Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

Faith is not a feeling! When we walk by faith we must be prepared to wait to see God come through. I am convinced that God arranges circumstances so that his will for an individual will come to pass at the appropriate time. In the story of David as recorded in 1Samuel 17 we see a young boy who appears on the scene at a time when the whole country was in turmoil. They were being threatened by the challenge of a 9’9” giant whose proposal for a one to one showdown weighed the odds heavily in his favour.  This is how the enemy fights, he shows you an impossible situation and then challenges you to get out of it or let him get you out of it at a cost. Fortunately David was not involved in the standoff leading up to the challenge.  He was busy spending time with his sheep and putting on his own armour.

His armour was not a physical one but one that starts with praising the maker of the universe, Yahweh. He was true to himself, he had the right mindset and he was prepared to use the sword of the spirit, the word of God at every opportunity [see the book of psalms for evidence of this]. And so when he was faced with the enormity of the challenge, his approach was not to be intimidated by the size of the enemy but to rely on the greatness of his God. The enemy berated David and ridiculed him. “I am going to give your flesh to the fouls of the air and the wild beast of the fields” said Goliath; “because you being a boy dare to come against me a seasoned professional fighter.” It is at these times that we need to stand our ground and speak to the situation, i.e. we must prophesy to the enemy and hear the words ourselves. The shield of faith is not about how you feel; it is about the prophetic word from God. Using the fighting implements given by God ensures that we will never fail. So David uses the sword of the spirit and took refuge behind the shield of faith. This is how he did it. He Prophesied – “you come to me with a sword and a spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of host, the God of Israel, who you have defiled. This very day, I will strike you down and cut off your head, so that the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel” (1Sam 17:45-46).

Today speak those things that are not as though they are as you carry the shield and use the sword!

Read 1Samuel 17.