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In reading the biblical account about the story of David and Goliath in the 17^th chapter of 1 Samuel, we read in verse 40 that David, “took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.”  From this verse and the rest of David’s story leading up to his battle with Goliath, we can learn from David that there are five fundamental faith principles in fighting the good fight of faith in Christ.  To me, the five smooth stones that David chose for battle as he drew near to the giant represent five things we can do to help us effectively fight the good fight of faith in Christ.  The apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:12 that we should fight the good fight of faith; therefore, I’d like to share five practical faith principles that can help us better approach our own spiritual battles and effectively fight the good fight of faith in Christ.

Faith Principle #1: Ignore the false accusations of the enemy.

When David came to the battlefield and saw that Goliath was taunting the armies of the living God, he spoke against Goliath; however, David’s oldest brother became angry with David and falsely accused him of pride and insolence of heart. 1 Samuel 17:26-28 states, “Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, ‘What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?  For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?’ And the people answered him in this manner, saying, ‘So shall it be done for the man who kills him.’ Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, ‘Why did you come down here?  And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.’  What Eliab was actually saying to David was this.  “Who do you think you are coming down to the battle?  You are nothing but a little shepherd boy who watches a few sheep.  You can do nothing great and you have pride in your heart to come watch the battle.”  But the truth is that David was sent to the battlefield by his father.   He didn’t have pride in his heart.  He actually had obedience in his heart. 

It is important for us to understand that when our Heavenly Father sends us to the battlefield and we show up to fight the good fight of faith in Christ, the devil will become angry with us and he will falsely accuse us.  This is because the devil is the accuser of the brethren and he doesn’t want us to fight the good fight of faith in Christ.  But that does not matter because the devil is nothing but a liar and the father of lies; therefore, we must simply ignore his lies just like David did.  In verses 29 and 30, David says, “’What have I done now? Is there not a cause?’ Then he turned from him toward another and said the same thing; and these people answered him as the first ones did.”  Additionally, we must clearly understand that David’s brother was not the enemy.  The enemy was just using his brother to bring discouragement and doubt to him; however, David simply responded by turning the other way and focusing on the cause which is the second faith principle in fighting the good  fight of faith in Christ.

Faith Principle #2: Focus on the cause of the afflicted.

David cared more about fighting the cause of the afflicted than he did about the lies of the enemy.  So when the lies came, David’s heart did not condemn him because his heart was right before the Lord.  1 Corinthians 2:11 says “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?  Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.” David was being led by the Spirit of God to fight the good fight of faith for the cause of God’s people.  In fact, in Psalm 140:12-13, David says, “I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and justice for the poor.  Surely the righteous shall give thanks to Your name; the upright shall dwell in Your presence.”  When we stay focused on the cause of the afflicted in fighting the good fight of faith in Christ, we can be confident that the Lord will fight for us because the Lord promises to maintain the cause of the afflicted and justice for the poor.

Faith Principle #3: Build your faith during the wilderness trials of life.

In 1 Samuel 17:33-37, the Bible records that Saul said to David, “’You are not able to go against this Philistine, for you are a youth and he is a man of war from his youth.’ But David said to Saul, ’Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.  Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.’ Moreover David said, ‘The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.’” From the challenges and trials of life that David experienced in the wilderness, he learned how to build his faith and fight the good fight of faith.  In his wilderness battles, David learned that he could completely trust God to deliver him from the hand of the enemy and give him the victory.  We are no different from David.  In our challenging times of life in the wilderness, we too can learn how to build our faith and trust God to deliver us from the hand of the enemy and give us the victory.  In fact, in 2 Timothy 4:18, the Bible says, “And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.”

Faith Principle #4: Depend upon the armor of God for protection and not the armor of man.

In 1 Samuel 17:38-39, the Bible says, “Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail.  David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them.  And David said to Saul, ‘I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.’ So David took them off.”  David knew that he could not depend on armor that he had not tested in battle so he did not use Saul’s armor.  David only trusted the armor that God had given him to fight the battle and we must do the same thing. God has given us special armor to fight the good fight of faith in Christ.  In fact, the apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:10-13, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”  Additionally, the apostle Paul tells us further that the armor of God includes the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, and the gospel of peace.  The truth is that we cannot fight the good fight of faith in our own armor nor our own strength.  Zechariah 4:6 states that it is, “’Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” 

Faith Principle #5: Speak bold words of faith and promise directly to the enemy of your spirit in Christ.

