Kill The Giants II

To God Be The Glory!

Last month I started talking about “Killing the Giants” in our lives. David killed Goliath with 1 smooth stone. We surmised that the other 4 stones could have been meant for Goliath’s brothers. Those giants were related to one another; and we learned that the 5 greatest giants in our lives are also related to one another.

The 5 giants we need to kill are: 1. Fear, 2. Unforgiveness, 3. Anger, 4. Worry, and 5. Discouragement. We addressed fear last month, so this month we will address the other giants that are constantly coming against us.

One of the most dangerous giants is unforgiveness. I really believe that getting rid of unforgiveness is a major key to our life with God. The Bible says we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) Knowing that can help us to forgive others who have hurt us. Hurting people, hurt people. Those of you who are in prison didn’t get there because you had a glorious life. I would venture a guess that all of you had events and situations in your lives that caused you to sin to the point you ended up behind bars.

Let’s face it! When someone hurts us, we want to hurt them back. Remember I said all these giants are related? Fear and worry enter in when we have been injured by someone else and they birth unforgiveness. Unforgiveness births anger. Anger can birth bitterness if it isn’t dealt with; and we go into a downward spiral until discouragement sets in. Each of these must be dealt with. If we try to push them down inside, they just fester and before we know it, we have an outburst that can hurt others and ourselves.

God put his goodness into each one of us when we were born. What happens to us during our lifetime and the way we deal with things determines how we come out as adults. We have all been hurt at one time or another. Some of us have been hurt more than others…but we all hold onto unforgiveness until it is exposed and brought to the surface. A lot of times, when we get rid of the unforgiveness, the anger and bitterness leave with it.

Jesus gave us a parable to help us identify unforgiveness. It is found in Matthew 18:21-35. Please read that now. I will quote a few verses that pertain to our lesson. Peter had asked Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother who had sinned against him…“Up to seven times?” To Peter, that was an enormous number of times and he was sure the Lord would commend him for being willing to forgive seven times.

But Jesus said, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Then He told a parable about a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. One of the slaves who was brought before him couldn’t have paid what he owed back in a lifetime. He threw himself on the mercy of the king and the king forgave him the debt. However, when that slave went out and found a man who owed him a little bit, he refused to forgive the man and had him thrown in prison. So, when the king heard about it, he threw the slave into prison because he did not forgive his fellow slave like the king had forgiven him. “So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.” (verse 35)

We often don’t know the background of those who hurt us. When God showed me this fact, it brought me to my knees. I had a lot of hurt and pain in my past. I had a very hard time forgiving anyone who hurt me. But, God showed me the past of those who had hurt me and then I understood why they had done the things they did. It didn’t excuse them. They still had to pay the penalty for their sin one way or another. However, when I saw that truth, I was willing to forgive even the ones who hurt me the most.

Jesus (the King) came to earth and cancelled the debt we all owed for the sin in our lives. He completely and totally forgave us when He died on the cross for our sins. Now He requires us to forgive those who have hurt us just as He forgave us. He paid an even greater price than we are asked to do. He was completely sinless! And yet, He died for us anyway. He didn’t have to do that. He loved us that much!!

Besides that, holding onto unforgiveness only hurts us. Those who have hurt us are either glad we are angry or they have gone their way and don’t even care anymore. So, the anger and bitterness doesn’t affect them. It affects us! It can cause sickness, depression, discouragement (I could go on and on). We often don’t even know what brings these feelings and problems on us. But the underlying cause is quite often the fact that we are holding things against someone else.

Forgiving someone else is simply an act of our will. We just pray to our Lord and exercise our free will by saying “I forgive (their name) for (whatever they did) and I ask You, Jesus, to forgive me for holding onto unforgiveness.”

God’s word tells us in Hebrews 10:30, “Vengeance is Mine. I will repay…The Lord will judge His people.” When we forgive someone, that opens the way for the Lord to take care of the matter. People look like they are getting away with things; but God knows it all, and their day will come. When it does, we are not to rejoice, but to pray for their salvation. But for the grace of God, we would be in their shoes.

Forgiveness will set you free. Every time the devil tries to bring it back to your memory again, you just say “No, I forgave him/her and he/she is in the hands of the Lord. I will not take up the offense again.” Forgiveness isn’t a feeling. It is an act of your will. As you continue to forgive, the feelings will come; and you will eventually be able to pray for the person with a genuine heartfelt prayer. It works! You can take it from me. I have had many, many things to forgive; and I am basically free today because I chose to forgive all who have hurt me in the past. I still have opportunities to forgive just like you do though. Everyone has tests along the way of life. We just need to pass the tests!

