gets even closer to us to encourage us to persevere.

There’s a bigger purpose for the trial

At the end of this scene, we see why the Coach asked his player to do this drill again.  In addition to the football player doing more than he though, the coach also revealed to him that he is the leader on the team.  As one of the most influential players on the team the Coach revealed to him that the rest of the players will follow his lead and the success on the field was dependent on him.  The way that this parallels our lives is when we are going through trials is that there is often another reason why God brings us through it.  Example, if someone is dealing with a sickness but their faith in Gods ability to heal them remains strong throughout, God could be using this to build up the faith of a family member that has close by.  Maybe that family member is does not believe in Jesus and through this trial, they will come into relationship with God. 

Overall this movie is one of the best that I have ever seen.  There are so many takeaway and learning moments in this scene and throughout the entire movie that I would encourage you to watch it.  From the scene above, what other takeaways can you pull out?  Share them with me.  If you haven’t watch this movie before I would highly recommend it.  It’s called Facing the Giants.  

If you need encouragement, be sure to listen to my podcast.  It’s called the Faith Fight Podcast and it is designed to build yo up to overcome and receive the answers to your prayers.  You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Play Music, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube or listen to all the episodes by clicking here.  Be blessed and continue to stand strong to defeat all the giants in your life. 

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:5-8)

In this passage of scripture, Jesus is talking about prayer. I highlighted the last part of verse eight because that is where I want to focus on. God knows what you need before you ask in prayer… So why ask?

What Happens When You Have a Prayer Request?

As Christians, when we have a need there are a few things that we do (or should do) first. We need to repent for our sins so that there is nothing hindering our prayers (Psalm 66:18).  We should read our bible to see if what we are asking for lines up with scripture (Psalm 37:4).  In doing that we should find bible verses that support what we are praying for. Also, we should boldly approach God by the blood of Jesus with confidence knowing that we can ask for anything that is within His will for our lives (1 John 5:14). Now, I know that there is more that we can do (fasting, giving etc) but I’m just outlining this at a high level and although we do all these things, there is no guarantee that the answer to our prayer will be in our favour.  This leads me to my next point.

Prayer Is Not Your Attempt to Control God

If you are a Christian and have a need in your life, we are tought to pray to God so that He can intervene in your situation and cause the outcome to work in your favour. God can totally do this and cause his miraculous power to be displayed in your life. I know I’m not the only one who has prayed for something to work out a certain way and God not answer the prayer in the way I intended.  This is a very important point.  By us praying, we are not going to convince God into doing things our way.  Prayer is not a means of controlling God so that things always work out in our favour. God is sovereign and He is love.  He will always do what is best for us even when we don’t fully understand what the best is.

So What’s It Really About?

I like to say that God uses heavenly psychology to get us to learn and grow.  He knows exactly what buttons to push in our lives or how long we need to stay in a situation so that we would become the person that He intends us to become.  The needs that we bring to God in our prayer request serve as our meeting place with our Heavenly Father.  When you think about how much God desires to have fellowship with us, its only natural that He would allow us to have needs and desires that He alone can answer and keep us in that situation as long as we need to be in it.  As we are in that situation of need or desire, we express our dependence and reliance on Him to bring a resolution. Bringing our request to him on a daily basis causes our communication and relationship with God to deepen.  As this happens, we grow closer to God which is what I believe he is after.  He wants to fellowship with us.  This is the reason why Jesus came to the earth.  To reconcile man back onto God (2 Corinthians 5:18).  God uses our natural needs and desires so that we can come to Him with it and as a result, grow spiritual through our reading or the bible, regular prayer, worship and devotional times.

New Approach to Prayer

So lets look at it like this.  Lets still bring our prayer request to God regularly.  Both needs and desires. After we present our request, lets ask God to search our hearts and help us to mature and grow into who He has called us to be.  With the rest of our prayer time, lets not continually repeat the same things over and over again like the pagans did, but lets just fellowship with God.  Lets spend more of our prayer time praising God for the things that he has done and for who he is.  During our prayer time lets remember the mighty acts that have been written down in the bible and even the mighty acts that God has done in your own life.  We all have a testimony.  Lets focus on building a strong relationship with God through our prayer lives as He uses our prayer request (needs and desires) to keep us in close fellowship with Him.

