Guest Blogger Kelsie Bahr- Lessons from David and Goliath...Feel like running? Stay and PRAY....

One day I was expressing a lot of frustration over a recurring annoyance in my life, and this is the thought the Holy Spirit impressed on my heart:
STOP PUSHING. START PRAYING.


When I say pray I mean this (the New Testament Greek word):  proseúxomai (from 4314 /prós, "towards, exchange" and 2172/euxomai, "to wish, pray") – properly, to exchange wishes; pray – literally, to interact with the Lord by switching human wishes (ideas) for His wishes as He imparts faith 
("divine persuasion"). Accordingly, praying is closely inter-connected with ("faith") in the New Testament. See: Ac 6:5,6,14:22,23; Eph 6:16-18; Col 1:3,4; 2 Thes 3:1,2; Js 5:13-15; Jude 20.

#1. PRAYER IS EXCHANGE WITH GOD- what's in me for what's in Him.



David  was called a man after (according to) gods own heart - 1 Sam 13:14, acts 13:22
I used to think deep down that this meant he was just more special than the rest of us.
Then I realized one day that yes he became a lot like God because he was simply after God - he longed for God. This means he felt and thought according to what god felt and thought. Also, he longed for God's presence.
---this is why he was determined to bring the ark to Jerusalem, even after he blundered the process the first time
---this is why he was determined to build the temple.

This is why we are here.

Psalm 63 Longing for God[a]
 O God, you are my God,    and I long for you. My whole being desires you;    like a dry, worn-out, and waterless land,    my soul is thirsty for you...
 I will give you thanks as long as I live;    I will raise my hands to you in prayer.My soul will feast and be satisfied...

#2. PRAYER IS HOW WE GO AFTER GODS HEART AND FIND SATISFACTION

David and Goliath

1 Samuel 17
1 Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war... in Judah.The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them. [msg ]

 4-7 A giant nearly ten feet tall stepped out from the Philistine line into the open, Goliath from Gath. He had a bronze helmet on his head and was dressed in armor—126 pounds of it! He wore bronze shin guards and carried a bronze sword. His spear was like a fence rail—the spear tip alone weighed over fifteen pounds. His shield bearer walked ahead of him

 8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were DISMAYED and TERRIFIED

 16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

WHAT IS YOUR GIANT? What tribulation or challenge are you facing that is too big for you right now??  What has you intimidated, scared, terrified even?

The number 40 represents trial and tribulation in scripture- not judgement but chastisement of sons and daughters. Forty is mentioned 146 times in Scripture. It points to or symbolizes trial and testing, or ------probation. Where can you remember the number 40 in scripture?

• Jesus Christ was tempted of the Devil 40 days and 40 nights. 
• Jesus was seen 40 days by His disciples after His resurrection.
• It was 40 years from the crucifixion of Jesus until the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. 
• Moses was 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in the desert, and 40 years in the wilderness leading the children of Israel. 
• Twelve spies investigated the Promised Land for 40 days.
• Elijah was 40 days at Mount Horeb.
• Jonah preached that judgment was to come to Nineveh in 40 days. 
• Ezekiel laid on His right side for 40 days symbolizing Judah’s sins
• MOSES was on Mount Sinai TWICE with God for 40 days and 40 nights RECEIVING THE LAW This one is important, so keep it in mind.

 Now David was the [ youngest of eight sons of ] an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. The three oldest followed Saul, 15 but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

 17-19 Jesse tells David to take some food to his brothers and bring back word from them...

20 Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other
22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his USUAL DEFIANCE , and David HEARD it. 24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

David heard the same thing all the other men hear. SO WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE IN HIS REACTION???The DIFFERENCE was his intimacy with God. 

#3. PRAYER MAKES THE VOICE OF GOD LOUDER THAN THE VOICE OF THE ENEMY
Feel like running? Stay and pray.
are you afraid ? Pray.
Are you intimidated ? Pray.
Are you overwhelmed? Pray.
Are you discouraged? Pray.

Two years ago I had a friend who got a staff infection. For some reason, it set off a chain reaction of fear I me at the time. I began to obsess over germs in a way that was frightening. I went to God and began to journal about what I was feeling and the powerful fear that seemed disproportionate to the situation (this is a big sign there is more going on inside us that needs Gods attention). All of a sudden the Holy Spirit spoke so I clearly in the quiet of my heart:  "You are upset about your dad's cancer." I knew immediately my issue wasn't with germs. I just felt out of control as my dad was going through radiation and a few minutes in prayer helped me to identify it rather than spinning out of control into some phobia.

25 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 DAUGHER IN MARRIAGE and will EXEMPT HIS FAMILY FROM TAXES in Israel.”27 They repeated [david] what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him". 

When Christ went to the cross, he PAID THE PRICE of our sins and we, the church BECAME HIS BRIDE.  

Col 2:14"[christ] canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us" He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross....

REV 19:7"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. "

This story is not just about a future king slaying a giant for his countrymen. It is about Jesus going to the cross and slaying the our giant for us- the sin and resultant accusation on the grounds of the law of Moses that stood between us and God.