In 1 Samuel 17:45-47, “David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with 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 defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.’” In the power and might of the Lord, David spoke bold words of faith directly to the giant because he knew that the Lord was for him and the giant could not win against him.  When we fight the good fight of faith, we must do the same thing as David.  We must boldly speak words of faith and promise in the power of God’s might and not our own.  The Bible says, “If God be for us, then who can be against us”: therefore, we must believe this awesome promise of God in fighting the good fight of faith in Christ.  Furthermore, in Luke 10:18-20, Jesus says, “I saw satan fall like lightning from heaven.  Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.  Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” As believers in Christ with our names written in heaven, this is really good news!

Fighting The Good Fight Of Faith Copyright 2010, The Make It Happen Learning Institute.  You have permission to reprint the leadership article, Fighting The Good Fight Of Faith, in its entirety only, and forward to your colleagues and friends, provided the copyright notice remains part of the reprint and transmission.  All other rights reserved.

The other day I was talking with my wife and shared with her that I could prove from the Bible that God is Italian.  You see, while my family has told me that my surname is German, some people have also told me that it is Dutch, and others have even told me that it is Afrikaans; therefore, I am not completely sure which it is.  However, I do know for sure that my grandfather and my great grandfather and all other grandfathers of my grandfather on my mother’s side of the family, well, to say it proudly, they are FBI – Full Blooded Italian.  Now whenever I bring up my Italian heritage with my wife, she expresses a little umbrage over the matter because I think the simple truth is that she’s a little envious of my Italian roots… 🙂

But nonetheless, one morning after my personal devotions in the book of Psalms, the revelation came to me that God most definitely had to be Italian and with such profound revelation bursting inside, I just had to share it with my wife.

“Honey, you would have never thought about it, but I can prove from the Bible that God is Italian!”

“God is not Italian and neither are you” she responded rather smartly as I could still sense a little envy coming over her…but I had to share my extraordinary theological revelation anyway. 

“It’s true baby. You know how Italians in New York end their sentences with ‘Think about it’ (New York accent emphasized)?  Well, God must be Italian because He does the same thing in the book of Psalms.”

So she thought about it…and then she said, “The Italians in New York don’t say ‘Think about it.’  They say ‘Forget about it’ and if you’re Italian, you should do the same.”

So I thought about it and came to the same conclusion.  God has to be Italian because not only does He say ‘Think about it’ at the end of His sentences, but also, after we confess our sins to Him, He forgives us, He cleanses us, and then He says…‘Forget about it!’ 🙂

Isaiah 43:25 “I [God], even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”

Now obviously, I’ve had some fun with this post and please know that my wife actually does love and appreciate my Italian heritage as well as every other ethnic part of my heritage; however, there are some important leadership insights that I would like to highlight with this playful leadership post.

Leadership Insights:  

1)      Let us enjoy who God created us to be because we are valued by Him.

2)      Let us not take ourselves too seriously because life is too short to live it without any fun.

3)      Let us laugh when it is time to laugh because laughter is good for the heart and soul.

4)      Let us forgive others and ‘forget about it’ because the Lord does the same for us. 

Forget About It Copyright 2010, The Make It Happen Learning Institute.  You have permission to reprint the leadership article, Forget About It, in its entirety only, and forward to your colleagues and friends, provided the copyright notice remains part of the reprint and transmission.  All other rights reserved.

Today I’d like to share with you some leadership insights about the spirit of inclusion – an essential ingredient for building a healthy growing community.  Last week as I was driving to work, a group of bikers passed me on the other side of the highway riding the kind of bikes you don’t have to pedal. As I think back on the Race Across America, it would have been a lot easier if our team would have learned how to ride bikes like this group…with motors instead of pedals.  However, in many respects, that group of riders was very much just like our Race Across America team.  They were all riding bikes, they all had helmets, they were all going in the same direction, and they were all wearing the same shirts.  On the outside, the only real seemingly difference between their team and ours was that they rode bikes with motors while we rode bikes with pedals.  And the thing that caused me to begin thinking about this in terms of community was the fact that each of the bikers in the motorcycle group was wearing the same bright red color t-shirt indicating that they were all part of the same group just like the really cool team uniforms that my team wore for the Race Across America.

When our 8 person riding team had completed the 3,005 mile bicycle race across America in 6 days, 14 hours, and 55 minutes, we were given the opportunity for the entire team to parade across the finish line together, including our 6 crew members and our two support vehicles.  Although difficult to adequately describe, it was a tremendous experience when our entire team successfully paraded across the finish line as a road tested, RAAM accomplished, 5^th place team in the 8-person team division. It is still hard for me to believe that our team successfully rode day and night nonstop over 100,000 feet of elevation through the mountains of Colorado and West Virginia, through the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, the plains of Kansas and Missouri, across 14 different states from the West Coast in Oceanside, California to the East Coast in Annapolis, Maryland.  And I can tell you that the only way we were able to accomplish this huge challenge was to do it together as a team.

