​Gigantic problems.
 
2020. A year so far riddled with one serious problem after another after another. Stacked up problems are putting immense emotional pressure on all of us. Emotional giants of anxiety, fear, depression, tension, uncertainty, division and unrest are stalking the emotional landscape, screaming at us, mocking us and taunting us to negatively react to our situation.
 
If you are facing a huge problem that is discouraging and disheartening you right now, turn to I Samuel 17. This true biblical story of the colossal confrontation between David and Goliath will get your spiritual motor running!  A young, rudy-faced shepherd boy takes out a nine-foot tall, seven-hundred pound, belligerent, boisterous, battle-tested enemy of Israel. Have I captured your interest?   
 
Goliath, a Philistine warrior and champion, was a physical giant. An intimidating, taunting, trash-talking mountain of a man. For forty days and nights, his God-mocking, blasphemous-spewing mouth kept King Saul and God’s army at bay, fearful, shaking in their sandals on the sideline.
 
Shepherd boy David showed up. Sized up the situation. He decided to do something about this uncircumcised Philistine who was mocking the living God. Full of faith in the Lord he served, David boldly countered Goliath’s mockery and taunts about him and his God. He told the giant he would be bird food before the sunset. Go David!
 
David didn’t use swords and spears to take Goliath down. David took a rock to a sword fight. Knowing the battle was the Lord’s, David, with faith in heart, took him out with a slingshot and a stone.
 
The giant being dead, David relieved Goliath of his head. “Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. “
 I Samuel 17:51
 
No more trash talking from his mouth. Hard to talk without your head! David held up Goliath’s head in triumph, showing it to king Saul. As the now deceased giant’s blood dripped from his severed head, the Israeli army rallied and routed the stunned, fleeing Philistines. Without their menacing champion Goliath, the Philistines were soundly defeated.   
 
David was recognized as a hero and a worthy man to take Saul’s place as King of Israel.
 
I don’t know about you, but I would have loved to see David hoisting high in the air slain Goliath’s lifeless head for all to see!
 
What a day when David killed giant Goliath for the glory of God!  
 
So, what does David chopping off Goliath’s head have to do with you and me?
 
You and I are taunted and trash-talked by spiritual/emotional Goliath’s.
 
Fear. Worry. Doubt. Unbelief. Lack. Depression. Low self-esteem. Lack of confidence and many other emotional giants raise their big, bad, ugly heads and scream at us. Mock us and our faith. They try to intimidate us into retreating from our walk with God. Emotional giants shout us down. You and I have heard their voices before. Unfortunately we have often cowered and caved in to their hollow threats.
 
I minister to people all the time who are standing in fear on life’s sideline, shaking in their shoes, because an emotional Goliath is stalking and talking to them. Their giant is pushing them around, paralyzing their faith, and laughing at them for not fighting back.
 
David had the right perspective and attitude. Like David, God’s people, you and me who know Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, are to prevail over Goliath.
 
Israel believed Goliath was too big to hit, David believed Goliath was too big to miss!
 
How about you? Is your emotional Goliath too big to hit or TOO BIG TO MISS?
 
How To Slay Your Goliath And Cut Of His Head
 

• Identify your emotional giant. Fear…Worry...Doubt…Lack…what? Call it out for what it is.
• Face your Goliath. Run toward it, not from it. Boldly charge your giant with faith in Jesus Christ.
• Use the weapons of warfare (spiritual sling shots) that God has provided. You have every weapon you need according to Ephesians 6:10-20.
• Knock Goliath down. Then cut your giant’s head off with its own sword.
• Rejoice that your emotional giant is headed for the graveyard. Praise the Lord for the victory He has given you!  
• Share with others that you have slain your Goliath. Others will be inspired by your personal story of victory over a giant.
• Encourage others to slay their emotional giants in Jesus’ mighty name! They will be motivated to kill their giants because, with God’s help, you killed yours.

 
Please hear me. If you are being emotionally harassed, it is time to shut the mouth of emotional giants. Do not tolerate Goliath speaking into your life. Rebuke and reject his lies, false accusations fabrications about you. Cut his head off. I am not talking about cutting off the heads of people who taunt and trash talk you. If you do that, you will go to jail!
 
What I am saying is face the voices you hear that attack you spiritually and emotionally. Fight back. Shout them down in the name of the Lord. Leave no room for anything but a decisive, complete victory. Take their head off. Silence negative giants. Put them in their place (the cemetery).  Defeat them in the name of Jesus and with the Word of God.
 
