Overcoming The Giants of Your Generation
Text: Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! —Deuteronomy 11:26
David and Goliath are two of the most famous men in the Bible. Then there’s that famous battle which is probably a close second in notoriety. But did you know two important and distinguished women are in the family tree of these men? The two women are Ruth and Orpah, daughters-in-law of Naomi.
In fact, Ruth and Orpah are famous for their respective decisions. These decisions are at the heart of the gospel. Naomi was leaving Moab to return to her home town. She had suffered great loss in a foreign land, they resided in to escape the famine. Interestingly, she eventually experienced a greater personal famine in Moab, when she lost her two sons and her husband.
She lamented that she left full but was returning empty. Out of concern for her two daughters-in-law, she urged them both to return to their families. She explained they would have a better chance to marry again and receive new husbands in their own homeland than staying with her a devastated widow in old age. She urgently pushed them to return, for it was not like she would have any more sons to grow up and marry them.
Orpah decided to take her mother-in-law’s advice. She returned to her family. Jewish history, records she became the matriarch of the family of giants that Goliath descended from. She met her demise at the hands of Abishai, mighty man and captain in King David’s army. That’s another story for another time.
On the other hand, Ruth, the Moabite priestess, would not leave Naomi’s side. Under oath, she promised to let her family become hers and not only that but let Naomi’s God become her god.
The Choice Of Hope
There are strategic times in life and even crossroads, like Ruth and Orpah we have to make a decision whether we will go back or move forward in faith. It was at such a time, my good friend and I were going back and forth, over and over again trying to come up with a solution for my problem. After more than several times, my friend said out loud what she had probably been thinking all along, “It’s hopeless. You have no choice but to give up!”
Suddenly, my faith rose up in me. The word of God that I had been storing up, for quite some time by then, burst forth and I said, “There’s always a choice. It’s not hopeless. We serve a God of miracles. There’s always a choice. We can choose hope or give up. I choose hope.
Father God is going to work this out for me. I don’t know how but He’s going to do something. A few minutes later, the phone rang. The person on the other end was a part of the solution, God sent. I didn’t know it. But I had just preached my first message on hope and expectation, to my friend and myself.
Now I can add to that. Father God gave humanity back in the Garden of Eden, starting with Adam, the power of choice. You see, he didn’t want robots. If he had just put a computer chip, so to speak, of obedience inside us, there would be no relationship. Instead, he gave us the power to choose. All of us, in humanity have this power.
Even though through Adam and Eve, we broke his heart and chose to disobey, forfeiting our rights to Satan. For the word of God says, Therefore, just as through one-man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned —Romans 5:12 We could say through one man’s choice, Adam, representative of humanity, sin and death entered the world.
But through another man’s choice, Jesus, Savior of the world, righteousness and life re-entered the world. Through our Lord’s choice in the Garden of Gethsemane, the second Adam, made the choice of not my will, but your will Father, not my way but your way Father…
It’s still a mystery to us, how a death could redeem the opportunity to choose. But it did, hallelujah! Of course, it wasn’t just any death. It was the death of our Lord, the Christ. Another place, his choice was evident was when in response to his critics Jesus responded as the Good Shepherd, “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
“No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” —John 10:17,18
Do you see it, yet? In other words, he said it’s Father God’s way. He gave me the choice. I chose his way. I chose to lay my life down. No one took it from me.
It is also written, “The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
By God’s Grace, the opportunity has been granted again. We can choose life more abundantly through choosing Christ. We have been predestined through Christ to live a life devoted to God. So, in other words, to walk in our destiny our first choice is Christ. Then we choose to submit to him as Lord, the same decision Christ made in the Garden of Gethsemane. You know, the ‘Not my will, but your will Father – Not my way but your way.’
Today, we choose Christ. We choose life and the blessing. Therefore, we say afresh, it’s our choice to live God’s way and receive his destiny, his appointment.
