God is in the business of making you BRAVER not SAFER!
1 Samuel 13:5 (NIV)
The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore…
IMPOSSIBLE ODDS set the stage for POSSIBLE MIRACLES!
- YOUR FAITH IN GOD WILL ALWAYS BE TESTED BY YOUR FEAR IN THE FACTS.
Don’t REDUCE your THEOLOGY to fit your REALITY; REMIND your REALITY about your THEOLOGY!
1 Samuel 13:6-7 (NIV)
When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear.
God created you to be a WARRIOR not a WORRIER!
Your greatest VICTORIES are on the other side of your greatest FAITH STEPS!
- WHAT YOU HAVE TO GAIN IS MORE VALUABLE THAN WHAT YOU HAVE TO LOSE.
What you WANT is often on the other side of what you WANT to AVOID!
1 Samuel 14:1-2 (NIV)
One day Jonathan son of Saul said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.” …Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men.
1 Samuel 14:4 (NIV)
On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez and the other Seneh.
- WHEN YOU STEP OUT FOR GOD, GOD SHOWS UP FOR YOU.
Most battles are NEVER WON because most battles are NEVER FOUGHT!
1 Samuel 14:6 (NIV)
Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”
Jonathan decided it wasn’t time to SIT back; it was time to TAKE back!
1 Samuel 14:13-15 (NIV)
Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre. Then panic struck the whole army—those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties—and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.
Sometimes, you have to PICK a FIGHT before the GROUND will SHAKE!
Don’t WAIT until God says, GO; GO until God Says, WAIT!
1 Samuel 14:23 (NIV)
So on that day the Lord saved Israel…
Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV)
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.