Maybe a Goliath has kept you shaking in your shoes for days, weeks, months or even years. Isn’t it about time to take him out in the name of the Lord? Why let Goliath keep troubling you when he is the one who should be troubled?
 
So, what are you going to do about your Goliath this week? Why not go head-hunting!
 
“The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the Lord.”
                                                                                                                  Proverbs 21:31
 
A Word For Your Week: Take your trash-talking Goliath out by taking his head off.  

​Millions of citizens in our nation are fussing, fuming, feuding, and fighting over politics.
 
No matter who is pushing agenda buttons, little, if any, progress is being made to restore our nation to the principles our founding fathers instituted in The Constitution and Bill of Rights.
 
The foundation of their deliberations and decisions were grounded in Christian truth and principles revealed in the Bible. Almighty God set America apart as a Christian nation to be a bright, shining witness to a world lost in spiritual darkness.  
 
I am emotionally frazzled, worn out if you will.  Maybe you are too. Why? Because men and women in authority and their Kool Aid drinking followers are missing the mark regarding what America should look and act like. Its like a person shooting a bow and arrow who strikes the target, but never hits the bullseye.
 
My friend, America’s greatest, deepest, and most pressing need is not political, social, racial, or economic. It is spiritual and moral.
 
So, what is the solution for our moral drift and spiritual waywardness?
 
I am glad I asked. Concerned Christians across America are faithfully and fervently praying for revival, and rightly so. But a revival of what?
 
A revival of righteousness is what our nation needs.  
 
To revive means to live again, to quicken. Righteous simply means acting in accordance with divine or moral law, justified. To be righteous is to be made right. Right what?  Right in the sight of the Lord.
 
God is serious about righteousness. The words righteous, righteousness and unrighteous are used no less than five hundred and ten times in the Bible. The word right is also used many, many times. God cares immensely about what is right or wrong.
  
A revival of righteousness is all about living again in right relationship with the Living God of the Bible and doing what is right in His sight.   
 
The wisdom writer Solomon makes it clear about what makes a nation great in God’s eyes. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” Proverbs 14:34. Sin, choosing to disobey God’s Word and will is disgraceful, a curse that robs a nation of God’s favor and blessing. On the other hand, righteousness exalts, promotes, prospers, and blesses a nation. I like the blessing hand, how about you?
 
Christians are the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness is secured through God’s only Son who died on the Cross.  His blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins, makes the unrighteous righteous.
 
Getting our life right with Jesus makes our life right with God.
 
The Bible, God’s holy Word, is the blueprint for a righteous life and a country’s conduct.
 
What A Righteous Nation Would Look Like
  

• The God of the Bible would be reverenced, respected, worshiped and obeyed.,
• The Bible would be sacred, taught and obeyed for what it is, God’s Word.
• Freedom of worship would be firmly established as a sacred, God-given right.
• From the womb to the tomb, Human life would be protected, promoted, and celebrated.
• Marriage between one man and one woman for life would be honored and held in high esteem.  
• Sexual immorality, moral perversion, and promiscuous sexual behavior would not be tolerated. Sexual purity according to the Bible would be the standard of the day.
• Racial prejudice would be non-existent because God’s love for one another, regardless of skin color, would triumph over hate.  
• Law, order, and justice would be upheld with no respect to persons in any way.
• Corruption would be exposed and disposed by God-fearing authorities.
• Any form of abuse of other human beings would be swiftly dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.
• Our nation would be grateful to God for His abundant blessings in our lives.

 
My spirit yearns for and groans within for a Holy Spirit empowered revival of righteousness that would sweep across our country, purifying our hearts and cleansing us morally.  I would love to spend the rest of my days, raising up and handing off to my children and grandchildren a righteous nation. How about you?
 
Bottom line America: Being in right relationship with God and doing what is right in His sight blesses individuals and a nation.   
 
My fellow Christians and all who do not know Christ as your personal Lord and Savior:   Get right with God. Stay right with God. Live right for God. Live right for people in God’s holy name.  
 
Please join me in praying every single day for a revival of righteousness to spread like a spiritual wildfire from coast to coast across this nation we love and thank the Lord for.   
 
“How blessed are those who keep justice, who practice righteousness at all times.” Psalm 106:3
 
“For there they are in great dread, for God is with the righteous generation.” Psalm 14:5
 
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has formed for His own inheritance.” Psalms 33:12
 
‘If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray, seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14
 
A Word For Your Week: America’s only hope is in returning to righteousness.

