Daily Devotional for Tuesday June 27, 2006
Are you Prepared to do Battle with Goliath
(1 Samuel 17:11, 26, 34-37, 49-51)
As you read these words today, I know that at some point in your life you will have to battle Goliath. One of the reasons I exhort you each day to stay close to the Lord through time in prayer and the Word, through being in church to get that spiritual nourishment, to be in fellowship with other Believers, to find ways to serve God, is because we all have those sentinel moments in life when we will have to fight Goliath. At that moment you will either cower in your tent and refuse to fight like the armies of Israel and let your fear defeat you, or you will confidently go onto the battlefield knowing that victory is already yours like David did.
The word I want you to hear for your life today is that you will one day have to fight Goliath. It is not a matter of if, only when. Listen to me very closely now. You don't defeat Goliath when you actually fight him, you defeat Goliath before you ever step onto the battlefield. This is very deep so let me say it again and listen carefully. You don't defeat Goliath when you actually fight him, you defeat Goliath before you ever step onto the battlefield! Let me explain.
When you step onto the battlefield to fight Goliath, you are not going to have time to learn how to fight, you are not going to have time to come up with a strategy how to defeat the giant, you are not going to have time to develop the faith and trust in God to lead you to victory. These are all the things you better already know and have. If you don't, it is no wonder why you would be afraid and are defeated before your battle with Goliath even begins.
Look at David. When he walked onto the battlefield with Goliath, he KNEW he would be victorious. How did he know that? He had fought battles in the past and had been victorious. When he was guarding his father's sheep, he battled with a lion and won. When he was guarding his father's sheep, he battled with a bear and won. David had been in battle before. He knew how to fight. More important, he had developed a great faith in God who gave him the strength to win those battles.
So when David was preparing to fight Goliath, he already knew that the same God who delivered him from the paw of the bear, the same God who delivered him from he paw of the lion, was the very same God who would delver him from the Philistine giant Goliath!!!
This is why I stress to you so often how critical it is to be in the Word every day, to be in prayer every day, to fellowship with other Believers, to be in church and be fed spiritually, to find ways to serve the Lord. All of these things you do each and every day help build you up spiritually and strengthen your faith, while you fight the daily battles of life and God leads you to victory. That way when you have your showdown with a real giant like Goliath, you can go into that battle with the confidence and knowledge that the same God who has led you to victory in the past is the very same God who will lead you to victory today.
Since the Bible teaches that God is no respecter of persons, that what God did for one He will do for another, let me share with you my upcoming battle with Goliath in just a few days. 40 months ago when the Liveprayer television program was started on the UPN affiliate in Tampa, I had no idea how we would survive past the first 90 days we paid for up front, especially since at that time we were just barely making our $30,000/month Internet budget and were getting ready to add $40,000 a month for the TV program on top of that. In addition, I was told that no major secular network would ever allow the unique "live" program I wanted to do to stay on the air.
Last Friday we completed our 173rd week, our 865th "live" program. I can honestly say that I have never once held back or compromised the Truth of God's Word, have never shied away from a topic or issue, have boldly and without shame identified sin and called people to repentance, while bringing the viewers Biblical Truth and sharing with them the hope and love of Jesus Christ. God has lead us to victory over the finances we have needed and God has given us favor with this major secular network to share His Truth with our viewers each night! God is a God of victory.
Last July we had the opportunity to expand the TV program to ABC in Miami, Jacksonville, West Palm, the WB in Ft. Myers, and PAX in Orlando. We would be seen "live" for an hour every Monday thru Friday in all of these additional markets throughout Florida on major network affiliates. Again, we were faced with the battle of how we would ever be able to afford a $100,000 monthly increase in our TV budget, on top of these major network affiliates continuing to air such a "live" and unique program that was unlike any on television which boldly proclaimed Biblical Truth and faith in Jesus Christ as the ONLY way.
We have now been on all of these additional stations every night for 1 year and over 1/4 million people tune in each night and hear the unadulterated Truth of God's Word and the fact our only hope is faith in Jesus Christ. Again, God has led us to victory over the finances and given us great favor with the secular stations we have been broadcasting on! God is a God of victory!
Our date with Goliath is just ahead. This coming Monday the Liveprayer TV program takes the final and ultimate step as we broadcast to the entire nation "live" for an hour every Monday thru Friday from Midnight to 1 a.m. EST on the "i" Network, formerly PAX TV. This will be the very first Christian program on a major secular television network that has ever been commercially sponsored.
The challenges we face are the same as they were in the past. We have got to have enough commercial sponsors to generate the $240,000 in ad revenues we need each week. We have 12 minutes of commercials in each program and are charging only $4,000/min for nationwide coverage. The other battle of course is the incredible pressures the network will come under because of the Biblical Truth that we will broadcast each night to a nation that lives in rebellion to God, His Son, and His Truth.
Why do you think the few ministries that do air the standard preaching/teaching program on secular TV Sunday morning, NEVER deal with the real issues of the day. Let me know the next time you ever hear Robert Schuller or his son or Joel Osteen preach against the sins of homosexuality and abortion, or tell people that if they follow the false religion of Islam they will die and go to hell, or that Mormonism is a cult, or simply without shame call sin sin. The fact is you never have or will because they would never want to upset the people who give them money, buy their books, and pay to keep their watered-down, politically-correct, "feel-good" empires going!
***Please be praying for me today and that God will open the hearts of the advertisers we need to finance the program and that He will give us continued favor with the executives at the "i" Network.
Let me share with you what God has shown me. We live in a nation that is hurting and looking for hope and answers in their life. This program will be a vehicle for God to bring that hope and Truth to people who will never go to church, never open a Bible, never watch Christian TV, listen to Christian music, or read Christian books and magazines. We will be reaching literally millions of souls each night who need Jesus so desperately in their life.
As I type these words, I know that we will be on "live" from Midnight-1 a.m. EST every Monday thru Friday starting this coming Monday for the next 4 weeks. It will take God to move on the hearts of the advertisers we need to keep us going and continued favor with the "i" Network executives, but I testify to you today that the same God who provided the finances and favor these past 40 months on UPN in Tampa, the same God who provided the finances and favor this past year on all the major network stations throughout Florida, IS THE VERY SAME GOD WHO WILL PROVIDE THE FINANCES AND FAVOR TO BRING HIS TRUTH AND THE HOPE AND LOVE OF CHRIST TO THIS NATION FOR THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS AND UNTIL JESUS RETURNS!!!
I love you and care about you so much. My word for you today is PREPARE! Prepare now for your battle with Goliath. It is not a matter of if that battle will happen, it is only a matter of when. The time to win that battle is now before it ever happens. Faithfully pray each day, faithfully read the Word each day, faithfully fellowship with other Believers, faithfully go to church to be fed spiritually, faithfully serve God. It is your faithfulness NOW that will lead you to victory when you fight Goliath.
I will be praying for you. Praying for you to know VICTORY in your life over those day-to-day battles we all face. It is watching God lead you to those daily victories that will give you the confidence and faith to trust Him when the major battles arise. God is a God of VICTORY. Let me leave you with this Truth. The same God who led you to victory over your battles 10 years ago, the same God who led you to victory over your battles 5 years ago, the same God who led you to victory over your battles last year, the same God who led you to victory over your battles last month, is the VERY SAME GOD who will lead you to victory over your battles tomorrow and lead you to victory when you fight Goliath!