“Goliath started walking toward David again, and David ran quickly toward the Philistine battle line to fight him. He reached into his bag and took out a stone, which he slung at Goliath. It hit him on the forehead and broke his skull, and Goliath fell face downward on the ground. And so, without a sword, David defeated and killed Goliath with a sling and a stone!" (1 Samuel 17: 48-50)
In this present world which
is rife with oppositions, challenges and confrontations from all
angles, it is imperative for Christians to know and to use the mysterious Stone of
David, with which he hit without missing and killed without delay. Thus, one
would be properly armed to face their enemies at all times, and to fight and
win their battles. Follow this post to the end - you will know the truth and
the truth will set you free (John 8:32)
David Defeats GOLIAT
The battle between David
and Goliath is one of biggest spectacles in the narrative of the Bible (1 Samuel 17:41-54). It is the encounter
where the underdog - a young shepherd named David, defeated the mighty warrior -
Goliath - to become king. David was able to win with only a stone and a sling –
he had no armor; while Goliath had a mighty shield, armor and sword. In the
story David and Goliath confront each other, Goliath with his armor and
javelin, David with his staff and sling. "The Philistine cursed David by
his gods" (1 Samuel 17:43), but
David replies: "This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I
will strike you down, and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the
Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the
earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all
this assembly may know that God saves not with sword and spear; for the battle
is God's, and he will give you into our hand." (1 Samuel 17:46-47). David hurls a stone from his sling and hits
Goliath in the center of his forehead, Goliath falls on his face to the ground,
and David cuts off his head. (1 Samuel
17:49-51). The Philistines flee and are pursued by the Israelites "as
far as Gath and the gates of Akron". David puts the armor of Goliath in
his own tent and takes the head to Jerusalem. (1 Samuel 17: 51-54).
Symbolisms of the Battle
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| DAVID SLINGS HIS STONE AT GOLIATH |
As a symbol the fight
between David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17:
41-54) represents and foretells the battle between Jesus and Satan (the
Dragon) (Revelation 12:1-17) for the
souls of human beings. The attack of the Philistines (pagans) on the Israelites
(the chosen people of God) foreshadowed the attack of the dragon and its
kingdom (false prophecies, occult manipulations, witchcraft practices, demonic
attacks, money rituals, sexual immoralities and perversities, conflicts,
accidents and bloodshed etc.) on the Christians (children of God), that is
manifestly happening in the world today. And these fulfill the scriptures, as
they were written: “Then the Lord God said to the snake, “You
will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse:
From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long
as you live. I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring
and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you
will bite her offspring’s heel.” (Genesis
3:14-15). “The dragon was furious with the woman and
went off to fight against the rest of her descendants, all those who obey God's
commandments and are faithful to the truth revealed by Jesus.” (Revelation 12:17).
The essential thing to
note is that in the fight between David and Goliath God did not only warn of
the coming conflict, but also armed believers with the effective weapons and
the strategy to confront and to defeat the enemy in the day of battle. Follow
me to discover the New Testament versions of the deadly weapons and winning
strategy of David against Goliath.
Jesus DescendS FROM David
“This is the list of the
ancestors of Jesus Christ, a descendant of David, who was a
descendant of Abraham. From David to the time when the people of
Israel were taken into exile in Babylon, the following ancestors are listed:
David, Solomon (his mother was the woman who had been Uriah's wife), Rehoboam,
Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh,
Amon, Josiah, and Jehoiachin and his brothers. From the time after the exile in
Babylon to the birth of Jesus, the following ancestors are listed: Jehoiachin,
Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim, Eliud, Eleazar,
Matthan, Jacob, and Joseph, who married Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was
called the Messiah. (Matthew 1:1-16)
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GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER |
Jesus Is Born of Mary
“This was how the birth
of Jesus Christ took place. His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before
they were married, she found out that she was going to have a baby by the Holy
Spirit. Joseph was a man who always did what was right, but he did not want to disgrace
Mary publicly; so he made plans to break the engagement privately. While he was
thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife.
