Day Eighteen: Facing Giants

“The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.” ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭17:37‬ ‭AMP‬‬

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I have come to realise that throughout our faith journey there will be giants that we will need to face. These giants come as obstacles that serve as barriers to our breakthrough. Some believers turn away from their God-given opportunity when they encounter a giant while others are prepared to fight and grab hold of the opportunity that’s on the other side. When we study David’s encounter with Goliath the scriptures clearly highlight that before there was a giant, there was a lion and a bear that David had to defeat. His experience with the lion and the bear made him ready for the giant. He didn’t waiver when he saw the giant but rather David was confident in his God given ability and above all he was confident in his God.

God wants us to have the same confidence as David when we approach our giant. David was not intimidated by Goliath’s size or the words coming out of his mouth. David was fully aware that God had given him every necessary weapon to defeat Goliath which didn’t look like much to others, nevertheless it was enough for David.

There are giants we have to face in every season that come in different dimensions, however God is always training us for the next giant. What you killed spiritually in the previous season has given you the confidence and faith to kill the giant in the next season. Every giant comes with a reward! There was a reward waiting for David after killing his giant. Are you ready to slay your giant and grab your reward? This is going to take some stretching however God would not stretch you beyond the ability He has given you. God may have stretched your faith in the last season and He wants to stretch it even further in this season. The question is would you allow your faith to be stretched so that you would see even more of God’s power and obtain your reward? There is victory in the stretch against giants.

God has given us every necessary weapon to defeat our giants. The problem we have is that we are too busy examining the size, its weight and other intimidating features that try to threaten us. This year we will meet many giants and our ultimate weapon is our tongue. Are you ready to speak God’s Word of victory to your giant? Victory is in your mouth, you just need to declare it!

Further study: 1 Samuel 17, 2 Kings 6:8-22

Day Seventeen: Stretch Your Desires

“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” 1 Corinthians 14:1 (ESV)

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During this period of fasting and prayer you may have a list of things you are praying about and believing in God for. Or perhaps after ‘Stretch your Imagination’ on day 14 you have been imagining yourself achieving big goals or realising visions that God has given you in the past.

One of the things that should be on our list of things to desire and seek God for is spiritual gifts. In this scripture Paul writes that we should ‘pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts’. This speaks to the motivation of the gifts, being love, as well as the fervency in which this should be sought after.

When it comes to physical gifts, typically the older we get the more apathetic we tend to get about receiving gifts. There might be one or two people that we expect gifts from but outside of that any other gifts we get is a bonus. So we’re indifferent. Unfortunately, even as believers we often bring this indifference for gifts into our relationship with God. So for us to get into the frame of mind of earnestly seeking gifts, let us cast our minds back to a time when receiving good presents really exhilarated us.

Think back to when you were a child and how important it was for you to receive gifts at special occasions. How valued and excited it made you feel when you actually got what you had been asking for. How eager you were to try them out when you opened your gifts and see what you could do with them. Now think about where that desire first came from. Perhaps it was the new Play station that everyone craved or the new trainers that were in fashion at the time. The desire comes from collective experience and expectation. Perhaps you knew someone who had the new Play station and they were talking about their experience, that would have spurred you on to desire it even more. No wonder then Paul talks to the whole church, encouraging us to desire spiritual gifts for the furtherance of the church.

As members of the body of Christ we should not be intimidated by the idea of operating in spiritual gifts. Let us grow in our collective excitement about the gifts and pray earnestly that God will give us these gifts so that we can walk in power and build up the church in love. If you’re stuck with what gift to ask for first, Paul calls out prophecy! Why not start there. And remember, the gifts are for the building up of the church, so while we are praying for God to give them, also seek opportunities to share them!

Further Study: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, 1 Peter 4:10-11, Romans 12:6-8

Day Sixteen: Stretch The Truth

“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise” Ephesians 1:13 (KJV)

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Jesus Christ saved us by dying for us on the cross and that is the gospel truth. He died so that we could have eternal life with God in heaven after we die. Yet it was not just for after we die, but for today, so that we could have a relationship with God here on earth and so that we could break free from the shackles of sin as well as be cleared of the wages of sin which is death. It is this message of the truth which we have believed, and which has transformed our lives from the inside out.

This wonderful truth is not to be kept a secret. It’s to go beyond ourselves and the good thoughts in our minds and the fuzzy feeling in our hearts. It is to stretch and go far to the ends of the earth and as Christians it's our duty to stretch the truth to our communities and beyond. This year in 2022 challenge yourself to engage in the great commission Christ gave to the church. The world is longing for the revelation, and it is each and everyone of us’ duty to contribute to the spread of the gospel. We need to stretch the truth into the school’s gates, our offices, to our friends and our family. Today reflect on the barriers in you stretching the gospel truth far and wide. In Romans 10, the Bible says, ‘how will they believe if they have not heard?’ We must be intentional this year to share this truth. The world is perishing, and we have the solution. We need to pray to have a desire to see God’s church grow so that lives can be transformed. This is the heart of our Father, and we should pray to have a heart for that too.

This is the year of growth and expansion for Alive City Church. Let’s stretch ourselves to invite at least 5 people to church this year so that they too can see that the seeds of truth you sow can grow and bear fruit. This is how we grow God’s kingdom, by sharing the truth and stretching it beyond ourselves. If each of us personalises this mission, God’s church will surely grow.

Further Study: John 14:5-14, Matthew 28:16-20, 2 Corinthians 4:1-4, Romans 1:16-17, Romans 10:13-15