TAKING A GRIP ON YOUR TESTIMONY

And Saul armed David with his armour and he put a 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. - I Sam. 17:38-39

To my fellow reader and believer in the Testimony of our Faith which is Jesus Christ. I just wanted to again post a blog to once again encourage our hearts in living a life victorious!

The story of David is one of the most preached stories, aside from preaching the Life of Christ and His Gospel. For those who grew up in church, we are well acquainted with the way God used David from his youth into his old age. One of the most famous events we view in David's recorded life is when the Lord used him to slay Goliath and bring Israel into victory over the Philistines. Movies, productions, story telling, etc. are shown concerning this historic and invigorating moment in time. Even the unsaved know the story of David and Goliath. It is a world wide story told and portrayed of how God raise up a young, anointed boy to once again bring to mind the truth of the Lord's covenant among the army of Israel in that time.

Though the life of David is preached at a great deal, we tend to view his life as a shadow and type of the Christian believer who overcomes and endures process, and we can see that, but mostly definitely David's life is recorded to show as a shadow and type of Christ. Only ONE champion was brought to defend Israel, God's covenant people and through this victory of slaying the army of Israel's greatest foe, David is used to partially fulfill Genesis 3:15 when he defeated Goliath and put his head on a pole in enemy's territory. Christ is our champion who was sent to pave the way for the rest of God's children to go and conquer against the enemy and live victoriously...all on the basis of Covenant.

Gen. 3:15 And I will put an enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heal.

In this case David (shadow and type of Christ) is brought between the enemy (Philistines) and Israel (God's people) or woman which is symbolic for the bride of Christ, the church, God's covenant people. And David did more than bruise Goliath's head with a stone, he CUT IT OFF! And with Goliath's own sword!

But before this tremendous victory, David was met with a proposition of "certain" judgement. Besides the fact that when David opened his mouth concerning the enemy's threat upon the army of Israel and his own brother falsely accused him of vain glory (I Sam. 17:23-29) David had met with Saul. What was this "certain" judgment? Well if David wore Saul's armour, a great warrior, then surely David will have more of a chance to succeed in the battle against the giant, Goliath.

And Saul armed David with his armour and he put a 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. - I Sam. 17:38-39

Saul was a warrior! His armour was used to bring him much victory under the hand of the Lord before David came into the picture. Saul's armour was his testimony, it was what he put on to fight! It was the King's trophy of being valiant in war, ready for the call to duty, to overcome and posses enemy territory! And this is what Saul was giving to David, a young boy who was not a warrior, David had no training, he who knew nothing of war strategies and so on. He was just a teenage boy, 3 years shy of the age when men entered into the army at 20 years of age.

Can you blame Saul? No...in his natural mind, the boy needed all the help he can get!

In the next verse after David takes Saul's armour off it says this: And he (David) took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones...and put them in his shepherd's bag...and his sling was in his hand...(1 Sam. 17:40)

Notice what he first took. It was his staff! This staff is what he used to help guide his father's flock with. When a sheep was wondering in another direction, he would use the staff to bring it back into the fold. Also this staff was David's journal. It was common in those days to inscribe in the staff certain important and memorable events within the staff bearer's life. His staff was his testimony indeed. David probably had inscribed on his staff the different anointed songs the Lord gave him while he played the harp, the times when the Lord used him to defeat a lion and bear at two different occasions from trying to hurt his flock of few sheep. Perhaps David also recorded on his staff when Samuel the Prophet came and anointed him with oil and prophesied that he would one day rule over God's people as King. Whatever David had on his staff, the Bible tells us that he brought it with him. And good thing he did, because God's flock, His people were in need, their hearts wondered away and God had to send a young shepherd to meet the need and save the flock and bring guidance back into their memory!

You see beloved, a King requires the life of his servants to be in his total use and rightfully so, but the life of a Shepherd, is one that is given for the flock to help bring guidance and protection. This was the need at the time. David here gives his life as a Shepard to a flock who were afraid to go on. David used the staff of covenant to ring the flock by the neck and bring them into remembrance that they were God's covenant people, not the Philistines! What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

And David wrought a great victory as he went after Goliath in the name of the Lord and slew his stone into the forehead of that giant and cut of his head! Thus resulting in not only David's personal victory status, but it provoked a people, the rest of the army, to go after and overcome the enemy!

But David had to have his staff with him! He had a firm grip of his testimony in his hand! The testimony of how God used him to slay a lion and bear with his bare hands just had to be building this young man's heart and faith to go forward and pursue this giant that stood in the way taunting God's people! David needed to lay hold of his past in order to get into his future. David knew that his testimony of how God wrought victory was enough credential for him to be used to gain another victory in this opposition that was before him.