For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived. She will have a son, and
you will name him Jesus - because he will save his people from their sins.’ Now
all this happened in order to make come true what the Lord had said through the
prophet, “A virgin will become pregnant and have a son, and he will be called
Immanuel (which means, God is with us).” So when Joseph woke up, he married
Mary, as the angel of the Lord had told him to. But he had no sexual relations
with her before she gave birth to her son. And Joseph named him Jesus. (Matthew 1: 18-25)
Jesus Conquers Satan
“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water. Then heaven was opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and lighting on him. Then a voice said from heaven, “This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased.” Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the Devil. After spending forty days and nights without food, Jesus was hungry. Then the Devil came to him and said, “If you are God's Son, order these stones to turn into bread.” But Jesus answered, “The scripture says, 'Human beings cannot live on bread alone, but need every word that God speaks.” Then the Devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, the Holy City, set him on the highest point of the Temple, and said to him, “If you are God's Son, throw yourself down, for the scripture says, 'God will give orders to his angels about you; they will hold you up with their hands, so that not even your feet will be hurt on the stones.” Jesus answered, “But the scripture also says, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Then the Devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their greatness. All this I will give you, the Devil said, if you kneel down and worship me. Then Jesus answered, “Go away, Satan! The scripture says, 'Worship the Lord your God and serve only him!” Then the Devil left Jesus; and angels came and helped him.” (Matthew 3:16-17; 4:1-11)
“For when you were
baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with
Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from
death. You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because
you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with
Christ. God forgave us all our sins; he canceled the unfavorable record of our
debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to
the cross. And on that cross Christ
stripped the spiritual rulers and authorities of their power; he made a
public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession.” (Colossians 2:12-15)
the Stone AND THE SLING
"David
strapped Saul's sword over the armor and tried to walk, but he couldn't,
because he wasn't used to wearing them. I can't fight with all this, he said to
Saul. I'm not used to it. So he took it all off. He took his shepherd's stick
and then picked up five smooth stones from the stream and put them in his bag.
With his sling ready, he went out to meet Goliath." (1 Samuel 17:39-40)
The following scriptures reveal
Jesus as the Stone of David and the means of Salvation:
“This, now, is what the Sovereign LORD says: “I am placing in Zion a foundation that is firm and strong. In it I am putting a solid cornerstone on which are written the words, 'Faith that is firm is also patient. ” (Isaiah 28:16) “You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself.” (Ephesians 2: 20) “Jesus is the one of whom the scripture says, 'The stone that you the builders despised turned out to be the most important of all.' Salvation is to be found through him alone; in all the world there is no one else whom God has given who can save us.” (Acts 4:11-12)
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| CONTACT FOR ACQUISITION FOR FILM |
The following scriptures reveal
Mary as the Sling of David and Catapult (channel) of Salvation:
"The angel said to
her, "Don't be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. You will become
pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great
and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a
king, as his ancestor David was, and he will be the king of the descendants of
Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end!'" (Luke 1:30-33) "Mary said to the angel, 'I am a virgin.
How, then, can this be?' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come on you,
and God's power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be
called the Son of God.'" (Luke 1:34-35)
Thus Jesus who conquered
Satan in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11) and on the Cross (Colossians 2:12-15) is
the Stone of David (Acts4:11-12). The Sling is the Virgin Mary through whom
Jesus was born (Matthew 1:24-25;
Luke
1:30-33) – or catapulted by God to conquer Satan and sin. The five stones that David took into his bag foreshadowed
the five wounds of Jesus on the cross; while the stream from which he took them
represent the life-giving Spirit of God (John 4:14), that was poured downed on
Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4) to empower believers in witnessing for Jesus (Acts 1:8) -
by the understanding, living and proclaiming of the Word of God.
