Wrestle

Traditionally some sects/denominations of Christianity have treated this record in 1 Samuel, of the conflict between the Philistines and the children of Israel, as a children's story, giving it only superficial relevance as having anything to do with our on-going spiritual battle between mortalkind and the devil, Satan (Eph. 6:12), the mortal killer (John 8:44). But I believe this record is absolutely not "milk" in God's Word, but extremely the opposite, "strong meat", because of the seriousness of the subject matter, spiritual warfare. Most children simply do not have the ability to understand physical warfare, not to mention the vast majority of adults who find the subject of spiritual warfare very challenging.

1 Samuel 17 is a record in God's Word which gives us a great deal of insight and understanding into many key aspects of spiritual warfare. In this record many of Satan's most successful methods and maneuvers are spotlighted and explained to the believer, thereby giving us a knowledge of those methods, and thereby an understanding of how to detect the movement and activity of Satan and/or his demon spirits at work, to defeat them.

Satan and his demon spirits can be recognized to be at work as the cause behind an activity, if it's outcome produces results which steal, and/or kill, and/or destroy anyone (John 10:10a). A huge cause of the success Satan has had in stealing, killing, and destroying mortals, especially believers, is the stealth he uses, which is the secrecy of his moves. He uses moves like a master magician; while he has you "looking" at the right hand, his "left" hand, the hand of cursing, is doing something else. The understanding of the greatness of this record blows Satan's cover, and those of his demon spirits, completely, through exposing many/most of his and the demon spirit's discreet ways of operating. Therefore, a thorough understanding of this record in God's Word must be an essential part of one's own personal discipleship to our heavenly Father and His son Christ Jesus. An in depth knowledge and understanding of all of the facets of our spiritual battle with our personal adversary is absolutely essential if a disciple is going to be around long enough to do anything in the ministry of reconciliation for our heavenly Father.

Putting on the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:10-18), about which knowledge and understanding of this record is a huge piece of that armor, is simply preparation for the battle. This record both includes and goes beyond preliminary preparation, to show the devil's tactics and maneuvers, and then what ours should be to defeat him and his demon spirits.

Many examples in this record show us how to spot demon spirit activity at work. The shepherd boy David, an important type of Jesus Christ, the promised coming redeemer, demonstrates how to act and react spiritually once demon spirit activity has been detected by a believer. The knowledge of this record gives believers the ability to go on the offensive, to act/attack first, rather than be the one who bleeds first. Jesus Christ did all the bleeding already. God has given us ALL the armor we need, in His Word, to be victorious in each and every circumstance in which the adversary may attack us. God says that the armor He gives us is WHOLE, implying that it, His Word, His knowledge he gives to us, is absolutely enough to cause us to become the victor in any situation.

In this record we'll "see" how Satan tries to control the thoughts in the minds of the army of Israel, by manipulating what they perceive through their five senses, especially their senses of sight and hearing. In this record I believe "The Philistine" is a type to both Satan and an anti-Christ, while David is a type to both Christ or any believer in the one body of Christ. This record describes how Satan attacked the armies of Israel by feeding false and deceitful information to them through their five senses, information especially designed to instill fear. This is exactly how the devil and demon spirits work today, the same as they have throughout all time.

According to God's Word, all physical battles are the result of spiritual causes behind them (Eph. 6:12). A physical battle or war is the five senses manifestation of the spiritual cause behind it. It is these spiritual causes that are at the root of situations, that we are to spiritually attack and defeat. Spiritually attacking can be as simple as speaking God's Word verbatim, in season and out of season, no backing down, no compromising, to uphold His standards and values. And, attacking can involve physically attacking, as David did. As you will see, David spoke God's Word reminding others of how faithful God is to keep His Word, and the promises He has made to us, for those who are faithful to Him.

The predominant illustrative method God chose for this narrative in His Word, was to contrast how men walking by only their five senses will be defeated when the adversary attacks, versus how a man "walking by the Spirit of God" within him becomes an avenue through which the power of God can manifest.

1. The first lesson taught in this narrative is how Satan attacks on the five-senses level. In this section, God shows us how Satan working first through man's physical sense of sight, then through man's physical sense of hearing, tries to instill fear, as a tactic to weaken Israel into fighting the battle on Satan's terms, a flesh and blood-based physical battle. The MAIN ISSUE was for Israel to either walk by the flesh, making decisions based upon the deceitful information Satan fed them through their own five senses, or walk by the Spirit, believing in the integrity of God and His Word, by way of His covenant promises.

2. The second lesson taught in this narrative is how one man, David, with the Spirit of God working in him, stopped Satan from stealing, killing, and destroying all of Israel, and the Christ line. We'll see how a "believer" influenced and "woke up" the army of Israel by his deliberate decision to walk by the Spirit of God, believing God would back up his stand with power from on high, according as God had promised, in His covenant! In this record in God's Word the outcome for the children of Israel, whether they lived free or died and fell into slavery, came down to the integrity of God's Word in the mind of only one individual, David the shepherd boy. If David first didn't KNOW God's Word, and secondly BELIEVE it, he and all the children of Israel would have been finished. But, we have this record of how one individual controlled his thinking, speaking, and actions based upon God's Word to utterly defeat not simply Goliath, but Satan!

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