One of my next projects that I am working on right now is the Faith Fight Podcast.  It will be released soon.  It will be all about prayer and help you grow in your own prayer life. To be updated when I release the first episodes, click here to subscribe.  I want you to be encouraged and grow from level to level for Gods glory.

Until next time. Be blessed.

The Perfect Unity of the Bible

The different accounts written in the Bible are in perfect unity with each other.  This is would not be any bid surprise for any other book written by man, but the Bible was inspired by the the Spirit of God and because of this, all of the below criteria make it more believable that it was inspired by God. Worldly historians have researched the Bible writings and have come the the conclusion that the Bible was written within the span of about 1800 years.  The first book written was the book of Job in approximately 2000-1800 B.C. The last book written was the book of Revelations in 95 A.D.  The Bible was written in three different languages (Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic) by at least 40 different people from all different walks of life and professions.  Some were shepherds, some were kings, some were educated, some were not.  But given all of these different criteria, the Bible is the only book that is so perfectly connected from cover to cover without any contradictions  Micah was appointed as a prophet in 742 B.C. and said that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem in Micah 5:2.  In Matthew 2:1-6 this prophecy is fulfilled.  The wise men followed the star and came to see Jesus in Bethlehem.  This is just one example of prophecy fulfilled and the Bible being in perfect unity with itself given the criteria around its writings.

Science is Catching Up With The Bible

For years mankind has been searching to discover new things in this world for themselves.  What they fail to realize is that the Bible has outlined these things well before they even started out to uncover certain things in our world.  Many people will say that thanks to Christopher Columbus we know that the earth is round.  With telescopes and satellites that are in space today we can clearly see that the earth is a sphere. Since Columbus didn’t have the technology to get into space and see the round earth he set out to prove it in 1492.  He was successful in his journey and proves that the earth is round.  But if he read his Bible that predates his journey by about 1200 years, be would have read in Isaiah 40:22 that “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth…”   Medical science also could’ve learned from the Bible.  In 1347 there was an outbreak of the Bubonic plague which killed approximately 50 million people in the world.  What doctors and scientist at the time failed to realize was that this disease was very infections.  In order to cure and eventually stop the death tool from rising they introduced quarantine procedures for those who were infected.  This measure stopped the spread of this disease.  Leviticus 13:46 says, “As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.”  This was written in approximately 1445 B.C.

Application of the Bible Regardless or the Era

Finally, you can read the Bible and get a rhema word or instructions that you can apply into your life today. Even though the Bible was written over 2000 years ago, all of its principles, lessons can be used in your life today.   If you need help with your personal finances or your budget, you can take the advise that Joseph gave to Pharaoh in Genesis 40 and 41. You can learn how to budget when time are financially good so that when times get bad, you will have something to fall back on.  You can also read all of the proverbs and learn how to deal with people that you come in contact with every day.  I also believe that God is so powerful that He can direct you to a specific verse at any time of the day that would encourage you or give you an insight into a tough situation that you may be facing today.

Considering all these different criteria, there is no person that is honest with themselves can say that the Bible can’t be trusted.  The Bible is infallible and is instrumental for successful Christian living.  It serves as your day to day guide and insight into the ways of God.  It also can help you learn how to pray effectively.  If you you have an issue that you have been praying about for some time, I am launching a new podcast called The Faith Fight Podcast.  It is designed to help supercharge your prayer life and help you walk in victory.  It will be coming soon so subscribe by clicking here so that you are notified when I release the first episodes.

Be blessed!

Origins of Halloween?

From my research, the origin of Halloween goes back to ancient pagan festivals from 2000 years ago celebrated by Celtic people.  The Celtics believe that the dead could walk with the living on this day and you would be able to visit them during Halloween.  The Celtics did not want to spirits that were wondering to bother them so they wore costumes that make them appear like ghost.  Other people offered the spirits sweet treats in order that the wondering spirits would leave them alone.  Over the years the costumes evolved to include vampires, werewolves, witches and zombies which are can all be connected evil spirits.   One of the most noticeable items related to Halloween are Jack-o-lanterns.  During medieval times, people would go door to door asking for food in return for a prayer for the dead. They would carry with them turnip lanterns that were hallowed out.  In those lanterns there was a candle which represented a soul trapped in purgatory.  The lanterns were also used to ward off evil spirits.  Over time they started using pumpkins instead of turnips because they were easier to hollow out and carve.  Given these details on the origin, Lets see what the bible says about it.