The Conquest And The FIGHT Principle
Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” Numbers 13:30
Way before the day of Naomi, Ruth and Orpah there was another crossroads and decision being made that changed history and the destiny of the Israelites. Moses had led the Israelites 100s of thousands of them out of Egypt the long way, as God instructed. He wanted to ready the people for what lay ahead.
It was a long awaited day, for the Israelites. They camped opposite the Promised Land territory, God had been telling them about for quite some time. Moses sent out twelve spies to see what the land was like. After forty days, the twelve assigned spies including Joshua and Caleb, came back with a report of what it was like in the Promised Land.
The mission was to gather facts to inspire and rally the people to go in and possess the land. Instead, through unbelief and doubt, ten of the spies came back with a bad report. And it had the opposite effect on the congregation. It moved them to disbelief and criticism of Moses and Aaron. So much so, Father God was angry about it. Let’s look in the word of God for a moment to see how the ten spies, Joshua and Caleb responded
We Can Do It!
When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, 26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” -Numbers 13:25-31
In light of that story, are you possessing your land? You know as a Christian believer, God has promised you a type of Promised Land? It’s the fulfillment of His promises to you in your life. And yes, this land is flowing with milk and honey.
The fruit is so bountiful that it takes two well-abled men to carry it. Remember, the cluster of grapes lifted on two poles depicted in all the Promised Land pictures from the story…
The power of your good life or your demise is your mouth. Your present and your future is built by what you say, your words. Therefore, it’s all in your heart and hints of it in your life already. No one has to tell you what to need and want. It’s dictated by the deposits of your words and impacted by the words of others. Your present world is built by the power, the source of your words up to this point.
So, if you want to change your future, your destiny, change your words. Re-word what you are saying on a daily basis. Remember, our warfare is not accomplished by natural means but it’s mighty (God’s way) to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down every selfish imagination and replacing it with the Word of God. -2 Corinthians 10:4,5
The Conquest
Even with the beauty and potential of possessing our Promised Land in all its bigness and grandeur, there’s one small matter we Christians share with the Israelites. We overlook the fact that we have to fight to possess this promised land and in our case the promises of God. We’re alike in a lot of other ways with our Israelite brothers and sisters in God’s family.
We have to face the same fears, insecurities and doubt, when we see the giants that stand in our way of possessing the promised land. Did you notice all the residents listed in Scripture were giants (We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites), many descendants from Goliath’s relatives. Many scholars have said over the years, the giants the spies saw were perceived instead of literal, from them saying “we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Through study, archaeological digs, and Jewish history, the Biblical account has been confirmed, the Promised Land residents were literal giants. And no, as a believer I didn’t need confirmation that the Bible is true. But I find it highly interesting and faith building to say the least. I hope you do too.
Your promised land may be a healthy life, prosperous life or a blessed family. And the giants of sickness, lack, and family trouble are very real, as well. In fact, we have to make the same type of decision they had to make. We have to decide whose report will we believe? When the doctor’s report comes in and it’s bad. Or our money account has a few dollars left in it and we still have bills to pay. You might be in the middle of defeating the giant of divorce and alcoholism in your family.
For this book, WOW! Women of Legacy I studied for a chapter about defeating the giants in your generation. I did a study on the two women matriarchs Ruth and Orpah, respectively of David and the giant Goliath. I outlined seven steps, Father God gave me to defeat the giants of your generation. Here’s a little acronym from that study called FIGHT to help us possess the promises of God in our lives more and more.
- Face your fears with faith. You have to decide whose report to believe. When you face your fears and choose God’s word to believe, you discover like never before God is for you, and who can really stand against you. More and more, you realize ‘no weapon formed against you shall succeed and every accusation risen against you, you shall refute it.
Even, when other people have decided to believe a bad report, negative circumstances, we choose like Joshua and Caleb to believe the word of God. We believe, with God for us, we are well able to go up and take the land (receive the promise.) - Invite Father God’s presence into your circumstance. So often, the last thing we think about is praying for his blessing or intervention. Make it your first step instead of our your last. Ask for his help, his mercy and grace or his miracle.
