Lessons from David: How to Be a Giant Killer (8 page)

Sure enough, the man’s plan didn’t work out. Things didn’t come together like he thought. But he’s still growing and going on with God. Maybe sometime in the future, something will happen with that vision, but not right away. It’s a growth process.

This battle between David and Goliath didn’t happen the way some people imagine it. David didn’t just go out there and all of a sudden, this spirit of faith came upon him enabling him to rise up and kill this giant. No, David had been seeking God. He had been faithful in smaller things.

In fact, David had been faithful in seemingly insignificant things. We don’t know exactly how many sheep David kept, but according to Eliab’s statement, it was just a few (1 Samuel 17:28). No matter what size the herd really was, in some ways it was insignificant. The herd certainly wasn’t worth David’s life. Even though shepherds were expected to defend the sheep by attempting to scare off wild animals, surely Jesse wouldn’t have wanted David to die trying to save one lamb from a lion or a bear. He might have expected David to try to shoo the predators off doing things that are prudent, but certainly he did not expect his young son to go up and grab a lion or a bear by the beard, but that is exactly what David did (1 Samuel 17:35). No father would want his son to risk his life to save a sheep. Sheep are important, but not that important.

So basically, David had a very small responsibility. He wasn’t tending a huge herd of sheep. In most people’s opinion, the job definitely wasn’t worth risking his life over. It was small, insignificant. But David was faithful, even to the point of laying his life on the line in a small, insignificant matter.

Trust God Every Day

This is how you become a giant killer. You don’t wait until big things like cancer knock on your door. You start trusting God in the small things every day. You fight to keep your joy and peace, as if you are fighting a giant out there. You stand on principle on the small things, doing what’s right, even when nobody else is watching.

David was on the backside of the desert as he tended sheep. The grandstands weren’t full. Nobody even knew what was going on. David may or may not have told other people what had happened when he fought the lion and the bear. This certainly wasn’t something that hit the front pages of the local newspaper. David risked his life in a relatively insignificant matter, in a way that he might never have received recognition and acclaim for. Yet he was just as faithful with that as if it were something big and important.

Many people want the great victory, but few are willing to pay the price of faithfulness. Everybody wants to kill a giant and hear the people sing their praise, but very few are willing to risk their lives on the backside of the desert when nobody is watching. If you aren’t faithful in small things, you won’t be ruler over much. If you haven’t started trusting God for the ability to overcome headaches and colds, chances are you won’t be able to stand against cancer when it comes your way.

You need to learn to trust God in the everyday things. Do you control your temper when somebody cuts you off in traffic? Or are you someone who gets upset, lays on the horn, and flashes them—God forbid—an obscene sign? If you can’t control yourself with something small like that, you’ll never make it when the big things come. If you aren’t faithfully working for your boss, you’ll never become the boss.

Why should God give you a better car if you aren’t even taking care of the junk heap you have now? Is your car so full of food and trash that it’s hard for somebody else to get in? Why would the Lord give you a new car to mess up? You might say, “Come on Andrew, you’re straining at a gnat here. This isn’t that important!” It may not be to you, but that’s probably the reason why you haven’t seen the mighty exploits yet. That very attitude may be why God hasn’t used you in a bigger way.

Incremental Steps

One of the common traits I’ve noticed among people whom God is using in a mighty way is that they are faithful in the little things as well as the big. Even if there are only five people in attendance, they preach their heart out as if there were a thousand. They give it everything they’ve got. They’re people of integrity who are faithful in the little things. They aren’t just faithful when big things are on the line and someone’s watching. They do the right thing even if nobody’s looking.

This is one of the reasons God used David to kill Goliath. David was faithful in small things. He faithfully served his father and protected the sheep. This gave David confidence to fight the big battle.

The Lord recently told me that I was limiting Him in some ways and I needed to grow. So we moved from a 15,000 square foot building into an 110,000 square foot building, which was a giant step of faith for me. I went from zero payments to having a monthly building payment of $25,000. Our utility bill was also about $8,000 per month.

Then we outgrew that building and I started a 220,000 square foot building project for our new Charis Bible College campus, which will cost $52 million. We are building it debt free. But that’s not the end. There is more to come. We couldn’t have done this all at once. I’ve been growing in trusting the Lord for decades. I definitely couldn’t have done these things without trusting God through the years, taking many incremental steps of faith along the way.

I remember when Jamie and I wrote out our first covenant. We were believing God for $300 per month. That $300 was the total income for both the ministry and us, and it allowed us to give $100 away each month. That’s 33 percent. But I didn’t get to that point of faith overnight. It took me a while to grow up to that.

When we moved to Manitou Springs and began our ministry in the Colorado Springs area, we had to believe God for about $700 per month to run the whole ministry, which we did. If I hadn’t taken these incremental steps through the years, there’s no way I could have believed God for $500,000 a month in 2003. This paid for my staff, building, equipment, radio and television bills, and other expenses. In 2013, our budget was $3 million per month, and this amount will only increase in the future. I couldn’t do this had I not been faithful and believed God for those smaller things.

This is a tremendous principle that you need to grab hold of. You can’t prepare any better for the future than by just starting to be faithful today. Make a decision today that you are going to start believing God, walking in joy, choosing to do the right thing, controlling your emotions, studying the Word, and blessing other people. Choose to spend time with God, even if there’s nothing pressing. Just do it to be a faithful servant. Faithfully serve other people. Serve your boss today. Do things with integrity and excellence. If you do this over a period of time and prove yourself faithful, then when the giant comes knocking on your door, you’ll have the ability to stand against him and overcome.

