The Giants Of Life
I want to talk to you today about three enemies that satan
uses against us to discourage and defeat us. He wants to make sure that you
live a defeated and fruitless life on this earth. If you get saved, he wants to
make sure that that is all you do. He doesn’t want you to bring any honor to
God while you are living. We read in Numbers 32:9 "For when they went up unto
the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the
children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had
given them."
The children of Israel came to the banks of the river Jordan and twelve men were selected to go in and spy out the land. They were suppose to be going in to survey the land. To bring back a report so that they could plan their strategy to attack the enemy. This is a common practice even today. Go in, check out the enemy, how many, what weapons do they have, where is what or who placed, and stuff like that. Then the leaders can plan, who is going to go where, and when. When they got in, ten of the twelve took their eyes off of the mission. They got caught up in the elements of the enemy. They did just what Peter did, when he jumped out the boat to go to Jesus. As long as he was fixed on Jesus, he was ok.
But when he shifted his focus from the Savior to the situation, he sank. So did the children of Israel. They took their eyes off the objective, they gave up and quit.
And when we take our eyes off of the goal, we give up and quit. Now satan’s plan is to get you to quit, and he has many mighty demons to help him in the struggle. You see, when you go into battle you always send in your best. Today when we have a battle we send in the best. Green Barret, Para Rescue, Force Recon, Seals, etc… We send in our best leaders, our best fighters. When I was in boot camp in the Army and Air Force, there were those who were babies, and wanted to quit. If we were going to war, we wouldn’t want them there; except maybe to use as bait. Satan is no different. Just like he had Goliath to go against the Israelites, and Sennacherib to go against Hezekiah, he has a demon for you, and he is sure that he will defeat you. So who are these demons that satan uses against us?
The first demon is very skilled at his job and is still very active today. By the way, all three of these demons are alive and well today, and wreaking havoc in the lives of Christians.
The first ones name is Prayerlessness. He is a mighty demon. His job is to keep the Christian from praying to God. God is where we get our strength, our encouragement to go on and keep fighting, and our comfort. The devil knows that if he can stop us from praying, that he can defeat us. If I was going into war, and I was down to one company of men I wouldn’t turn down help, I would get as many people as I could get. So why wouldn’t I pray just because I don’t need help. You go to the doctor for check-ups don’t you. Do you really trust the doctors more than God? The Bible tells us that we ought always to pray. It tells us in Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
We have an open invitation to come to God and petition him, any time we desire, yet we won’t do it. We go all week without talking to God yet we say and sing about, how much we love Jesus. We lie and do not the truth. Try treating your spouse like that. Don’t talk to him or her, but tell them you love them. How would that relationship be.
We don’t pray because of our rebellious spirits. Remember Jonah? God told Him to go to Nineveh to preach the gospel. Instead, he went 2000 miles in the opposite direction, to get as far away from God as he could go. Until this time Jonah loved God.
But his rebellion kept him from praying. Listen to the account in Jonah 1:6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
They then draw lots to discover that he is the problem, they cast him overboard, and even after being swallowed by a whale, it take him three days before he would pray to God. Talk about pride, arrogance, and rebellion. But are we any less proud, arrogant, and rebellious?
Now if that demon can’t stop us, satan has another one standing by, whose name is Laziness. He works hand in hand with prayerlessness. The devil knows if he can make us lazy, he won’t even have to fight us, because we won’t want to live the Christian life. Besides we deserve a break; we’re getting old. We have done enough; it’s time for someone else to do it. You fill in the blank for whatever “it” is. If God would have wanted so-in-so to do it, He wouldn’t have left you here to do it. This life isn’t about taking care of you; it is about taking care of others. And the Bible says in Matthew 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
King David was lazy once; remember he took some time away from the battle? He wasn’t doing what he was supposed to be doing because he deserved a day off. He wanted some “me” time. He got lazy, and decided to lie around while his men went and fought the battle. David had no plan of doing wrong, but look at what happened. He committed adultery, he got a married girl pregnant, He committed murder to cover it up, and to top it all off, God took the child from him. This happened because he just wanted some time off from the battle. Remember, this was a man after God’s own heart. He never expected it to happen be it did. I think if it happened to a man after God’s own heart, it could happen to you and I.
