When You Have the Word, You Have the Victory

by Sandra Conner (Radical About Jesus Ministries)
Are you facing a serious illness today? Are you in a battle in your body or your mind? Is there a giant of disease confronting you threatening to destroy you? Well, we can take a lesson from our illustrious ancestor King David about how to fight and defeat those giants confronting us. You may be facing giants other than sickness, and this plan will work to defeat those enemies as well. I was just skipping along through the Word this morning, and I happened across the passage in 1 Samuel, chapter 17, where David decides to confront Goliath, and I was struck again by the words that came from his mouth when he faced the giant.

Now, to begin with, Goliath had been insulting, not only Israel, but Israel’s God, so he was already in a position of fighting God — and we all know where that leaves him, right? Ultimately, he’s going to lose. But added to that prognosis of his future, is the fact that this man had absolutely no covenant with God. He had no promises to cling to, and no power from the forces of Heaven to fight for him or come to his aid. He was without God and without hope, but he was just too dumb to know that.

That’s what David means in verse 36, when, addressing King Saul, he refers to Goliath as an “uncircumcised Philistine.” Without a covenant with God (evidenced by the act of circumcision), he didn’t stand a chance against a man in covenant with the Creator of the universe. And it was that covenant — that Word from God — that guarantee out of God’s own mouth — that David was counting on when he faced the giant.

Read his words with me: “Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin: but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, Whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand; and I will smite you, and cut off your head; and I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hand.”

Strong words out of the mouth of a ruddy youth — but definitely not foolish words. They were words backed up by the covenant he knew he had with God and the fact that God had always been faithful to that covenant in the past. David related to Kind Saul the events of his past when he had found it necessary to fight a bear and a lion in order to save his flock of sheep. He slew both of those creatures with the Lord’s help. “Your servant killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them.”

What all this talk boils down to is that David knew the Word of God and he knew God wouldn’t fail to keep that Word, so he knew he was more than a match for any enemy that came against him or those in his care. And that’s the position we must be in, saints of God. We must know — KNOW — the Word of God, and we must be absolutely confident that He will never break that Word or act contrary to it. When we do know, we can react exactly as our forefather David did. We can speak the truth of that Word against the enemy and defeat him.

Do you understand that it wasn’t the rock hitting Goliath in his one vulnerable spot that actually defeated him? It was the Word (Covenant) of God — spoken out of the mouth of a man of faith — that carried the real power. In the realm of the spirit, Goliath was already laid out on the ground before David ever wound up his swinging arm. The Word of God had slain that giant. All the rest of the action was just bringing what had already taken place in the spirit realm into the physical.

And notice what David did right after he spoke those words: “When the Philistine came forward to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.”  When you know the Word of God, you don’t dilly-dally around the problem. You speak the Word to it, and you run quickly toward the battle line to defeat it.

So whatever problem you’re facing, don’t just sit there and suffer. And don’t try to figure out in your own mind whether you can manage to fight this thing successfully. And don’t just cry out and say, “Oh, God, of you can help me, please help me.”  NO. Do what your forefather David did. Find out what God’s Word says about the situation. You may have to dig a little, but isn’t it worth it to come to the place that you don’t have to guess what might happen and what might not? If you can find out what God says about the situation in His Word, then you can KNOW for sure what He intends the outcome to be. (And you can’t go very far in His Word without discovering that He is a God who wants His people well.)

Then start speaking God’s Word out of your mouth to your problem — whether it’s disease or some other difficulty. Hit the problem hard with God’s Word. Picture every scripture as a round smooth stone that you are hurling from your slingshot at the giant in your path. Go after that giant with the word of your own covenant with the Creator of the universe, and watch that enemy fall to the ground defeated.

(Now, let me add here that if you are one who does not have a covenant with the Creator, it is very easy to get into covenant with Him. His Word says that His covenant is secured by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ and is available to everyone who will receive Jesus Christ as Lord. So call on the name of Jesus today and turn your life over to Him. That simple act of faith will put you in covenant with God for eternity.)

 

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