What Does the Bible Say About These Things?

1. The Bible says that we should not consult ghost spirits or those who are dead.

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass[a] through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are [b]an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)

2. As I mentioned in the origins above, I mentioned that they offered sweets to ghosts and demons in exchange for them not to bother them. But the verse below says that you can not have fellowship with demons and drink from the Lords cup at the same time.

Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. (1 Corinthians 10:20-21)

3.Through Halloween, they believe that the dead are conscious of what is going on earth. But the bible says differently.

For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. Ecclesiastes 9:5

4. You cannot fellowship with darkness and light. God is calling his followers to leave the practices of the world and hold fast to the teaching of the Lord.

Therefore “Come out from among them. And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” 2 Corinthians 6:17

5. As this verse is about spiritual warfare it clearly highlights the battle that we should be in against the wickedness. We should not fellowship in any manner (seriously or in fun) with the darkness.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of [c]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

How Should We Respond

It is really difficult in this world when we know that everyone else is going in another direction and you know that God’s word says to go a different way.  As Christians we have to be bold with our convictions and draw the line where we will not cross.  I know of a lot of churches who open their doors on October 31^st and have an Halloween alternative for the kids in the neighborhood.  Some churches call it Hallelujah Night.  The church have fun activities, games and candy for the kids in the neighborhood. By doing this we can encourage the kids to have fun and dress up in costumes that are not demonic or scary, still get candy and have fun all in the church.  My opinion is to allow the kids to still dress up in costumes like a fireman, princess or other non demonic costumes.  And this evening is not about scaring people and fear but having fun in a Godly atmosphere.  Please share your thoughts below in the comments if you have any other ideas for October 31^st.  I also want to remind you that the Faith Fight podcast will be releasing soon.  We will cover topics similar to this and I don’t want you to miss it.  Click here to subscribe to my notifications so that you will know when the first episodes are released.

Be blessed friend!

The word Meditate is defined as follows (worldly definition)

think deeply or focus one’s mind for a period of time, in silence or with the aid of chanting, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation.

From this definition, we can see that in order to meditate we need to do a few things. We will need to focus our minds on something for a specific period of time. Be in a place where we can be relaxed and undisturbed.  I am going to break down this topic from a Christian perspective to help you.

Where Can I go to Meditate on Gods Word?

Find a time and place where you can focus your mind without interruption. Most people I have spoken to wake up early in the morning before their family wakes up and has some devoted quite time to meditate then. Other people wait until the evening before they go to sleep in order to wind down and calm their mind. Whatever time of day that works for you, ensure that you can be in a quite place for a specific time. It is essential that you are not interrupted as you have to quite your mind in order to meditate the right way.

What am I Supposed to Do?

“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.” Joshua‬ ‭1:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What differentiates the way a Christian meditates verses someone else is the fact that we have to have a scripture from the bible to think about. Joshua 1:8 is a popular verse when it comes to meditation. The way a Christian should Meditate is to go to that designated quite place when you are least likely to be distracted and focus your mind on a verse of scripture. Quite your mind from thinking about anything else and focus on the specific verse of scripture that you selected. Read the verse to yourself a few times and then allow God to speak to you concerning that verse. As you quite yourself (your mind) from the distractions of the world and focus on the Word of God, you will hear the Holy Spirit clearly speak to you about that verse you are meditating on.

What Should I Have With Me?

When you are meditating on the Word of God it’s important to have the following things close by.
1. Your bible – obviously you will need this to read your meditational verses.
2. pen and paper – you will want to write down anything that comes to your mind as a result of your quite time. As the Holy Spirit speaks to you, you should write down any revelation that God is ready to give you.

The bible says; “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy‬ ‭29:29‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

As you spend some quality time meditating on the word of God you will receive some amazing revelations. God will give you secrets insights and instructions in order for His will to be done in your life. Be prepared to write as you spend quality time with God.

What To Stay Away From?