Saints, why is the body of Christ at large not conquering giants? Why is the "Church" trying to wonder away from walking in a life style as God's covenant people? One who is in adultery wonders away from covenant. So why does it seem the church as a whole, let alone in America seem to go this route?

The answer is that we are too busy being persuaded to use Saul's armour rather than our own!

Persuaded you ask? Yes, persuaded and deceived!

Too many times we have some T.V. Preachers that give their testimonies of how God used them to overcome certain giants and then try to persuade the listener of their program that if they send in their money and due what they did, the person watching will too have the same results in their life! Granted the testimony may be true but that is their testimony!

I am glad and rejoice in righteous success granted for others, but we are called to succeed and prosper by the word of God being applied to our own life!

But this word shall not depart out of thy mouth and thou shalt meditate therein day and night, and thou shalt observe to do according to ALL that is written therein and then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then though shalt have good success. Josh. 1:8

I do thank the Lord for the power of testimony! It is a personal "sermon" of God's intervention upon one's life! True as it may be, however if God did something SPECIFIC in my life, that does not mean all people have to do what I did in order to obtain the certain blessing I received due to my obedience! God works with people differently according to the issue and state of their heart, their faith and so on.

David took off Saul's armour/ testimony! Why? Because it was NOT David's...it was Saul's! David knew that if God opened a door before him to go against a giant, then he did not need to follow in and invest in some one else's testimony to bring him victory, David had a testimony (staff) of his own!

Too may people are going bankrupt because they are giving into false judgments, false prophecies, advertised television for an overcoming life! Listen, if you are facing an obstacle in your life, and obviously that God is allowing, then you need to get a grip on yourself and on your STAFF, YOUR TESTIMONY and begin to recount what God has done for you and through you personally! Because THAT is enough reason why you are qualified to overcome the enemy's attacks and taunts upon your life!

You see, Saul also put a helmet of BRASS (judgement) upon David's head, but David took it off! It was not his size, it was NOT his testimony, not his credentials. He was not going to pose as another, but rather as the man of God that he was, a man of COVENANT RELATIONSHIP WITH ALMIGHTY GOD!

Seriously, the Lord does not play guilt games. "If you give this amount, you will receive this blessing, that amount, this blessing, buy this manna or prayer Shaw from Jerusalem and get kind of blessings!" It is a bunch of lies and Satan is trying to get you to where a helmet of certain brass, a certain judgment to make you think this is the only way to get victory in your life, by giving your substance for these cheep gimmicks! We don't need any prayer shaw from Jerusalem! We need DIVINE INTERVENTION FROM HEAVEN! God IS NOT in a specific place geographically, He is omnipresent, He is a spirit, He is all around! The Holy Spirit moves just as mightily as He did at the day in the upper room, filling the 120 Disciples with Himself! (John 2:24, Rev. 1:8, Heb. 13:8) I am not against any specific nation by any means, but I am talking about the heart behind the matter. God is not just interested in one nation, but every nation, every tribe and tongue, for we arte called to be of one Kingdom and in one accord in Christ Jesus! We don't need to put on the helmet of that certain judgment of "guilt" or persuasion to use another's testimony, but we need to put on the helmet of salvation! Have covenant inscribe upon our minds and go with it! We need to have salvation upon your mind in order to bring deliverance into the equation and be set free and victorious over the giants of life! Jesus made the way so we can follow through in victory!

Folks, we can NOT buy blessings!

Jesus turned over the tables of money changers at the temple! He released the doves that the people tried to sell! The dove prophetically symbolizes the Holy Spirit! We got to many who are trying to sell the Holy Spirit! Keeping it in a cage unless money is given to them! How can we sell what was freely given? Are we not to freely give what was freely given to us?

I am not here to bad mouth any believer and preacher of Christ. I write this in no way to bring condemnation, but I share this out of heavy conviction. Not to draw us away from God, but rather closer to His Word, closer to His heart. This is an opportunity to pray for those who do such things. That the Lord might open their eyes in this matter. That we might learn from these things and continue to put our full trust on the Lord and not in the works of man. We are all capable of doing such things, but may the grace and power of the Word of God keep us righteous, honest and holy before the Lord.

God did not call his children to be beggars! If it is God's will than it is His bill! God provides every need according to His riches, He does not leave His seed begging for bread! He gave us a testimony through His son Jesus! The price we must pay is when we obey, move out by faith, seeking the hand of hand of the Lord to provide and not just dependent upon the hand of man. We cannot and should not market the name of Jesus!

So I encourage you, that if you are facing a Giant in your life or many, then lay hold of your testimony and don't try to where someone else's! If it is your trial you are dealing with, God is allowing it so that He might show Himself more glorious on your behalf and bring exhalation to His name through the victory He wants to bring in you, to you and through your life!

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Rev. 12:11

God Bless