In First Samuel, chapter seventeen, we see Israel facing a giant who seems to have paralyzed the nation. Israel’s best falls short and all hope is gone. But a young teenager who was a Secret Place dweller rose up and said:

“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?”

1 Samuel 17: 26

In other words, David was reminding the people of who their God is, who they are because of Him, and their inheritance through Him. They had a covenant with the Living God and as a result, Goliath was attacking the Lord God and not just Israel.

Smith Wigglesworth said:

“Oh, I believe! Oh, that our hearts and minds this day might come to the place of understanding, where we realize that it is possible, if we ‘only believe,’ for God to take all human weaknesses and failures and transform us by His mighty power into a new creation. What an inspiration to give God the supreme place in our lives; when we do He will so fill us with the Holy Spirit that the government will rest upon His shoulders.”

The people saw themselves as just people like all other nations facing an enemy greater than their ability. But David knew his God and because he is meditating in His Word, he knew who his God is, who he was because of his God, and his inheritance. He understood the battle belonged to the Lord, all he had to do was walk in obedience and faith and he would see the salvation of his God.

Smith added:

“Oh, to believe, and come into the holy realm of the knowledge of what it means to yield our all to God. Just think of what would happen if we only dared to believe God! Oh, for a faith that leaps into the will of God and says, Amen!”

The Children of Israel forgot who their God was and who they were, but David this young man has a bold confidence. Many thought it was arrogance, but the proof was in the pudding.

“For who is there of all flesh who had heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.”

Deuteronomy 5: 26 and 27

Here is where most believers live and as a result are unable to defeat their giants. “You go!” I don’t want to pay the price to draw a close and hear what the Lord will say. The Lord might speak into my life. The Lord might expose sin and demand I address it.

Smith added:

“They saw the Christ, they heard His words, but those wonderful words were to them like idle tales. When we miss the vision and do not come into the fulness of the ministry of the Spirit, there is a cause. Beloved, there is a deadness in us that must have the resurrection touch. Today we have the unveiled fulness of redemption, that we might be clothed with power; and that which brings us into the state where God can pour upon us His blessings, is a broken spirit and a contrite spirit.”

The price we must pay to draw close to Him is to be vulnerable before Him and allow the Holy Spirit to examine us. Smith said:

‘We need to examine ourselves this morning to see what state we are in, whether we are just ‘religious’ or whether we be truly ‘in Christ.’”

The Children of Israel and Saul may have looked good as they followed the religious traditions, but their hearts were far from the Lord. But there are those who have learned to press close and allow the fire to fall and consume all of the old and the flesh. Our mouth will always betray our hearts on the day of trial. David stood clean before his God and there is power when you stand clean. Clean comes when we surrender to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to put to death all in us that must be put to death.

Smith said:

“The human spirit, when perfectly united with the Holy Spirit, has but one place, and that is death, death, and deeper death. The human spirit will then cease to desire to have its own way, and instead of ‘my’ will, the cry of the heart will be, ‘Thy will, oh, Lord, be done in me.”

Smith explained:

“Don’t fool yourself; don’t mislead yourself. Never think that God overlooks sins. Sins have to be dealt with, and the only way God ever deals with sin is to be absolutely destroy its power. You can be made so clean that the devil comes and finds nothing in you. And then you have power by the power of God over the powers of Satan.”

As long as the giant has something in us, we can’t find the giant outside. For as long as he has ground in our hearts and minds, his taunts are heard and paralyzed. We see ourselves through his eyes. But when we stand clean before our God, then we see ourselves and our situations through His eyes.

Here the Word is no longer just opinions but final authority. Smith said:

“It is one thing to handle the Word of God, but it is another thing to ‘believe’ what God says. The greater aim of the Spirit’s power within us is to bring us in line with His perfect will that we will unhesitatingly believe Scriptures. When we do, we will find our feet so firmly fixed upon the plan of redemption that it will not matter from whence come trials or other things, for our whole nature will be so enlarged, that it will be no more I, but, ‘Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”

A powerful change comes as we draw near and allow Him to have His way in us and through us. He lifts us so that we come to the place where we know His thoughts and we surrender to His ways.  When we are clean there is joy and freedom, and we delight in letting the whole world see His life manifested through us. When we know Him, we must make Him known. For we touch His greatness, and His greatness so touches us as to lift us and make us. Smith said:

“Every believer should be a living epistle of the Word, one who is ‘read and known of all men.’ Your very presence should bring such a witness of the Spirit that everyone with whom you come in contact would know that you are a ‘sent’ one, a light in the world, a manifestation of the Christ; and last of all, that you are a ‘Biblical” Christian.”

When we stand clean, we run to the battle like David and not from it. The boldness of the Spirit comes upon us and stirs us into action and declaration. David’s words were not human boasting. Smith said:

The words of Jesus are life- never think they are less. If you believe it you will feel quickened. The Word is powerful; it is full of faith. The Word of God is vital! Listen! ‘The Word profited them nothing because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it.’ There has to be a hearing in order to have faith. Faith is established and made manifest as we ‘hear’ the Word.”

In the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, many heard Him speak yet never heard the Word. To hear we must have our ears opened and tuned as we surrender to Him. The more we heed His Word and allow it to speak into every area of our lives until it defines us and makes us.

Smith said:

‘There are many books written on the Word, and we love clear, definite teaching on it, but go yourself to the Book and listen to what the Master says, and you will lay a sure foundation, that cannot be moved; for we are ‘begotten by the incorruptible Word of God. How we need that simplicity, that rest of faith, that brings us to the place where we are steadfast and immovable. Oh, the living Word of God! Can you not see that the Master was so interested in you that He could despise the shame, despise the Cross?  The judgment hall was nothing to Him; all the rebukes and scorn could not take from Him the joy of saving you and me.”

When we truly understand and know in our lives who He is, who we are in Him, and our inheritance because of Him, everything changes. No longer do we allow the enemy to paralyze us in fear and opinions, but we press forward, run to the battle, and slay our giants