I Samuel 17

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I Samuel 17

Notes by Ivan Ho   30 July 2016

1 Samuel 16


And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him. Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
1 Samuel 17:4-11 NKJV



Goliath, a giant mighty warrior of the Philistines, is a type of the devil. For 40 days and nights, he stood up amongst the Philistines to challenge the army of Israel to find a man to fight him. The losing side, he declared, would become servants of the winner. Goliath was a towering, imposing figure who carried weapons of mass destruction. The sight of him could scare anyone! Apart from his scarry looks, he also spoke scarry words: “I will shoot anyone who dares to challenge me!”. Aside from his stupid appearance, his muscles, weapons and threatening words, he really got nothing else: no brains and of course no God on his side, but the Israelites were terrified!


The devil always use deceptive enticing words to tempt us, which is his primary weapon. But a lot of times, instead of disguise and crafty words, one of the devil‘s major weapons and tactics is fear and intimidation. He would use his intimidating voice to suppress us, silent us and instill fear in our heart and mind. Ultimately, he wants to threaten to kill you so that you will become his slave. Many people become subservient to the devil out of fear: fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of lack, fear of losing their jobs, fear of losing their loved ones, all kinds of fear that drive people into submission to the fear tactics of the devil. The greatest fear in man, ultimately, is the fear of death. Fear drives people away from God and people take whatever the devil offers them as an exchange. Fear keeps people in retreat and under bondage, and causes them to do all kinds of insane things outside of the will of God. Fear is designed to kill your faith in God and to remove your hope in His promises.

The devil would bombard you day and night with intimidating thoughts and words from the enemy‘s camp. For example, if you watch the news, everyday you can see news of terrorism to make you believe that the world you live in is full of terror and death. Other times, the media will bombard your mind about some mysterious, terrible virus or flu that threatens to wipe out mankind. Fear causes people to justify bombing their neighbours. Fear causes people to vaccinate and bow to the intimidating tactics of WHO (World Harassment Organization). Fear causes people to remove their breasts as their only resort to overcome cancer which, more often than not, is even non-existent! Fear is based on the spread of lies and hopelessness from the devil.

If you listen and focus on the intimidating voice of the devil day in and day out, you will become subservient to him and do whatever he suggests you to do.

Fear threatens our nation to live under the subjection of the devil. When our cities and nations are subject to the terrifying tactics of the devil, the masses will be living like slaves to the enemy instead of living in hope and faith. The masses are largely brainwashed by the media, the authorities and organisations who serve the causes of the enemy. Ultimately, if our nation does not have anyone like David to challenge the devil, the whole nation will become subservient to the evil one. The future of our cities and nations is in God, not in the hands of the controlling powers.

God wants us to submit to Him and if we don‘t, we will submit to the devil instead. God wants us to fear Him and if we don‘t, we will live in fear induced by the enemy instead. God wants us to obey His voice but a lot of people choose to focus on the devil‘s threatening voice instead. Who we follow and listen to is a choice. We either choose to submit to God who gives us eternal life, or we choose to become subservient to the devil who brings death and destruction.

While almost everyone in Israel chose to live in fear of Goliath the giant Philistine, David knew the power of his God and chose to confront the enemy!



Then David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
I Samuel 17:32 NKJV

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