Faith

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LET NO MAN’S HEART FAIL

And David said to Saul, let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine 1 Samuel 17:32;

The victory of David over the army of the Philistine and the circumstances that brought him to the limelight were not accidental. For forty days, Goliath the champion of the Philistine army had freely and repeatedly threatened the army of Israel without any resistance whatsoever. Saul and the host of Israel were terribly afraid and perplexed. Apparently, the fiery threats and pompous words coming from Goliath and his army have eroded their confidence totally to the extent that none of them had the courage to stand.

It is not surprising that Saul and the Israeli army melted like wax at the sight of Goliath-the nine [9] footed giant; their hearts had already failed within them and as a result, they were too weak to withstand the enemies. Although they had arms and ammunitions of war but they seemed to have lost the greatest of all weapons – confidence in God. This made them victims rather than victor; prey rather than predator; loser rather than winner. It was this deplorable state that Saul and Israeli army found themselves. However, at the click of time, a little shepherd boy appeared and declared: ‘let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine’. David had never been trained as a soldier, but the spiritual preparation he had in the wilderness while faithfully tendering his father’s flock had built in him great faith in the Almighty God. This little teenage boy was ready to fight the battle from which a whole army ran away; he was ready to do what a whole battalion of soldiers could not dare. What was the secret? David had something that was lacking in the army of Israel. His confidence in God was intact.

The cause of every spiritual defeat is heart failure! By heart failure I do not mean a sudden breakdown of the cardio-vascular organ, but the failure of the inner man to hold unto the Almighty God in confidence and faith in the face of challenges and adversities. If there is anything the devil is out to achieve, it is to erode believers’ confidence in God and once he achieves this, it will be extremely difficult for them to win the battles of life. This explains the reason why the scripture commands: ‘Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward’ Hebrews 10:35. We will ever remain winners for as long as our hearts hold unto God in confidence and faith. If our hearts do not sink, we will continue to stay afloat no matter how turbulent the storm is.

How to avoid heart failure

Right relationship with God: The foundation for inner peace is to have a right relationship with our maker. We can never know true peace unless our relationship with God is right. David’s secret of success was that he had right relationship with God. Although nobody knew or reckon with him, but the Almighty God was ever with him because he knew the Lord. You cannot remain God’s enemy and expect to have His blessings and support.

Feed your heart with God’s word: God’s word is very vital in making our hearts strong and healthy. The only source of unfailing inner strength is God’s word. The more of God’s word we store in our hearts [inner man] the more strength available to us to stand when other things fail.

Shut your heart against negative thoughts and ideas: Words are seed. If you fill your heart with evil reports and negative thoughts, you will find it difficult to triumph because the evil reports will always hunt you. You must shut your heart against negative reports from people around you. When David had determined to fight against Goliath, the backslidden Saul told him that he was not able because he had never been trained as a soldier. However, David refused to accept this conclusion. He knew the God whom he believed and with full assurance, he moved forward ignoring the reports of men.

Always remember the great things that the Lord has done in your life in the time past: Each time we remember the great things that God has done in our lives before, our faith and confidence in Him is boosted. David recalled how God delivered a lion and a bear into his hand in the wilderness and this became a source of unwavering confidence to him. If the Lord did it before, He can do it again; if He did it for others, He will do it for you. The surest way to stand in the face of challenges that lie ahead, is to remember the good works of God.

See with your heart not with your eyes: Those who move by sight will always suffer defeats and setbacks. When our hearts are connected to God we can always see through the eyes of faith and not the eyes of the flesh. The effect of this is that where others see mountains, we see stepping stones; where others see defeat, we see victory; where others see barrenness; we see fruitfulness; where others see breakdown, we see breakthrough; where the reports of the world say ‘it is impossible’, we say “it is possible” for ‘I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me’. If our hearts are well equipped this way, we would never suffer defeat in life.

‘Thanks be to God who causes us to triumph always in Christ Jesus’. Amen.

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