Fighting For Freedom

Most of the giants that we face in our daily lives are things that want to put us into bondage.  The Bible says that our enemies are the world, the flesh, and the devil, and each of these would like nothing more than to wrap us in chains so that we could never escape, chains of addiction, regret, bitterness, pettiness, unforgiveness, anger, and materialism.  Goliath tried to broker a deal with the armies of Israel.  He said, "Why should we take the risk of fighting a major battle at the cost of hundreds of lives, when we can just have a simple mano-a-mano contest with the prize being your liberty.  If you win, we'll serve you.  If I win, you will become our slaves. I'm sure that many in Saul's army were thinking that maybe this was the easy way out.  Sure, they would be slaves, but they wouldn't die in a hopeless battle against a giant and his minions. 
Goliath, like the giants that we face, defied the Lord.  He asserted that God wasn't big enough to give them the victory.  And most of the army of Israel believed that he was right.  Often, we simply give in to our problems because we don't have enough faith to believe that God is bigger than our giant. The result is spiritual bondage that saps us of our strength and passion to serve the Lord.  I Samuel tells us that the soldiers were fearful and dismayed, so much so that they wouldn't even fight for their freedom.  Many Christians have ended up in the same place.  They are so bound up in their sin that they aren't even fighting any more, and all because they have lost sight of just how big their God really is. 
David, on the other hand, had seen God work in his life before and knew that no giant was big enough to stand against Him.  He entered the battle with a confident faith that proved to be the deciding factor. 
If we are going to become Champions for Christ, then we are going to have to deal with our strongholds and break free from our chains.  The first step to freedom is getting a glimpse of just how big our God really is.  Once we know that, the giant doesn't look so big after all. And the victory that comes when we stand in the power of His might, brings a new freedom like we have never known.