​As I get older (note I did not admit to being old!) my personal physician encourages me to make an appointment with him for an annual physical exam.
 
My doctor wants me to check in with him for a check-up so he can check out my health.
 
Quite frankly, I do not look forward to medical examinations. You know the drill. The wait and the weight! Annoying and often convicting lifestyle questions. The poking and probing in a cold room, on a steel table with a backless gown! Then the battery of tests. Needles, specimen cups, X-rays and CAT scans. While enduring the endless examinations, my mind is wondering what kind of a bill I am wracking up in the process.
 
Exam over, my doctor sits down with me to discuss the state of my physical body.  He lets me know the good things happening inside me. I like that part. And of course, he points out what needs to be addressed for me to remain healthy. He recommends a plan for what I need to do. After grudgingly paying the bill, it is my responsibility to carry out what he has suggested as a result of his examination.  
 
Physical health is important. An annual medical exam is necessary because life and our bodies change. The trained professional can find things in my body that I cannot. A doctor’s expertise will pinpoint issues that need addressed and advise me how to adjust my lifestyle for optimum health and productivity in life. No exam and I will not know what is going on inside of me.
 
Spiritual health is even more important than bodily health.
 
Man’s spirit is eternal. Our earthly body is a temporary tent. With age it is collapsing. One day we will receive an immortal, glorified body when we are with Jesus in heaven. I look forward to my new body that will never age and never ache again!   
 
I love the Psalmist David because of his heart for God and his honesty. Writing in Psalm 26:2, David asks the Lord to examine, test his mind and heart. “Examine me, O Lord, and try me; test my mind and my heart.” 
 
Not afraid to seek God, David humbly, courageously, and faithfully presents Himself to the Great Physician for a spiritual examination. Test me God.  Examine me. Check out my mind and heart.  Poke and prod. X-ray me with the Holy Spirit. Take a good look at my spiritual life.  
 
Similarly, David asks God to search his life. Psalm 139:24 reads “Search me, O God, and know my heat; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way.”
 
SEARCH ME O GOD. Try me and point out what is going in my heart. Show me what is good. I will continue to do the good things and work to excel in these areas. And of course, most importantly, reveal to me anything that hinders my walk with You and my witness to this lost world. Pinpoint what is hurtful. Search me and show me how I can be more like You and walk with you in the everlasting way.  
 
In 2020, are you seeking to be a better Christian? Do you desire to experience more of God’s love and be used by Him to help hurting, lost people receive His love and forgiveness of sins through faith through Jesus Christ? Do you desire to make a difference for God’s Kingdom on earth in 2020?
 
If this is the desire of your heart, ask God to search your heart.
 
Go to your place of prayer. Take your Bible. Remove distractions. Humble yourself. Then sincerely utter David’s words “Search me, O God”. Tell your Heavenly Father you are reporting for a spiritual examination. You want to know the state of your spiritual life. You want the Lord to do the exam. You trust Him to examine you carefully, thoroughly, gently, and lovingly.  
 
It takes intestinal fortitude (guts!) to leave the ruts in our lives. The unexpected, life-altering challenges ed of 2020 and uncertain days ahead, call you and me to wait on the Lord, asking Him to search our hearts.  
 
Let me ask you some probing questions.
 

• Are you humble enough to acknowledge that you need some work in your spiritual life? Will you submit yourself to the Lord to show you what that work is?

 

• Do you have the courage to open up every area of your heart and life to the Lord for examination? A no holds barred checkup. Will you take your hands off and allow every aspect of your life to come under the scrutiny of God’s search light?  

 

• Are you ready to receive whatever the Holy Spirit reveals to you? Whatever God points out to you that needs correction, will you accept it graciously, go out and make the adjustments you need to make?

 
To continue to grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, we must go, check in with God and ask Him to check us out. When is the last time you made an appointment with the Lord for a spiritual examination? If you are overdue, the thing to do is to schedule an exam right away. Get alone with the Lord and let Him examine your life.
 
 Do not be anxious or afraid for God to look you over. Check in with Him for a check-up. It is for your good!
 
“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves. Of do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you indeed fail the test?”        II Corinthians 13:5
 
“Thou hast tried my heart; Thou hast visited me by night; Thou hast tested me and have found nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.”    Psalm 17:3
 
A Word For Your Week: Revival and renewal starts when we ask God to search our heart.

