Fix Your Eyes On the Cross
There are times in all of our lives when we face difficult circumstances. We may be facing sickness, death; fear; shame; the accusations of others; or even our own weakness or inability to help ourselves. We may have a need for deliverance, provision or protection. Regardless of our circumstances and whatever our needs, God tells us that we are to fix our eyes on Jesus, Who is the author and perfecter of our faith.
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:2
In 1 Samuel Chapter 17 we see the Philistine army encamped at Judah, opposing King Saul and the Israelite army. A champion named Goliath came out of the Philistine camp and challenged the Israelite army.
“A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armour of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him. Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, ‘Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.’ Then the Philistine said, ‘This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.’ On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.”
1 Samuel 17:4–11
This Goliath was a giant of a man. He was over nine feet tall. His armour and his spear shaft were heavy and huge. When circumstances in life stand opposed to us, the enormity of what we are facing, at times, may seem just as huge to us as Goliath did to the Israelite army. Goliath had said to them, “this day I defy the ranks of Israel.” This word to ‘defy‘ (‘charaph’ in the Hebrew) means ‘to reproach, taunt, blaspheme, defy, jeopardise, rail or upbraid.’ – See Strong’s Concordance.
Just as Goliath intended to before he was defeated, Satan too, will always try to defy the people of God in an attempt to get us to take our eyes off Jesus. And just like Goliath, our enemy, Satan, by implication, will taunt – ‘you will never get out of this!’ When we believe that lie – just like Saul and the Israelites did – it leaves us feeling vulnerable and afraid. It is tempting, then, to look to our own resources instead of to God. Yet God still tells us, even in the moment of battle, “Be still.”
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:10
Jesus’ Authority Calms the Storm
In the times of storm, when our faith is tested, God always knows what we don’t know. He knows all of His purposes for us and He knows all of His plans. All He is asking of us, is that we continue to trust Him and to look to Him.
“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.”
Jeremiah 29:11–14
Jesus’ authority reigns over all circumstances. Everything is subject to Him – even the storms that we are facing.
“Then He (Jesus) got into the boat and His disciples followed Him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ He replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him!”
Matthew 8:23 – 27
When we truly understand and believe this, despite our circumstances, we will know His supernatural peace. God wants our faith to grow, especially in the midst of our difficulties – so that we can see and know with absolute assurance, His peace that passes human understanding. And it helps us to face new things we may come up against in the future. He helps us to continue to receive well from the Lord. The Apostle Paul said,
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6 & 7
Jesus Himself also said,
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
John 14:2
- We can trust Him!
Keep Looking to Jesus
When armies in a war send out their champions, the fate of that army is determined by the winning or losing of the champion that they choose. And those who lose the fight, will end up living in servitude. The singer, Bob Dylan, once wrote these words in a song – “But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed you’re gonna have to serve somebody, Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”
- We are either serving the plans of the devil, or we are serving the plans of the Lord.
Jesus said,
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”
Matthew 6:19 – 24
Jesus Christ is Lord of The Break-Through
In the Old Testament, when the Israelites had finally settled in the land promised to them by the Lord, Joshua reminded them of all that God had done for them and all that He had already brought them through. Then he challenged them by giving them this choice,
“Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving The Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:15
When we look to the wrong things instead of to the Lord, whatever, or whomever those things may be; by default we end up serving the very things that we choose. They then become a stumbling block to freedom and like a noose around our necks.
- What, or whomever we look to, or set our hearts upon, determines who we serve.
- There is no freedom except in serving the Lord.
There is Freedom in the Voice of the Lord
So when you look to a champion, be careful who you choose. Will the champion you choose pass the test? Does your champion have the power to defeat the challenges that you are facing?
Goliath told the Israelites to choose a man to fight him. When we are facing difficult circumstances today, we need to make sure we choose Jesus as our only champion! Jesus Christ is fully God, but came to earth in human form to save us. He came to earth to be our Champion; to be our Saviour, and through the cross at Calvary, He has already defeated every enemy on our behalf that could possibly stand against us.
So when Satan and the things of his kingdom come against us, the champion we must look to is Christ and His finished work on the cross. Only the truth of the finished work of the cross has authority over sin, over poverty, over demonic oppression, over fear, over shame, over sickness, over death and anything else that we may be facing. Any other champion we choose will lose!
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Colossians 2:13–15
Look to the Resources of God
God doesn’t look to the natural, or see as we see. He sees in the Spirit. If we look to ourselves and rely on our own natural resources, the enemy, like Goliath, will seem nine feet tall. We will feel small, insignificant, powerless and vulnerable. When we see ourselves as vulnerable, and wrongly look to other things to save us; they may have the appearance of strength in the face of battle; but like Saul’s armour, they will slow us down or make us fall. Saul tried to give David his armour, his shield and his sword. But David had learned by experience that he needed to look to the Lord.
“Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armour on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. ‘I cannot go in these’, he said to Saul, ‘because I am not used to them.’ So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.”
1 Samuel 17:38–40
“Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
1 Samuel 17:36 & 37
Christ Our Champion is Strong
The enemy may taunt and defy God’s people, but when we speak the name of Jesus Christ over our nation and over our situation, and the truth of God’s Word; Satan has no choice but to obey and to yield to the authority of Jesus Christ and the mention of His Name.
“David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the Name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”
1 Samuel 17:45
“Therefore God exalted Him (Jesus) to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:9–11
“….That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under His feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
Ephesians 1:19–23
The Incomparable Riches of God’s Grace
Because Christ our champion, Whom we look to is strong, it doesn’t matter how small or weak we feel, or how big what we are facing may seem in our eyes. When we use the name of Jesus Christ, we know that He has already overcome and defeated that enemy on our behalf. As we are taught of the Lord and believe the truth of His word, and as we trust and believe that our victory has already been won, we begin to put our faith into action and walk and behave as those who have already overcome.
We begin to see those things that once stood against us placed under our feet and we begin to stand over them in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is glorified, as His Lordship, in faith, is then activated in every area of our lives. Then we become an army, no longer walking in defeat and servitude, but running, shouting, spreading the news! “Satan has been defeated! Our victory has been won!”
“As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face-down on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.”
1 Samuel 17:48–51
By seeking Him and seeking His face, we will know a newness of life in our walk with Him. Amen, Amen, Amen.
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