1. Leave your cell phone in the other room. It can be a big distraction.
2. Don’t go in the same room as your television.
3. Don’t bring your kids. You should be by yourself and be able to focus on God and his word.
4. I should also mention. Chants and humming to yourself are not part of Christian meditation.

I hope this helps you in your spiritual growth and you are able to meditate on the Word of God more effectively. As a result you will grow spiritually and receive revelation from God. After all, He wants to speak with you. If you are reading this on the day that I post it, remember I’m going to be starting the Faith Fight Podcast soon. You can subscribe by clicking here so that you are notified when I release every episode. This podcast is designed to help you move from glory to glory in you relationship with Christ. Hope that you will join me for every episode.

Be blessed!

1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Even though it can be difficult at time, Gods will for you is to be thankful. Don’t allow the situation to stop you from expressing Gratitude and thanksgiving to God.

Psalm 106:1 ESV

Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

If you need a starting place to begin to be thankful for, Just being thankful for God’s goodness and his steadfast love that has no end.

Philippians 4:6 ESV

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Bring your prayer request before God but don’t forget to be thankful as you make your request.

Colossians 4:2 ESV

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

As you continue to pray, have faith in God and be prepared for the answer to be manifested.  In waiting for the answer, be thankful.

Psalm 95:2 ESV

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

One of the natural by-products of expressing thankfulness to God is praise.

1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Jesus we have the victory so we can give thanks and praise God now for the battle belongs to the Lord.

Psalm 30:12 ESV

That my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

 Lets not be silent in Gods presence.  Give Him Thanks with song and praise Him for all that He has done and will do in your life.

This is just a reminder that I will be launching a new podcast soon. It is called the Faith Fight Podcast.  This podcast will be able to help you with your prayer life and bible devotion and I will be releasing the first episodes soon. You can subscribe by clicking here to receive a notification when the first episodes are released.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Blessings

Do We Know Gods Character?

God is our good Heavenly Father who delights in doing good for us and through us. Oftentimes we see God as a all powerful ball of energy that is waiting to strike us with lightning when we mess up. That’s as far from the truth as it can be.  The bible says “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬) and it is His nature to love us. God loves and values you so much. Matthew 6:26 says, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” This is Jesus speaking about how much God values live in general but God loves you so much more that you don’t need to worry about the other things in life that may come to stress you out. God is a good father and He’s looking out for you. When you read Matthew 7:9-11 we can read that even people who are evil would Give good gifts to their Children. God is perfectly loving towards all of us so how much more is He able to give us good gifts when we need it or ask for it. God wants to establish us in the land with his whole heart as is mentioned in Jeremiah 32:40-41 and whenever we call for Him He will be right there to answer us and show us things that we don’t know. Takeaway: See God like a good father that wants to love on you and give you good things all the days of your life.

Our motives are wrong?

We also have to be honest with ourselves and ask if we have the right motives on our heart. James 4:2-3 talks about asking and not receiving because we Your motives are wrong. Selfishness is not of God. It isn’t one of the fruits of the Spirit. So if you are asking for something that will only benefit you then you have to rethink that prayer request. Every time I’ve seen God answers a prayers I have noticed three things. 1) the answered prayer caused the person requesting it to grow spiritually. 2) the answered prayer is a blessing to others as well as the person asking. 3) the answered prayer gives God glory. If you can’t think of hot your prayer request will measure up to these three criteria then I would examine my motive behind that prayer request.

Our Heart Condition

In Matthew 13, Jesus talks about the parable of the sower. In that parable, the sower goes out and scattered seeds that landed in different places. The results or fruit that grew out of the place that the seeds fell were different. Only the seeds that fell on the soil brought forth increase.  But even out of the seeds that fell on the soil there were different levels of increase. Some thirty fold, some sixty fold, some one hundred fold. The explanations of this parable is that Gods word is powerful. What will determine the results is the heart of the person that receives and acts on that word. God will give you the desire of your hearts but the condition that you need to satisfy is to delight yourself in Him (Psalm 37:5). Also the blessing that will come on your household and generations after you are conditional based on you taking great delight in the laws of God. (Psalm 112:1-3) Considering these verses, what is your heart saying to you right now?
There’s a lot of things that can hinder our prayers. Let’s make sure that we are not part of what is hindering the answers to our prayers. I’m going to be launching a new podcast called The Faith Fight Podcast that is designed to help you with scripture reference, understanding of that scripture and a practical prayer plan. Each episode will be powerful na f fill with the word of God about a specific topic that you can use in your prayer and devotional time. Use the link below or click here to be put on the notification list so that you can catch the first episode.

