OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL by Pastor E.A Adeboye (DATE : SATURDAY 2 JULY 2016) THEME: SUBDUING THE THREATENING GIANT

Memorise : THE LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The
LORD is the strength of my life; of
whom shall I be afraid? - Psalms
27:1

Read : 1 Samuel 17:45-50 -
45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

46 This day will the LORD deliver
thee into mine hand; and I will
smite thee, and take thine head
from thee; and I will give the
carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls
of the air, and to the wild beasts
of the earth; that all the earth
may know that there is a God in
Israel.

47 And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not
with sword and spear: for the
battle is the LORD's, and he will
give you into our hands.

48 And it came to pass, when the
Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that
David hasted, and ran toward the
army to meet the Philistine.

49 And David put his hand in his
bag, and took thence a stone,
and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the
stone sunk into his forehead;
and he fell upon his face to the
earth.

50 So David prevailed over the
Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine,
and slew him; but there was no
sword in the hand of David.

Message:

There is a threatening giant
mightier than Goliath that we must overcome if our lives will be
meaningful and highly fulfilling.
This giant is no other one than
the devil. As a matter of fact,
Goliath in our Bible reading for
today was just an apprentice in the school of Satan. The Bible
says that the devil is a roaring
lion walking about, seeking
whom he may devour (1 Peter
5:8).

This was exactly what Goliath did, he roared at the children of Isreal and they trembled before him.
"And he stood and cried unto the
armies of Isreal, and said unto
them, why are ye come out to set
your battle in array? Am not I a Philistine, and ye servants of
Saul? Choose you a man for you,
and let him come down to me. If
he be able to fight with me, and
to kill me, then will we be your
servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be
our servants, and serve us". 1
Samuel 17:8-9

How did the children of Isreal
overcome the threatening giant
of their lives? They overcame him through their representative, the
young David, who knew the God
that he served. The giant came,
cursing David by the name of his
gods and David returned the
curses by giving a deadly prophecy against the uncircumcised Philistine in the name of his own God:

"This day will the LORD deliver
thee into mine hand; and I will
smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the
carcases of the host of the
Philistines this day unto the fowls
of the air, and to the wild beasts
of the earth; that all the earth
may know that there is a God in Israel". 1 Samuel 17:46

One lesson we learn from this
story is that battles of life are
beyond the physical. Even the
giant did not rely on his strength alone; hence the reason he
cursed David by his gods! David
was up to the task, so he replied,
not in the same way but in a
greater dimension by condemning the host of the Philistine carcasses to the beasts, not only the Champion's.
This is why the Bible says.
"For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high
places." Ephesians 6:12

This is equally why we must put on the whole armour of God to
be able to withstand the giants
of our life, particularly in our
Christian lives. Another lesson is
that, since our weapons are not
carnal, we must not attempt to fight against the giant with our senses or physical weapons.

When King Saul gave physical
weapons to David, he rejected
them because he knew they
would fail. He confidently challenged Goliath with his God. I
encourage you to take hold of
the Name of the Lord in your
battle against the giants in your
life and you will subdue them all.
However, you must have a cordial relationship with the bearer of
the Name through holiness and
perfect obedience to His Word.

Prayer Point :

Father, I come against all the
giants of life threatening my destiny and I destroy them completely today in Jesus' mighty
name.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR :
Acts 18:18-20:16 and Song of
Solomon 5:2-9

AUTHOR : Pst E. A ADEBOYE