believers are the Winners
“For
our love for God means that we obey his commands. And his commands are not too
hard for us, because every child of God is able to defeat the world. And
we win the victory over the world by means of our faith. Who can defeat
the world? Only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:3-5).). “How was our ancestor Abraham put right
with God? It was through his actions, when he offered his son Isaac on the
altar. Can't you see? His faith and his actions worked together; his faith
was made perfect through his actions. And the scripture came true that
said, “Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as
righteous.” And so Abraham was called God's friend.” (James 2:21-23)
“The seventy-two[a] men came back in great joy. “Lord,” they said, “Even the
demons obeyed us when we gave them a command in your name! “ Jesus answered
them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Listen! I have given
you authority, so that you can walk on snakes and scorpions and overcome all
the power of the Enemy, and nothing will hurt you.” (Luke 10:17-19) “Believers
will be given the power to perform miracles: they will drive out demons in my
name; they will speak in strange tongues; if they pick
up snakes or drink any poison, they will not be harmed; they will place their
hands on sick people, and these will get well.” (Mark 16:17-18)
“But thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57) “Who,
then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship
or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death? No, in all these things
we have complete victory through him who loved us!” (Romans 8:35, 37).
practical application
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| OFFICIAL FORMAT OF THE HOLY ROSARY (Pope John Paul II - 2002) |
For Christians to apply David's strategy and weapons of warfare is to use Jesus, who is alive and active in the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12), as the means to fulfill our prayer intentions offered to God; through the Virgin Mary whom God himself chose to catapult Jesus (the means of his salvation) to the world. It is through his Word that God would create or accomplish what you ask for in prayer. Thus for prayer to be effective it must be anchored on the Word of God which gives life to what God has spoken (John 1:1-3; John 6:63). It is on the Cornerstone of the Word (Jesus) and through the action of the Word (Jesus); that the believer’s requests are granted by God - to fill and to fulfill them in his plan of salvation. (Ephesians 2:20-22). God the Father is the exclusive author of the Word and that is why Jesus, as the Son of God, did not utter any Word from himself – but, rather, spoke only on behalf of the Father and according to his will (John 1:12-50; John 14:10; Matthew 4:1-11). The Word of God is the will of God (Isaiah 55:11) and Jesus, the active Word, respects the will of the Father (Luke 22:42). It is wrong, therefore, to pray without a scriptural anchor – such prayers may be unpleasing; just as they may misfire or even backfire.
Thus, for your Rosary intention to hit your target with precision and full momentum fulfill your desire it must be tied to a stone. David's intention was to kill Goliath: so he went into his bag, took out a stone and slung at Goliath and shattered his skull. So when you have determined your intention you have to go into the Bible to take out the most suitable stone (biblical text) and proclaim it as the anchor of your prayer intention. The biblical text is Jesus - the Cornerstone of Salvation - who through the Immaculate Heart of Mary would be catapulted to hit your target or prayer intention; with maximum momentum, precision and outcome. Such rosary prayer intention, may include: conversion of sinners, mortification of the flesh, empowerment in the Holy Spirit, grace of holiness, deliverance from captivity, healing, provisions for life, success, etc.).
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Your meditation and prayer on the anchor scripture of your intention should be accompanied by your meditation on the five mysteries of the Word (also taken from the Bible) of the rosary, and according to the day of the week (see diagram). The Stones of your rosary intention (s) are outgoing – to overcome your challenges of to fulfill your desires (1 Samuel 17: 48-51). Meanwhile the Stones of the rosary mysteries are incoming – to fill you with the corresponding graces of Salvation (John 2:2-11).The meditations on the daily mysteries of the rosary are excellent backups to the major rosary intentions. This is so because the mysteries of the rosary are the channels of intimate communion with God, through his Word. It enables the believer to enter into deeper communion with God; as it is written: “Yes, may you come to know his love - although it can never be fully known - and so be completely filled with the very nature of God” (Ephesians 3:19). And the closer we are with God, the more pleasing are our prayers to him and the more willing he is to answer. This is the meaning of the scripture which says, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26).
Surely, this post has uplifted and empowered you more spiritually. Use the Stone of David to fight all your battles, and you will always be a winner. God bless you!
Author:
Aying Godman; Writer, Catechist & Evangelist;
Copyright
(c) Catholic Front Media (2023); All rights reserved
Email Contact: ayinggodman@gmail.com
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