It is interesting to me that no matter how young or old someone may be in life, whether it’s a t-ball team, a high school volleyball team, an NFL football team, a group of red hat ladies, or even an informal group of motorcycle riders, people have an inherent desire to belong to a healthy community of people who accept them, embrace them, and help them accomplish something bigger than themselves.  But unfortunately not every group welcomes people and instead of cultivating a spirit of inclusion, some groups cultivate a spirit of exclusion which in the end produces an unhealthy, dysfunctional community. As soon as a group begins to think “us four and no more”, it becomes warped because people are created in God’s image and He thinks of community in terms of inclusion, not exclusion.   Genesis 2:18 states, “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.’” With that Word, God created Eve as a helpmate to Adam.  Furthermore Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 states that “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.  Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”   It is clear from the Bible that there is great value in friendship and even greater benefit in community.

Think about this reality expressed in our culture through America’s beloved television shows of the past: Andy Griffith had his deputy friend Barney Fife; The Skipper had his little buddy Gilligan; Oscar Madison had his opposite roommate Felix Unger; and even The Lone Ranger had his Indian riding partner Tonto.  And even though these awesome television shows are of a time long past, it is still true today: people need one another to successfully do life. We are all created by God to be in healthy relationships with other people and if we want to become more like Him we need to embrace people into our communities with a spirit of inclusion. In Acts 10:34-36 from the Message Bible, Peter states, “It’s God’s own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from — if you want God and are ready to do as He says, the door is open.” So it doesn’t matter who you are, if you want to be part of God’s family, He will welcome and include you in His family.

Have you ever seen a flock of geese with little goslings in their flock?  If so, you may have noticed that there is a lot we can learn from them about real community.  Since we actually do have a little “goose family” on our church property, it’s been fun to watch the little baby goslings follow their “goose parents” all over our property and actually grow up into full-fledged flying geese.  And you know, the way that the little “goose family” has lived together and taken care of their goslings is in many ways similar to the way we take care of people in our spiritual family. 

On the weekends, the Lord will bring lost hurting people into our family so that we can help take good care of them and help them grow up into full-fledged spiritually mature Christ followers. When new people come into church many are born again as babes in Christ needing a lot of care and spiritual development.  As a result, we invite them to go through biblical foundations to learn the Bible and how to feed on the word of God by themselves, just like the momma and poppa geese teach their little goslings how to find food around our ponds.  Then we encourage new people to get connected in a small group with a small group leader to learn how to apply the Bible in real life practical ways in the same way that the mamma and poppa geese teach their goslings how to fly.  And then once new people have been flying in small group long enough to know how to fly on their own, we release them into leading their own small group to help take good care of people and help others grow into full-fledged spiritually mature Christ followers as well.  And this is basically the way we do life together and learn how to fly in our church family.  And because we do not have an “us four and no more” spirit of exclusion in our spiritual family, but rather, have an “us four and many more” spirit of inclusion, the Lord continues to bless our house with growth and favor in our community.

In fact, in John 15:9-17 we can learn straight from the Lord Himself about how to build a healthy community with a spirit of inclusion.   The scripture reads, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.  “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.  This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.  These things I command you, that you love one another.”

Therefore, from the Bible, we can learn five specific ways to build community with a spirit of inclusion:

 1.      Love others in the group in the same way that Christ loves you.

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 2.      Sacrifice personal comforts to make room for new people in the group

John 15:13, states “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”” and Romans 5:8 states, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

3.      Become genuine friends with new people in the group

John 15:15 states that “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

 4.      Intentionally choose to invite new people to the group

John 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” 

 5.      Intentionally receive new people in the group as Christ has received you.

Romans 15:5-7 “Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.”

In closing, I’d like to emphasize that we should never underestimate the power of inclusion in the family of God as a child of our heavenly Father.  When we embrace others and help them become all that they were created to be in Christ as a child of the living God, there is no telling who they may become or what impact they may have in the world!

Spirit Of Inclusion Copyright 2010, The Make It Happen Learning Institute.  You have permission to reprint the leadership article, Spirit Of Inclusion, in its entirety only, and forward to your colleagues and friends, provided the copyright notice remains part of the reprint and transmission.  All other rights reserved.