“The Kingdom Is in Your Hands”

Right after David testified to Saul about killing the lion and the bear, he boldly declared, “This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them!”

And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

This was nearly as big a miracle as David killing Goliath. The terms of this contest had already been set forth. If Goliath won, all the Israelites would become the Philistines’ servants. But if an Israelite won, all the Philistines would serve the Israelites. So when Saul said, “Go,” he was basically putting his entire kingdom, the whole nation of Israel, into the hands of this youth whom he had just moments before told, “You don’t stand a chance!”

Apparently, David’s response to Saul’s previous comments persuaded him that David did stand a chance against the giant. David spoke with such conviction concerning Gods faithfulness when he was faced with both the lion and the bear. He testified of how the Lord had proven Himself and come through for him again and again. There was so much authority and anointing on David’s words that it literally caused the king to place his entire kingdom into his hands. Now that’s a miracle!

I think Saul recognized the anointing of God on David’s life. Saul had experienced this in his early years. He became a new man (1 Samuel 10:9) and was able to win some impossible battles (1 Samuel 11). I believe Saul was not only putting his faith in David, but also in the power of God that was on David’s life.

Believe the Word You Speak

As you mature, people will respond to you. As you recognize your covenant and believe God, as you stand up and speak forth your faith, as you are faithful in the small things and grow, you’ll come to a place where what you say will command respect. When you have absolute faith and confidence in what you’re saying, it will inspire faith and confidence in those who hear you. When you know what you’re talking about because of revelation and experience, not just theory, people will respond to you in ways they don’t respond to others.

When I minister God’s Word, I speak from my heart. I’m not just rehearsing something I’ve heard someone else say. I share what the Lord has shown me on whatever subject it is. In fact, I’ve never heard anyone preach the things we’ve discussed thus far in this book. These are things I’ve lived. They’re coming out of the lessons God has personally taught me through the life of David.

People can perceive when you’re ministering God’s Word from your heart. It rings true and gives you credibility in their sight. That’s when they will respond to you. If God has called you to be a leader, you need to apply these truths and become totally convinced of what He’s given you to share. People have come up to me and remarked, “What you say is so convincing. It sounds so strong and overwhelming.” That’s because I am convinced. I believe the Word I teach, with all of my heart. When you believe what you speak with all of your heart, then the people who listen to you will be able to believe it with all of their heart too. That’s a great lesson from the life of David.

Chapter 9
The Power of God

And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.

At first, nobody believed in David. They judged him based on his external appearance. People stacked up his physical stature against Goliath’s so they didn’t believe in him. Finally, David spoke with such conviction, authority, faith, and power that he won the people over—including the king. They finally said, “Well, okay. Go! We’ll trust you.”

They wanted to arm David with Saul’s armor. Saul was the largest, tallest, biggest, and strongest of all the Israelites. He had all of this armor and weaponry, yet he was still hiding. He had never fought Goliath. If Saul’s armor wasn’t going to grant him victory, what made him think it would give David victory?

Can you imagine David putting on Saul’s armor? Here’s this little runt of a guy, swallowed up in the armor of the largest man in the entire nation of Israel. David could probably turn around in the armor without ever moving it. This armor was burdensome to him. David had enough wisdom to recognize that this wasn’t the way it was going to work. He said, “I can’t do this.” It’s not that the armor itself was evil, but David was trusting in the Lord. The issue was that David had never proved the armor. He wasn’t familiar with it. It wasn’t what he had used before. He wasn’t trusting in some physical thing to overcome Goliath. His confidence wasn’t in the protection the armor could give him. David knew it was his faith in God that would put him over. So he had enough sense to refuse to go into battle with something that had never worked for him before.

Stick with What Works!

People will try to talk you out of serving God. They’ll say, “You’re fanatical. You can’t do it.” But if you persist, they will finally say, “Well, okay. Do it. But at least do this.” And they will then try to give you their theories about how it should be done. But their theories aren’t working for them. They aren’t doing anything. There’s no victory in their lives, yet they’re quick to tell you what to do. “Here, put on my armor that isn’t working for me!”

God may have spoken something to you and you may be trying to obey Him. You are taking a step of faith, but the truth is that you aren’t going with what’s in your heart. You aren’t doing what God told you to do. You’re trying to live off of somebody else’s revelation. They may mean well, but you can’t go by what God has told someone else to do. You can’t just attend some seminar and figure out how another person grew a church or business and then go back and do it that way, thinking if it worked for one, it’ll work for another. You need to hear what God is telling you. You can’t just be parroting things. You need to get in the presence of God and develop your own relationship with Him. Don’t just take what He gave someone else. Hear for yourself what the Lord tells you to do, then go with it!

Andrew Wommack Ministries has given away millions of cassette tapes, not to mention CDs, books, DVD’s and audio message downloads (most of my teaching series are available free as MP3 files at our website). That’s no gimmick! The majority of the people who contact our ministry never give us a dime. Yet we send them CD’s, DVD’s, books, and other things. How does that work? It’s the blessing of God!

There was a time in my life when I couldn’t buy the Word. My wife had gone two weeks without food. She was eight months pregnant, and we were struggling. I looked at a man’s tape table and knew that there were truths on those cassettes that could have changed my life and brought us out of poverty, but I couldn’t buy them. My wife had tears in her eyes, and I was about to cry myself. It was a terrible situation. As I stood there, I made a promise. “Lord, if You ever show me something from Your Word that will help another person, I’ll never deny them access to it because of finances.” And I try to keep that promise.