“Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”
2 Corinthians 3:5
Everything we think about determines our lifestyle. Cicero stated, “To live is to think.” Marco Aurelio said, “Your life is the result of what your thoughts have converted it to.” In other words, your life is the extension of your thought life. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). Your mind is a great treasure and has great riches. Do not allow the enemy to bombard it with destructive and negative thoughts.
When David was seventeen years old, he saw how Goliath challenged the Israelite army and he asked what the reward was. To do this he had to leave his comfort zone. Soon after, David was before King Saul and with strong conviction David said, “Don’t worry about this Philistine. I’ll go fight him!” (1 Samuel 17:32, NLT). David did not have even the smallest doubt in his mind that he was going to defeat the giant, but King Saul held a very different opinion on the matter. “Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth” (1 Samuel 17:33, NLT). King Saul was disqualifying David because of his young age. He saw him as someone incompetent, and in contrast, he was admiring the expertise of the adversary.
But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it, and killed it. 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 rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (1 Samuel 17:34-37a). David didn’t give credit to the king’s words. In him there was such a powerful strength of motivation that his explanation convinced King Saul. Perhaps the king thought, “Who would think of running after a bear or a lion to fight a simple and insignificant sheep? Who would think of hitting one of those wild animals and kill them unarmed?” Looking at David with indifference he said, “May God have mercy on you” (1 Samuel 17:37b). David obtained the victory on the battlefield because he first obtained the victory in his mind. He didn’t allow Saul to disqualify him, and he didn’t allow discouragement when walking without a warrior’s armor. He did not get intimidated with the curse words that came out of the giant’s mouth. David strengthened himself in God; he knew that God had qualified him and made him competent to face the giant whom he had seen in his mind like a dead bear.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
Before starting the International Charismatic Mission, I resigned from my position as pastor in the previous church I had been leading. I had taken on that church with thirty people, and in the course of a year, we grew to one hundred twenty members; we had reached the church building’s maximum capacity. The enthusiasm for growth suddenly stopped and in just a few weeks the number of members decreased to seventy. The saddest thing for me was seeing that those leaving were the ones aiming to become leaders. I went to visit some of them, but I hit a wall of indifference. One of them was a young man who was capable and charismatic and who spoke to me with a tone of self-sufficiency. “One of these days I will visit you.” When I heard him, I felt frustrated, and I thought that I had lost my time in that congregation because I saw how the members didn’t value my work.
That day I was very pensive, and the thought of resigning from that church in order to wait for divine guidance, crossed my mind. When I handed in my letter of resignation, they didn’t accept it and stated that they needed to perform an election and that the vote from the pastor’s assistant was required. In other words, I had to continue to pastor that church. In prayer I said to God, “Lord, I have fulfilled my task. I don’t want to continue to pastor here. Please do a miracle.” On the scheduled day of the elections, both the other candidate and I were present. I thought, “This man that I’m competing against doesn’t know how to articulate himself and speaks awkwardly. I don’t think anybody will vote for him.” But when we received the results, the young man who was my opponent won. Inside of me I didn’t like what had happened and I said, “Lord, it’s true that I wanted to leave this place, but not like this.” Later, I understood that God allowed this situation to happen so that I could leave that place to be ready for the new challenge that God was going to give me in the months ahead. Four months later, God spoke to me for forty-five minute; this message changed the course of my life. He placed me in the ministry, and He revealed to me His purpose for my life. A month after receiving that word, the church was born in the living room of our house with eight people.
TODAY’S DECLARATION
“Your grace and Your favor enable me to establish Your Kingdom on Earth.”
Today’s post is an excerpt from Pastor Cesar Castellanos’ book, Declarations of Power for 365 Days of the Year: Volume Three.
TODAY’S BIBLE READING
- Old Testament: Esther 7-8; Proverbs 17:1-14
- New Testament: Luke 20:9-19; Philemon 1:1-11