​Ever feel like a Zombie? Alive but dead?  Or is it dead but alive? Either way, you are alive but not really living. You know, Zombie like.
The popular, long running, science fiction television thriller “The Walking Dead” is about Zombies…. living, dead beings who feast on human flesh. I have not watched the show because the creepy commercials are enough to totally freak me out! I have asked myself what kind of a warped mind envisioned a program like this? Maybe a Zombie!
My topic today is about being a Zombie spiritually. There are two categories of “The Walking Dead” in real life

1. Non-believers in Christ. Lost souls. Men and women, boys and girls, alive in the flesh but dead in their spirit.  Peer into empty eyes of the walking dead. Study their blank, sad, hopeless countenances. Observe their bounce-less strides. Listen carefully to their depressing, cynical, despairing words. Soul-dead men and women, spiritual Zombies, surround you and me every single day.
   
2. Believers in Christ. Sadly, the walking dead includes some Christians. They dutifully sit in church services, often forcing fake smiles, hoping others will think that they are spiritual giants, holy saints, mature Christians who have their act together. But unfortunately, even though they profess Christ, their actual lifestyle suggests their residence is a lifeless tomb in the cemetery. Daily faith is dead. Numb. Indifferent, Calloused. Unmoved. Disinterested. Dispassionate for the things of God.  Spiritual Zombies.

You Might Be A Spiritual Zombie If…….

• You have not been born-again into the Kingdom of God by receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You are physically alive, but your soul is dead. You are lost spiritually.  
• As a believer in Christ, your passion and zeal for the Lord and being His witness is lukewarm to cold. You claim to be alive in Christ, but you speak and act like the world that has lost its way. Your professed faith has little or no significant impact on the people in your life.
• You neglect personal Bible study, prayer, regular worship, and fellowship with positive, victorious believers who encourage you in the faith. You isolate yourself from the body of Christ. You are a spiritual loner, hiding out under cover of your shallow commitment to Christ. As a believer in name only, you are not active in the faith game.

• You are joyless. Peace of mind and heart eludes you. You walk around like a sour puss, looking like you were baptized in lemon juice. No wonder people avoid you.
• You have thrown in the towel on the vision and dreams the Lord has given you. You have settled for nightmares instead of dreaming new dreams for God.  
• You are in grave danger of becoming a spiritual Zombie if you have left your first love. (Revelation 2:1-7). If Jesus is not the most important person in your daily life, you are losing your way and heading for the spiritual boneyard

So how can you and I as Christians stay out of spiritual Zombie land? Paul has a specific word for us in Ephesians 5:14-16.
“For this reason it says, “Awake sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, redeeming, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”
Here is what Paul is saying to you and me.
 Wake up spiritually. Stop sleep-walking  through life. Arise from the dead. Get up from the grave. Come alive in Christ.  Get going. Let His light shine on you to  scatter the spiritual darkness you have dwelt in
Pay attention to life around you. The days are evil. Times are dark. Spiritual Zombies need God’s people to show them His love. Watch how you walk. Be wise, not unwise. Make the most of every day. Our time is limited. Time has a way of slipping away if we are not vigilant.  Redeem, buy back, purchase back the days when you walked as a spiritual Zombie.
Walk in God’s wisdom. Be His victorious, life-filled witness. Share your faith in the power of the Holy Spirit during these last days. Stop sleeping at the witnessing wheel. Dump the doldrums. Defeat depression. Beat back burnout. Sack the thumb sucking. Burn your pity-poor-me blankie. Bury your bitterness. Reject resentment. Cease coddling cynicism. Die to dead dreams. Come alive to new ones!
You and I cannot redeem the time if we are dead like a Zombie. Rekindle your spiritual fire. Be inspired. Seek a fresh anointing. Dream again. Witness again. Influence people for the Kingdom of God again.
I love what Oswald Chambers said in My Utmost For His Highest. “When the inspiration of God comes, and He says, “Arise from the dead” we have to get up. God does not lift us up. Our Lord said to the man with the withered hand “Stretch forth thy hand” and as soon as the man did so, his hand was healed, but he had to take the initiative. If we will do the overcoming, we shall find we are inspired of God because He gives life immediately.”
Jesus did not die on the cross, rise from the dead, ascend to heaven, and promise to return take spiritual Zombies to heaven!
Is the Holy Spirit calling to you to arise from the dead today?
“And this do; knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.” Romans 13:11
A Word For Your Week:  Being a spiritual Zombie is not scriptural.