My husband and I have always been self employed, so for the first four years of our marriage opted not to get health insurance. So we paid cash for everything (of course, the prices for anything medical is automatically higher when you pay cash for the same service because insurance companies get the same services for cheaper). Anytime I got a prescription I paid out of pocket. Anytime I saw the doctor or got my teeth cleaned I paid out of pocket. When we finally went to get private health insurance, I found out that the whole time we could have expensed our health insurance through my husbands business.

What we don't know about the resources available to us on Christ makes a difference. He will let us "pay out of pocket" for things on our own if we want to. In other words we can deal with situations by drawing on our own personality, planning, and self efforts if we want to, but if we go with this option we are missing out. We need the insight, guidance, and power of the Holy Spirit.

#4 PRAYER IS HOW WE DRAW ON THE RESOURCES OF GOD
REMEMBER OUR VERSE, HEBREWS 1:13?

"To which of the angels did God ever say, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"?"

We follow up in Hebrews 10, and are given more detail:

     "Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. For by one offering He has PERFECTED FOR ALL TIME those who are sanctified.  And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,

AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:
I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,” He then says,“THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.” Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin."

 Therefore, brethren, since we have CONFIDENCE to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 

5 PRAYER IS HOW WE EXERCISE OUR FREEDOM AND AUTHORITY OVER SIN, WON AT THE CROSS . ITS HOW WE REMEMBER WE ARE CLEAN.

When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those FEW sheep in the wilderness? I know how CONCEITED you are and how WICKED your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
“Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” He then TURNED AWAY to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before.

ACCUSATION
- sometimes from family members,
- usually belittles,
- devalues
- accuses us of not just doing wicked things, but being wicked through and through

If we don't take these to God we will take offense.

#6 PRAYER IS HOW WE TURN AWAY FROM VOICES OF ACCUSATION AND TURN TO GOD (this is not the same as voices of correction) A voice of correction will always remind you who you are in Christ in order to empower you to become victorious over who you are not-a slave to sin. A voice of condemnation will tell you that you can only identify with Christ when you have solved the problem of sin (shame makes this impossible to do).

"What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.32 David said to Saul, “Let no one LOSE HEART on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

Don't lose heart because of your weaknesses and failings and the giant you face or the case the enemy has made against you using the law.

33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

 #7 PRAYER IS ADMITTING WE ARE NOT ABLE AND DRAWING ON THE HOLY SPIRIT
We are not able to keep the requirements of the law- that's why we needed Christ and then after him, a helper called the Holy Spirit to live inside us.
I went to my own brother for freedom prayer mainly because I had a chip on my shoulder, a hard edge as some residual consequences in my life that I could not seem to shake. After praying with him, that hard edge I had felt for years, the feeling of always being coiled like a spring inside for a fight, left me.

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I WENT AFTER IT, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it."  CHRIST IS OUR GOOD SHEPHERD who went after the lion to rescue us from its mouth.

 JOHN 10" A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. 

Matthew 18"For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. "What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave theninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? 13"If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.… Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”  Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.  David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.”

So HE TOOK THEM OFF.

#8 PRAYER IS HOW WE TAKE OFF ILL FITTING ARMOR IN ORDER TO PUT ON THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD

Hebrews 12:1 (NIV) ~ "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

We take off sin with repentance, and remove everything that hinders us.  Sin: which is 

• Pride: Trying to figure it out our way
• Doing things not in line with scripture to feel better or get what we want.
• Trying to be good enough
• Other people's expectations that are not in line with Christ and his WORD

40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose FIVE  SMOOTHE STONES from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”
45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the NAME of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

#9 PRAYER SPEAKS THE NAME OF JESUS OVER OUR SITUATION. IT IS HOW WE DO BATTLE

48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

Interesting that David chose five smooth stones but he only needed one. The first one he threw hit its mark! The thing about GODS GRACE is that there is ALWAYS MORE than we need. He has enough to hit the mark and bring down the giants in out life and still have some left over.

Ever wonder about the five smooth stones? I was praying for a friend one day, picturing her obstacle like a giant God was going to bring down with a sling and a stone on his fight for her heart. And the phrase "five smooth stones" resonated in my spirit. Then the Holy Spirit dropped this idea into my thinking "five means grace". I dug and googled and found that in bible numerology five is widely accepted as a number symbolizing GRACE.THIS IS A PICTURE OF GOD OVERCOMING THE GIANT IN OUR LIFE WITH GRACE...What is the connection to PRAYER here? HERE IS OUR CONNECTION TO HEBREWS

Let us therefore come BOLDLY to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." HEBREWS . 4:16
Grace is not a feeling, it's not a worship song, it is a WEAPON.

 #10 PRAYER  IS THE STONE OF GRACE THAT BRINGS DOWN THE ENEMY IN OUR LIFE

50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.
Col 2 …14 [christ] canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. 16Therefore no one is to act as your judge.....