FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18
Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:32-36, Luke 2:40

Verses 32-36 say, “Then David said to Saul, ‘Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.’ And Saul said to David, ‘You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.’ But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.’ Moreover David said, ‘The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.’” There are two things that David did that are absolute underpinnings of a life of faith. The first is he declared the covenant promises of God and the second is that he stood on those promises and developed a testimony of victory based on God’s Word. Faith grows and every time we stand in faith and gain a victory, our faith grows. David’s faith grew to the place that he could victoriously take on Goliath and he did! Because he committed to the Word and acting on the Word, his faith grew until he could take on Goliath. We do not know what or who the ‘Goliaths’ are that are ahead of us, but we do know how to prepare for them. We stand on Scripture and believe God for His deliverance. And every victory causes our faith to grow. Luke 2:52 says, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Even our Lord Jesus had to grow before God and man and so do we.