Laziness leads to depression which makes people just want to sleep. Í am so board, I just want to go lay down”. And we wonder why the devil doesn’t fight us? He has no reason to. Proverbs 19:15 Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.
Lazy people get sick, and fall apart. It causes serious health issues. You can look at some people and tell if they are lazy are not. It tells us in Ecclesiastes 10:18 By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.
We think we can get away with it. We even make others think they we are not lazy, because we are ashamed to let others know that we are. But you are not nearly as ashamed as you will be when you stand before GOD, and give an account of the deeds done in the flesh. Then we will hear as we read in Matthew 25:26-27 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
So we have the demon Prayerlessness, and the demon Laziness. And now for the final blow we have the demon Faithlessness. The demons of laziness and prayerlessness will team up to faithlessness. They say that we can learn about faithfulness from the family dog. No matter come what may, he is always there. Whether you whip it, kick it, yell at it, curse it; it doesn’t matter, it will always be there for you with its tail wagging and a happy face. He dies it because that is what he is designed to do. Too bad we as Christians don’t do the same. We look for reasons not to do what we are supposed to do. We don’t read our Bible, or pray, or go to church, or help the preacher, or witness for the Lord, and the list goes on and on. It tells us in
1 Corinthians 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
What if God were as faithless as you and I are? How would your life be? We have an excuse for everything; don’t we? You better add one word behind that. “NOW”.
You are right, he has hit me with all of them and I have surrendered to them. Now what do I do? Start all over. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Remember the parable Jesus told about the man who hired out workers for his field, and he added more as the day went on. At the end of the day, they all got paid the same. Start now and you can still earn the same title. Well done thou “good and faithful servant”.
Remember little David went up against the giant in the power of God and won? We too can defeat the giants of the devil, when we will do in the Lord’s power not our own.
The children of Israel came to the banks of the river Jordan and twelve men were selected to go in and spy out the land. They were suppose to be going in to survey the land. To bring back a report so that they could plan their strategy to attack the enemy. This is a common practice even today. Go in, check out the enemy, how many, what weapons do they have, where is what or who placed, and stuff like that. Then the leaders can plan, who is going to go where, and when. When they got in, ten of the twelve took their eyes off of the mission. They got caught up in the elements of the enemy. They did just what Peter did, when he jumped out the boat to go to Jesus. As long as he was fixed on Jesus, he was ok.
But when he shifted his focus from the Savior to the situation, he sank. So did the children of Israel. They took their eyes off the objective, they gave up and quit.
And when we take our eyes off of the goal, we give up and quit. Now satan’s plan is to get you to quit, and he has many mighty demons to help him in the struggle. You see, when you go into battle you always send in your best. Today when we have a battle we send in the best. Green Barret, Para Rescue, Force Recon, Seals, etc… We send in our best leaders, our best fighters. When I was in boot camp in the Army and Air Force, there were those who were babies, and wanted to quit. If we were going to war, we wouldn’t want them there; except maybe to use as bait. Satan is no different. Just like he had Goliath to go against the Israelites, and Sennacherib to go against Hezekiah, he has a demon for you, and he is sure that he will defeat you. So who are these demons that satan uses against us?
The first demon is very skilled at his job and is still very active today. By the way, all three of these demons are alive and well today, and wreaking havoc in the lives of Christians.