Be blessed my friend!

God Gave You A Blank Cheque With Your Name On It

Jesus said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” ‭‭(John‬ ‭15:7‬-8 NIV‬‬)

Some Christians read these verses and think that they can’t claim this promise for any prayer request that they might have. They also may think that this promise is reserved for those who lead a ministry or run missions etc. The truth is this verse is for all of us. New believers to those who have been walking with Jesus for decades. We can claim this promise if we have the faith to believe that God will answer it. There is only a condition that we need to satisfy. “If we remain in Him and His words remain in us”. How do we satisfy this condition? We walk with Jesus daily and grow according to what He has taught us. It’s that easy. Also, just to clarify, the verses do not mention that we need to be perfect. Sin is a part of life if we are human and that is the reason Jesus died on the cross for us. God knows we would sin and fall short of perfection… this is why we can abide in Jesus and ask in His name. To satisfy the condition of these verses, read and study your bible daily. Grow and apply the teachings that Jesus spoke about. You will be able to claim this precious promise that is mentioned here.

But Can I Ask For Anything?

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” )1 John‬ ‭5:14-15‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

If we go further on in the New Testament we come across this scripture. This clearly says that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and will answer us. This verse goes hand in hand with John 15:7-8. We can have confidence that because God saved us with the blood of Jesus and has given us eternal life, we can have confidence to come before him boldly and ask him for anything else that we need or desire. When we have big prayer request it shows our faith in our big God to meet them and God is pleased when we have faith in Him.

Then I Want It All

Not so fast my friend! “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
‭‭(James‬ ‭4:2-3‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

Knowing that we have a promise to ask for anything in Jesus Name and that we can be bold and confident that God hears our request doesn’t mean that we can ask for anything we want. We can ask for anything that we want but as we abide in Jesus and grow in his ways it changes our heart. We no longer want the things that we wanted when we were still in the world. Our desires are more in line with what God wants us to have.

This does not mean that you can’t ask God for a new Lamborghini Huracán Performante. Go ahead and ask God for it. When you get it just remember that it’s not only for your own benefit but it will be a blessing to others as well and cause people to give God glory. When God answers any of our prays just remember that it will do three things. (1) it will cause Growth in our lives. (2) it will be a blessing to others. (3) it will give God glory. Keep these things in mind as you walk with God.

Be bold and confident with your prayer request to God. He delights to give us good gifts because He is a good father. Ask for that 4000 sq ft house on the beach side. Ask for that new SUV with the 22 inch rims. God is so good that he may just answer your prayer request. Remember not to allow the answer to your prayers to become an idol. And always think of how the answer to your prayers will be a blessing to others. God gets the glory when you bear much fruits so be it unto you according to your faith.

Please feel free to leave your comments below about some BIG prayer request that you have for our BIG God so that we can all come in agreement with you.

Blessings

Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”

You Will be Blessed

“The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him…”

This is only the first level of blessing that you will receive once you defeat your Goliath.  God will bless you. This blessing may come in different forms but expect God to shower down a blessing upon you for being victorious in battle.  In biblical times, the Kings had all the money, so wen this verse says that the King will give you great wealth just know that it’s the equivalent to Warren Buffet writing you a cheque for up to half of what he is worth.  When you defeat your Goliath expect to be blessed abundantly that you will be able to enjoy the fullness that God has for you.

The Generations after you are Blessed

“…He will also give him his daughter in marriage…”

On the surface this looks like it was only a blessing for David. He would get to marry the Kings daughter which more than likely would be one of the most beautiful women in the land. However looking at it deeper we see that this is a generations blessing.  Marrying the king’s daughter meant that their children would fall under the Kings lineage and be entitled to receive an inheritance.  In simple terms, David’s kids would be set for life.   The way that we should think of this is once we defeat our Goliath, our children will not need to fight against it. You would’ve cut off every generational curse or bondage so that your children can stand on your victory and will not have to fight the same battles that you fought.  This too is one of the rewards waiting for you once you are able to defeat your Goliath.

