Know Your Enemy

 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  John 10:10

 The enemy’s main goal is to destroy us and to keep us from God our Father.  Each of us is born with a purpose.  In 1 Samuel 17 we read the story of David and Goliath.  Goliath was a Philistine and stood six cubits and a span or about 9 feet 9 inches.   He was the champion of the Philistines and the bible says in verses 5 – 7 “He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.  His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.”  Goliath was ready for battle. 

When we get ready for battle the bible says in Ephesians 6:10-18 that we need the FULL armor of God to get ready.  In verses 10 – 14 it says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”  So after you put on the FULL armor, we are to stand.  Stand and be ready for what’s coming.  See the enemy is watching you, watching to see what he can use against you to destroy you. 

I played soft ball in middle school, catcher, center and left field.  As the catcher, I had an armor to put on in order to be ready.  I had to keep my eye on the ball and on everyone else around me.  If someone was on first base, I had to be ready to throw the ball to second base if the runner was going to try and steal second.  My eyes were constantly moving.  We need to constantly watch our surroundings, standing guard.  So what is the armor of God? In verses 14 – 18 the bible says, ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; ¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

He’s watching and waiting.  He’ll use everything and anything to get your focus off of God.  When I was in high school, math was my worst subject.  I almost always failed the tests and I hated to be called on to answer the equations.  One day in class the teacher wrote different problems on the board and called us row by row to go up to the board and complete it.  Well, my heart began to pound so hard that I thought it was about to pop out of my chest.  The enemy thought he had me because he knew that I didn’t understand simple math problems and he was going to use it against me because I had given my heart to the Lord.  He wanted to discourage me and make me believe that God wouldn’t go to battle for me.  But I knew that was a lie and so I began to pray in the spirit and ask God for help.  When it was my turn to go to the board, I stood there with a piece of chalk in my hand, still praying in the spirit, and my hand began to move.  To this day I can’t remember what the math problem was or the answer.  All I know is that my teacher looked surprised as she told me I got it right.  I put my armor on and trusted God for help. 

In 1 Samuel 17 we see that a boy named David, who was the youngest son of Jesse, had three older brothers went to battle in Saul’s army where the giant Goliath awaited his challenger.  As David goes up to the Israelite camp to find his brothers, he hears others talking about Goliath.   ²⁴ And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. ²⁵ So the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel.”  King Saul was trying everything he could think of to get someone to go to battle with Goliath.  But these men were dreadfully afraid that they were going to be killed.  In verse 26 David asks the question, who is this Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? We read farther in the story to find that David goes before King Saul and says that he will go and battle this Philistine.  Saul’s reply to him was that he was too young and that Goliath had been in battle since his youth.  David answers him in verses 34 – 37 that he watched over his father’s sheep and defeated a lion or bear that would come and take a lamb from the flock.  David was trying to prove to King Saul that he was just as strong as the other men in the army to go against their enemy.  After convincing Saul, he gave David the bronze helmet and clothed him in mail and attached his sword at his side.  David had to take it off because he couldn’t walk in this armor, because I haven’t tested it, he said.  So he took five smooth rocks and had his sling.  When Goliath saw him, he cursed David by his gods.  In verse 44 Goliath said, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” ⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines 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. ⁴⁷ Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.” David defeated the enemy by standing on the word of God and believing that God would go to battle for him.  David cut off Goliath’s head with his own sword and when the Philistines saw that their champion had been defeated, they fled.  

What battles are you facing today? Know that God will go to battle for you no matter how great you think the mountain before you may be. We serve a God that is greater than anything that keeps us from Him. Put your trust in God and allow Him to go to battle for you.

Blessings!