- Grow up in the faith. Recognize you have to fight for the promises of God in your life. You can’t stay a spiritual baby. You shouldn’t have to go back and forth, always having to relearn the simple things of Christ. God’s perfect will for us is that we grow up in the faith and fight for the things He’s promised us.
- This is the season for YOU to possess the promises of God in their fullness. But you have to be willing to grow up (man up and woman up) to fight the good fight of faith, God’s way. Remember, our weapons of warfare are not carnal. The victory is already ours. Father God has said YES and amen to each of his promises.
- Hear Father God’s Instruction. After you’ve prayed and you’ve asked for his miracle intervention, listen for God’s guidance, his instructions. He may instruct you to ask, to fast, to plant a seed or wait for His next move. Yes, God’s ways are mysterious but not unknowable.
Remember, get your plans, your strategies from God. He’ll take you by the hand and help you. There are times you won’t have to fight for the battle is the Lord’s. There are other times where you must F.I.G.H.T. the good fight of faith, using weapons that are not carnal but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. (2 Cor. 10:4) - Take Territory for your life and the kingdom of God. It’s all about territory. Father God wants to enlarge your territory bit by bit. It’s so, you won’t be overwhelmed and quit or lose. He will always set you up for success. But you have to live and fight God’s way. Know that each battle, you engage in, when you’re victorious, you gain territory in the kingdom of God. You may be in the battle of your life, for your health, your finances, your home, your family… On the other side, is your greatest victory and ministry. You’ve been chosen to show the way in this area. There’s a group of people, a city, for some even a nation waiting on you to walk in your victory. So, you know what I’m about to say, F.I.G.H.T.
Yes, the promises are yes and amen, already. In Christ, we have the victory. But in possessing the land, receiving the promises, there has to be a conquest, a fight. Think about it, similar to a natural fight, you don’t run out presumptuous, unprepared, imprudent and expect victory.
Instead, you execute wise planning, preparation and even training to prepare for the battle, the conquest, the victory. From my last teaching, T.R.U.S.T. you know that’s what the process is all about, preparing you for the conquest.
In like manner, the Holy Spirit is prompting us the body of Christ to F.I.G.H.T. We have to face our fears, invite Father God’s presence to go with us, grow up in the faith, hear Father God’s instruction and gain territory in the kingdom of God.
So, you made it through the process, you did it God’s way, your victory is sweet. But now it’s time. You’re ready. Get your gloves. Put your dukes up and F.I.G.H.T.
In Summary
Ready to defeat the giants of your generation? Two women faced with a hard decision at the crossroads of life. Either way, their destinies would be changed. One chose to go back and the other chose to go forward. They both grew to become historic matriarchs in the lives of their family and the people of God. Through God’s sovereignty the results resound through the centuries to now. What did they use to change their destiny, their future and the lives of others forever? They used the secret power of choice to pivot their destiny and leave a legacy, like no other.
I realized afresh giants can be scary, real or perceived. So, I’m glad we have a God that loves us. He has sent angels to minister to and help us. We can know, he fights for us; the battle is not ours but his. So, any giant screaming obscenities to your generation is a defeated foe. Somberly, I realized it doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. Most battles are dangerous. For we must fight God’s way; get his instructions and depend on him to defeat the giants of our generations.
Furthermore, we thank God that all Scripture is God-breathed and inspired by him. It is useful for instruction and setting a great pattern that we can follow. Through the choice of hope Ruth made and the heart of repentance and obedience of her great-grandson King David, we are inspired to overcome the giants in our generation. We can take up the five smooth stones of revelation and throw the Rock of Ages and hit our giant enemy right between the eyes. Run up with the sword of the Spirit and chop his head off. Then shout for the victory is ours, even to our children’s children! Hallelujah!
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