Friends, a new week has started and within this week, we will start a new month. Two months have already gone by and we have ten months to go. Now, many of us have faced challenges within these last two months. The truth is, many more challenges will still come our way. Perhaps you are even facing one now and it appears overwhelming. What do we do in times like this? How do we overcome these challenges? Scripture says,
…if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.
For you to win, you’d have to compete according to the rules, and that is what seperate champions from the others – they compete according to certain rules. Let’s read a short account about this.
Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war ….a champion named Goliath…..stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel…give me a man and let us fight each other…when the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear. David said to Saul, let no-one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him….your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them….so David triumphed over the Philistine.
The odds were clearly against David. Logically, he stood no chance against his adversary. He lacked the skill, the physique and the resources. In modern times, many of us would have advised this young man to run for his life or like it is commonly said, “let’s be wise.” But here we see a distinct characteristic of a champion – faith.
…this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
The reason why many of us are being thumped by our adversary is because we have no faith. Faith is the most important resource a champion needs. If we look through modern history, we will notice that all great men and women who left a print in history were men of great faith. All great accomplishments are often preceeded by a daring faith. Today, if you will be a champion, or remain a champion, then you would have to exercise your faith; you’d have to think like a champion. So many “Goliaths” will come your way, what will you say to them? Will you run and hide or will you stand up to them, with faith in God, knowing fully well, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
