Fighting God’s Way

Bible Reading 1 Samuel 17: with a focus on verses 38-39
Focus verse: 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 – The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary they have the divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.


1 Samuel 17 is such a great history to read. It tells how God used David a young boy to bring down Goliath who was a huge man and a well experienced fighter. It tells that all the Israelites including their king, Saul, feared Goliath and would not dare face him. For forty consecutive days Goliath would appear twice a day to call for a fight from the Israelites but none could come out to face him. Then a young boy called David, appears from tending sheep at his father's land.  After hearing how the name of the God of Israel was being abused, he decided that he would throw himself into the ring and face this giant. He faces opposition from his elder brother but that did not stop him. He solders on since he knew that the God of Israel would give him victory over Goliath.

Now Saul, the king hears about David’s decision to go fight Goliath and calls David to himself so as to give him his (Saul’s) weapons he would use to fight Goliath. Verses 38-39 “Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet of 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.”

Fighting God’s way requires putting on the full armor of God and not the weapons of the world. Sometimes believers have failed to achieve victory because they have clothed themselves with weapons that are carnal. David tried to move around with one that was from Saul but realized it was canal and God was not in it. Imagine Saul had this armor before but still was terrified in fear and could not face Goliath with it. Look at how Saul’s own armor did not help him all the forty days that Goliath roared out: but when David comes, Saul tells him to have it and face Goliath with it. Why didn’t his own armor save him from the shame? Paul in Ephesians 6:10-18 reminds us of what the full armor of God is. As believers we need examine before we go for a fight if we are armed with God’s armor. We must also be careful with advice from friends when faced with a battle. Some advices are not from God and may not lead us to God’s victory regardless of who has spoken them. We must put out any carnal weapon and only look onto Jesus as the source of our strength, as the author and finisher of our faith.

Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Bethesda Faith Ministries

Additional scripture: "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12