Battles

July 31st, 2022

How the enemy gets in

You ever hear Christians say they are currently struggling with alcohol or porn or they won’t say what it is and they might say something like I’m struggling right now.

For one it takes a lot of strength to admit you are struggling. That’s a good sign. But sometimes we can misplace or miscalculate our battles. Especially when we think the battle we just went through is over.

The highlight of the career of an up and coming David was when he fought Goliath. But even before that he had smaller battles prior with what, a lion. It says in 1 Samuel 17:32-37

1 Samuel 17:32-37

32

And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

33

And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.

Note: Saul is talking about natural experience, that David is just a boy and this Goliath man has been fighting since he was a boy. 

You ever notice in boxing they try to match up seasoned fighters against other seasoned fights. In boxing it’s very dangerous to put someone who has let’s say 20 fights under his belt vs someone who only has 1 or 2 fights. Someone can get hurt and that someone would be the boxer who has less experience. But what Saul doesn’t know is that the Spirit of God is on David. And we are about to read that David is starting to realize that the Spirit of God is upon him as well and we see his confidence grow.

34

And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

35

And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

Note: can I just say, did you guys catch that? David chased a lion, for one you never hear that before, someone chasing a lion and two David says that when the lion turns on him he catches the lion by the beard, some translations say he catches the lion by the mouth. Um you know how hard that 

is? First of  all a lion has much quicker reflexes than we do, how are you going to catch a lion by the mouth? Exactly you can’t UNLESS the spirit of the Lord is upon you.

36

Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

Note: okay Lather, rinse and repeat. What David did to the lion he also did to the bear. I don’t have to remind you how ferocious a bear is. A bear is stronger, faster than man but when again you have the spirit of the Lord upon you, you can do these things.

You know who else had the spirit of the Lord upon them? Samson. He took a jawbone from a donkey and killed a thousand men. You already know that it is supernatural. The hand of God was upon him.

37

David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

Note: verse 37 you can just feel the confidence in David is rising up as he’s talking to Saul. And even Saul starts to believe!

So I bring up this battle David had with Goliath to show you we must discern and be ready for the real battle. What Goliath wasn’t the real battle? No. 

David’s real battle came when he had to deal with Saul, running and dodging Saul all those years! What 12-13 years of that!  David had to go up against:

1. His brothers

1 Samuel 17:28

“And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.”

David shows up on the battle lines where they were to face off with Goliath and David is like what’s wrong with you guys we have a covenant hellloooo! And David’s older brother is like get outta here you don’t belong, you just want  to watch and you might get hurt.

1. The Lion

We just talked about this scenario

1. The Bear

We just talked about this scenario as well

1. Goliath

We all know what happened here. Although there is some more revelation here we’ll talk about this later.

1. Saul

After all these fights, the brother, the lion and bear, Goliath David could have relaxed and thought that okay now he has truly made it, think about it, the whole army was afraid to challenge Goliath and David steps in there I mean that takes some Bravado! I mean he had bragging rights after that! but good for him he discerned another battle was brewing between him and Saul.

Just because we get a victory here and there, we need to know our place and what God has called us to do. And then we are able to not only be able to carry out our mission but we’ll be ready for the next one.

1. Flesh

David’s biggest battle wounds did not come at the hands of Goliath, the lion or the bear but by his own flesh did him in. David had experienced success and he was now King. 

For whatever reason King David chooses to stay home this time instead of going out to battle with his army which was customary for kings to do. Normally Kings go to fight with their army.This decision by King David opened a small door and in fact I like to call this door a “young lion” Lets goto Psalm 91.

Psalms 91:13

“Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.”

You see the young lion and dragon we are supposed to trample under our feet RIGHT AWAY!

This represents a sin we have in our lives that we deem is small and we CHOOSE to have it. It could be porn, TV programs were not supposed to watch and in this case it’s King David being at the wrong place at the wrong time because HE chose to stay back. 

Now watch this play out. Did you guys know that a young lion grows up to be an adult lion? Which is easier to deal with? Young lion of course or even a cub lion is easier to deal with. But when we allow this little sin, this little lion into our lives, what happens is this little lion, this little cub that can’t hurt nobody turns into what an adult lion that is wreaking havoc in your life because you thought it was harmless at first.

Now let’s watch this train wreck take place. 

So King David stays back. The door is open and the trap is set. 

Enter the young lion.

King David is minding his own business when he catches a glimpse he wasn’t supposed to see. The beautiful Bathsheba bathing on the rooftop. David immediately sends for her to come over and David learns that she is the wife of one of his soldiers but he doesn’t care at this point and he sleeps with her.

Now enter the lion.

David is probably feeling guilty but glad he dodged a bullet until Bathsheba sends word that she’s pregnant! Things just got complicated!

Now David wants to cover up this sin so he calls for her husband to come home from the battlefield and David is hoping by the husband spending the night with his wife Bathsheba, this will cover up his adulterous affair.

But David’s plans backfire because Uriah Bathsheba’s husband refuses to sleep with her while his men are out fighting! What an honorable man!

So now what happens this causes David to become angry! So he sent a note with Uriah to go back out into battle but the note commanded the frontline soldiers to withdraw so that Uriah would be left alone and die on the battlefield.

You see how sin just takes you deeper than you intended to go? The sad part is that it’s not over. So now David and Bathsheba marry and they have a child and the child becomes ill and dies. What a price to pay!

This is how a young seemingly innocent lion, or cub grows up to be an adult lion if you don’t nip it in the bud in the very beginning. Do not ignore the young lions.

David abused his power. He found himself “above the law” so to speak. It happens a lot in governments right? The people that make the laws, break them. 

And this is the Genius of Papa God is this. Papa God puts the Word of God even above himself! He will never break His Word and in doing so it keeps everything in check and in working order. 

As soon as you think “you’ve arrived” after being promoted or whatever and you think the rules don’t apply to you is exactly when the wheels start falling off and even though David was a man after God’s own heart he made a huge mistake and paid for it as well. 

Same thing goes for parents, right? If we tell our children don’t do this or don’t do that, we as parents need to follow that rule too.

I mean I was raised under the “ Do as I say NOT as I do” rule and that doesn’t really work and is not really fair to the kid.

In my house I made a rule “ Nobody eats upstairs”. Upstairs we have nice clean carpet and I don’t want any spills or food to get into the rug. And no matter how careful you are you know there’s gonna be a time where you knock a glass over or spill a plate of food on the rug so it’s better just don’t bring any food up there. 

Now my daughter watches me and she makes sure I follow the rule because I guarantee you the minute she sees me eating upstairs oh it’s on she’s gonna start eating upstairs and then the carpet will get all dirty in no time. So I have to make sure I’m following the rules too.

Remember:

Matthew 24:35

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

And how long is never? A long time! Amen! We’re gonna spend eternity with the Word of God, might as well get to know it now!

I truly love you all,

Pastor/Coach Jeno