Scripture to read and think about today: Ephesians 6:18 - Taking Down Giants

Ephesians 6:18
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

We can read that and believe it but the evil one believes this too. He knows about the effectiveness of prayer better than us because his experience with God’s people praying goes back to the beginning. As Christ followers, we have to get from the place of believing what the Bible says (the Bible says even demons believe) to actually knowing that it is true because we experience it as truth in our own lives. 

I was reading about shepherds and learned that even today when shepherds are out with their flocks in Israel, the shepherds will spend much of that time throwing rocks. When David was a shepherd, that would have taken up much of his free time—throwing a rock at a target over and over and over again. That skill came in handy in keeping predators away. When David was about to face Goliath, he didn’t want Saul’s armor or sword. He wasn’t used to those. He chose his weapon of choice, a stone. It’s a weapon he used time and again to defend his flocks.

Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” We have the weapon of prayer to take down giants in the heavenly realms. Just like a shepherd, we hurl those prayers against the powers of this dark world throughout the day. Prayer isn’t a once-a-day thing, we pray throughout the day.

The Bible says that David chose 5 stones, and many believe the other 4 stones were for Goliath’s brothers, hinted at in 2 Samuel 21. David was prepared to take down more than one giant that day. He had those stones in his shepherd’s bag. We have our own shepherd’s bag full of all sorts of prayers to take down not just one giant, but all the other giants that may follow after.  We just have to start hurling those prayers at all times and on all occasions.

Before David hurled that stone at Goliath, he said, “The Lord will conquer you and I will kill you.” The Lord would deliver up the giant, but David needed to hurl the stone to kill him. And David said it would be so that the world may know that there’s a God in Israel. It wasn’t about David. It was so that the world may experience and intimately know God. Our prayer life isn’t just about us. Our prayers take down giants so that the world may know the one true God. Let’s take down some giants in 2024!