The first ones name is Prayerlessness. He is a mighty demon. His job is to keep the Christian from praying to God. God is where we get our strength, our encouragement to go on and keep fighting, and our comfort. The devil knows that if he can stop us from praying, that he can defeat us. If I was going into war, and I was down to one company of men I wouldn’t turn down help, I would get as many people as I could get. So why wouldn’t I pray just because I don’t need help. You go to the doctor for check-ups don’t you. Do you really trust the doctors more than God? The Bible tells us that we ought always to pray. It tells us in Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
We have an open invitation to come to God and petition him, any time we desire, yet we won’t do it. We go all week without talking to God yet we say and sing about, how much we love Jesus. We lie and do not the truth. Try treating your spouse like that. Don’t talk to him or her, but tell them you love them. How would that relationship be.
We don’t pray because of our rebellious spirits. Remember Jonah? God told Him to go to Nineveh to preach the gospel. Instead, he went 2000 miles in the opposite direction, to get as far away from God as he could go. Until this time Jonah loved God.
But his rebellion kept him from praying. Listen to the account in Jonah 1:6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
They then draw lots to discover that he is the problem, they cast him overboard, and even after being swallowed by a whale, it take him three days before he would pray to God. Talk about pride, arrogance, and rebellion. But are we any less proud, arrogant, and rebellious?
Now if that demon can’t stop us, satan has another one standing by, whose name is Laziness. He works hand in hand with prayerlessness. The devil knows if he can make us lazy, he won’t even have to fight us, because we won’t want to live the Christian life. Besides we deserve a break; we’re getting old. We have done enough; it’s time for someone else to do it. You fill in the blank for whatever “it” is. If God would have wanted so-in-so to do it, He wouldn’t have left you here to do it. This life isn’t about taking care of you; it is about taking care of others. And the Bible says in Matthew 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
King David was lazy once; remember he took some time away from the battle? He wasn’t doing what he was supposed to be doing because he deserved a day off. He wanted some “me” time. He got lazy, and decided to lie around while his men went and fought the battle. David had no plan of doing wrong, but look at what happened. He committed adultery, he got a married girl pregnant, He committed murder to cover it up, and to top it all off, God took the child from him. This happened because he just wanted some time off from the battle. Remember, this was a man after God’s own heart. He never expected it to happen be it did. I think if it happened to a man after God’s own heart, it could happen to you and I.
Laziness leads to depression which makes people just want to sleep. Í am so board, I just want to go lay down”. And we wonder why the devil doesn’t fight us? He has no reason to. Proverbs 19:15 Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.
Lazy people get sick, and fall apart. It causes serious health issues. You can look at some people and tell if they are lazy are not. It tells us in Ecclesiastes 10:18 By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.
We think we can get away with it. We even make others think they we are not lazy, because we are ashamed to let others know that we are. But you are not nearly as ashamed as you will be when you stand before GOD, and give an account of the deeds done in the flesh. Then we will hear as we read in Matthew 25:26-27 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
So we have the demon Prayerlessness, and the demon Laziness. And now for the final blow we have the demon Faithlessness. The demons of laziness and prayerlessness will team up to faithlessness. They say that we can learn about faithfulness from the family dog. No matter come what may, he is always there. Whether you whip it, kick it, yell at it, curse it; it doesn’t matter, it will always be there for you with its tail wagging and a happy face. He dies it because that is what he is designed to do. Too bad we as Christians don’t do the same. We look for reasons not to do what we are supposed to do. We don’t read our Bible, or pray, or go to church, or help the preacher, or witness for the Lord, and the list goes on and on. It tells us in
1 Corinthians 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
What if God were as faithless as you and I are? How would your life be? We have an excuse for everything; don’t we? You better add one word behind that. “NOW”.
You are right, he has hit me with all of them and I have surrendered to them. Now what do I do? Start all over. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Remember the parable Jesus told about the man who hired out workers for his field, and he added more as the day went on. At the end of the day, they all got paid the same. Start now and you can still earn the same title. Well done thou “good and faithful servant”.
Remember little David went up against the giant in the power of God and won? We too can defeat the giants of the devil, when we will do in the Lord’s power not our own.