That brings us to the giant of Anger. A couple of my favorite scriptures on anger are found in James 1:19-20 “This you know, my beloved brethren…let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” AND Ephesians 4:26-27. “Be angry and sin not. Do not let the sun go down on your anger; and do not give the devil an opportunity.”

Anger is a natural reaction to things that hurt us. There is no sin in getting angry when we have been wronged. The sin comes in when we don’t deal with it. Holding on to the anger will eventually cause us to become bitter and hard to get along with. Staying angry will open the door to the devil to attack us; and we eventually form a wall that no one can get through.

Most of the time it isn’t easy to get rid of anger. It is best to just go somewhere and cool down. The Bible tells us to “cast down imaginations and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.; and we are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” (II Corinthians 10:5) In other words, when we get angry, we should get control of ourselves and cast down the thoughts that come against us and the things that were said or done against us and look to Jesus. Take it to God in prayer. Ask Him to help you overcome the anger. Read His word...particularly the Psalms. So many times in the Psalms we can see where David was able to overcome his anger by praising God and pouring out his heart before God. As we praise God and put it in His hands, we get peace in the place of the anger and we can then move into forgiveness. Quite often, as we seek God for the answers, He will speak to us in our minds and give us the answers or scriptures to stand on. Speak the scriptures above until the anger leaves and your peace returns. The Holy Spirit has been given to you to help you through it.

Now we need to deal with worry. We must realize that all worry will do for us is get us upset and in danger of physical problems if we don’t deal with it. As children of God, we are to cast our cares upon our Father, God because He really does care for us. (I Peter 5:7) Worry is related to fear. It is so important to stay in God’s word when things around us cause worry to come up within us.

I know it is easier said than done sometimes. I used to be a “master” of worry. I had plenty to worry about. However, by staying in God’s word and believing what it said, I have been able to overcome worry for the most part. Life still presents situations for me to worry about, so I have to fight it quite often…but with the help of the word of God and the Holy Spirit, I am able to overcome it.

As I said before…worrying about a situation won’t solve the problem. There is nothing we can do in ourselves to solve worrisome problems. God knows the beginning from the end in our lives. As problems come up, we need to go to God’s word, find some scriptures on the subject we are worrying about and begin to quote them…every day…every hour if necessary. That is where prayer comes in too. As we pour out the things that are causing us to worry to the Lord, we cast it on Him to solve the problems. He always has the answer…and it is usually something our little minds can’t even think of.

Worry not dealt with will bring in depression and discouragement. Discouragement is the last enemy we need to deal with. Once we are discouraged, it is very hard to find joy and to believe God’s word for our solutions. It is very important to understand that God’s word will work when we use it. We need to believe that He knows what is going on in our lives, and He cares about us more than we can imagine. He will bring the solution to our problems when we ask Him to. Usually this happens when we are reading His word and all of sudden the answer will just “pop” off the page. Sometimes, of course, He causes something to happen for us.

Don’t get me wrong…it is very hard to not be discouraged when we look at the things going on around us sometimes. We sometimes can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel no matter how hard we try. That is when we need to just start thanking and praising God. When we praise and thank Him, the Bible tells us He “inhabits the praises of His people.” (Psalm 22:3) Praise brings Him and the answers on the scene.

Prayer will always get His attention too. Prayer is not always asking Him for things. Prayer is just simply sitting down and talking to Him just like you would talk to anyone. He longs for fellowship with His children. He will bring that peace that passes all your understanding into your life. You may still have the problems to deal with, but you will know that He is working behind the scenes in your behalf; and that depression and discouragement will lift. You can then go about your everyday life expecting something good to happen. That is faith! We are to walk by faith, not by sight. (II Corinthians 5:7)

He is a good God. He loves us. He wants the best for us and He will go to bat for us against the forces of darkness that try to take us down. ‘No weapon formed against us will prosper.” (Isaiah 54:17) His eye is always on us and His ears are always open to our prayers. “He knows the plans He has for us. They are plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give us a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

So my prayer for you is that when the 5 enemies we have studied come against you, that you will fight against them and overcome them with the power of God’s word and His Holy Spirit that has been given to His children to bring us the victory.

I leave you with the words that David quoted when he faced Goliath: “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should taunt the armies of the living God?” (Giant) “you come to me with a sword and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you.” (I Samuel 17: 26;45-46a)

Use the name of Jesus and the word of God and you can’t lose.

Peace to you,

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