Your Family Will be Blessed

“…will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”

Again, You can look at this and think that it is only a blessing for you.  But what this verse is saying is that there is a blessing that is available for the household that you came from.  Your father and mother household.  This is also including all your siblings.  Keep in mind that once you overcome your Keep in mind that once you overcome your sin this can bring great deliverance to others in your family. They may have watched you struggle with a sin and know your testimony so once you are delivered and defeat your Goliath they will see and this can be an encouragement for them that they can do it as well.

Think of all these thinks as you fight against your Goliath. The rewards for your victory is great. It’s not only for you but it can be shared with your children and children’s children and also have a retroactive effect on your families. Keep these things in mind when you are tempted and feel the pressure. Keep your mind focused on the spoils and rewards that will come as result of the victory. God is faithful, he will not allow you to be tempted more than you can manage as it mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10:13. Know where God is directing you and follow that path. If you need help, I’ve created a document that can help you that can be easily downloaded by clicking here or entering your information below.

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For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (Romans 1:16)

Prince Louis Arthur Charles

This past week the Royal Family welcomed its newest member to the world.  Prince Louis Arthur Charles was born to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  I was thinking about this little child.  This is the definition of being born with a silver spoon in your mouth.   Queen Elizabeth net worth is estimated around $450 Million (USD) and of course, some of this will be given to Prince Arthur as his inheritance.  He will have is choose to live in an amazing hours (with no mortgage!) and have access to travel the world in the Royal plane.  Also He will have a full time staff to see about every need in his life, from Security, housekeeper, chef, driver etc.   Basically, he was born into the Royal family and he is pretty much set for life.

Meek Mill

Across the pond in the US, the rapper Meek Mill has been in the news because he was recently released from prison.  Meek’s story is an interesting one. I don’t know all the details and there are some areas that are still unclear about his initial arrest when he was 18 years old.  To sum it up, Meek was placed on probation and while on probation in the state of Pennsylvania if you commit any parole violations then you could end up in prison or have your parole extended again.  In Meek’s situation, he violated his prole by failing drug test, violating the terms parole by traveling to do shows and most notably, popping wheelies on a dirt bike in the fall of 2017 which landed him back in prison.  An important note, all of the violations that Meek Mill committed caused his parole to be extended and finally in 2017 he ended up in jail, if someone did those same things without being on parole, they would not have received the same punishment that Meek did.

This story was interesting to me because through the time that he was incarcerated, there was a loud public outcry to have him released.  Other rappers and athletes in the US were calling for him to be freed.  The outcry became so loud that Robert Kraft (mostly known as the Owner of the New England Patriots) and Michael Rubin (co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers) and I believed that they used their influence to cause Meek to be released from prison.  The day Meek Mill was released, Michael Rubin had a helicopter pick up Meek Mill and fly him straight to the 76ers game where he had floor seats waiting for him.

What do Meek Mill and The Royal Baby have in Common?

Now let me bring it all home.  Regardless if you have never done anything wrong in your life and were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Or if you made some bad decision in your life and now as a result find yourself in a place where you don’t see a way out, the good news is Jesus is on your side to keep you or to bring your out of trouble.  Some of us were born into Christian families and know Jesus as our Lord and Savior from an early age, others may have not had the opportunity to come to Jesus yet and may be in a tough place right now.  The good news is Jesus is on the job and he can save you.  Jesus can keep you.   If you have known Jesus from childhood, know that Jesus will keep you from trouble and all you need to do is call on his name when you are in need.  Like Prince Arthur, you are set for life.  If you are in a tough fight now because of questionable decisions or people who have set you up, know that if you call on Jesus He will save you out of that prison and cause you to be free.

If you don’t know who Jesus is pray this prayer:

“God, I’m sorry for the sins that I have committed and ask for you to forgive me.  I repent and turn my heart to following you from today onward.  Clean me up and work through me for your glory.  Bless me to be a blessing and for your name’s sake.  Thank you for dying on the cross for me Jesus. I trust my eternity in your hands. In Jesus name. Amen”

Your next steps:

1. Find a church that teaches the bible.
2. Be baptized.
3. Serve in that church.
4. Read your bible and pray daily.
5. Trust Jesus to pick you up if you fall.