Choose your weapons! How shall we live? Each one of us has already made a choice. Perhaps we do not even realize we have made the choice, but we have. We are either living by force or by faith.
The Bible says in I Samuel 17:45, Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee In the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of lsrael, whom thou has defied.”
David summarized the battle that was about to take place. It was not really a battle between a shepherd by and a giant. It was not even a battle between the army of lsrael and the army of the Philistines, though it may have appeared at first glance to be a national conflict represented by two champions, one representing each nation. David
declared, “… Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts… “
Notice how carefully God states this for us. Again we read, “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me…” This is the way the giant was coming, “… with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield…” Then David said, ” … but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts…”
“…Thou comest to me …” and “…I come to thee…”; it is always one way or the other, but it is never both. We must decide whether we are going to face our problems with a spear, and with a word, and with a shield; or if we are going to face them in the name of the Lord. We are all going to live either by force for by faith.
It goes without saying that the world’s way is the force way. “I can overpower you. I can out-run you. I can out-scheme you. I can out-talk you. I can out-anger you. I can out-scream you. I can out-fight you. I can out-spend you. I can out-force you.” That is the world’s way. That is the only way those who do not know Christ operate, whether it is in business, at home, or in personal conflict. It may manifest itself in many different forms, but it is always the same. It is not the Lord’s way.
The Lord’s way is to trust in Him. That is the faith way. There is one open secret that reveals whether we are living by force or by faith -our secret, private prayer life. No matter what we say about how we are living, we are not living the faith way if we do not have a prayer life.
Do you know that once you come to the place where you trust God, everything else is settled? The fact that Goliath was a soldier, a giant, and a Philistine champion did not have anything to do with whether David would go down into the valley or not. It was all dependent on whether or not David would trust God. Once David placed his faith in God, everything else was settled. I think we fight many battles we do not need to fight, and get involved in many skirmishes we do not need to be involved in. The truth is that we have one great thing to decide; it is whether or not we are going to trust God.
How are you going to live? In your personal life, family life, and business life, are you going to live by faith or by force?
There is only one way to know Jesus Christ. Do you know Him? You may have grown up in a Christian home and have a Christian mom and dad, but this does not make you a Christian. There is only one way to God. That is to know Him by personally trusting Him by faith as your Saviour. Have you trusted Him?
This decision to live by faith cannot be made by anyone else. By faith, take every need in your life to the Lord. Many people are crushed under a weight God never intended for them to carry. I Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
Cast all your care upon the Lord Jesus.