Giant decapitated. That is all.

Several months ago, I submitted an article (provided below) for Faith Unlimited Magazine and called it, “Pick Up Your Sling and Run!" At that time, little did I know I would need the article myself just 2 nights later. 

A couple nights after submitting to the magazine, I woke up about 2:00 a.m. with both legs cramping, I was nauseous, and very dizzy. I rolled over to look at the bedroom window in an effort to gain some sort of grounding point. I started to pray. I got up and went into the bathroom so I wouldn’t wake up my husband.

I’ve been called, “bull headed” all my life. There are moments when that comes in handy. So if you have been accused of being bullheaded, use that to your advantage! Once I was in the bathroom, my bull headedness took over and through determined, gritted teeth I said, “I’ve got The Blood. I’ve got The Name. I’ve got The Word.” (Thank you Walk on Water Faith Church for planting that deep down inside me.) and “Jesus is the Lord of my life, sickness and disease has no power over me.” (Thank You Charles Capps for your cd on healing confessions. I purchased mine at www.faithman.org) I changed that to, “Jesus is the Lord of my life, dizziness has no power over me.” On the third time of saying that, the cramping, nausea, and dizziness immediately left. I went back to bed and my sleep was sweet!

Giant decapitated. That is all.

When you are faced with adversity, 

my prayer for you is for you to, 

Pick Up Your Sling and Run!

I pray the following blesses you and builds you up!

God removed Saul and made David their king. God spoke favorably about David. He said, ‘I have found that David, son of Jesse, is a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’ (Acts 13:22, GWT)

Of all the people in the bible, other than Jesus, I have always found David’s life to be the most fascinating. Primarily, people remember David and his battle with Goliath.

The bible tells us, For a long time, Goliath came out every morning and every evening and “took his stand” shouting defiantly, screaming his plans against God’s people. (1 Samuel 17:16)

I’ve thought a lot about “every morning and every evening”. Why not all day long? Maybe because giving God’s army breaks in between his ranting restored hope only to strip it away again? Perhaps when Goliath went away all day, it gave the Israelites hope, “Yes, he has given up, this is finally over!” only to have hope stripped away, “Nope. Here he comes again to scream at us.”

I can relate.

I have a question for you. Have you ever had a “Goliath” screaming at you “every morning and every evening”, trying to torture you with his plans?

I sure have.

A routine medical exam turns into further testing and even further testing because “tests show a mass”, the giants scream:

• “This is it, your kids will watch you slowly die. Then where will their faith be?”
• “You should’ve eaten better, now all that junk food has come back to haunt you.”
• “You’ve eaten well for yourself all your life, and this is how your God rewards you? You should’ve just eaten all the cupcakes you wanted."
• “You should’ve exercised more.”
  
  
  
  When our marriages hit an all time low and 
  we see no earthly way for us to salvage the relationship, 
  the giants scream.

• “Your marriage is over.”
• “Your marriage failure will cause many to stumble and you know what
  the bible says about that!”
• “You should’ve tried harder, been more exciting, and not grown boring.”
• “Restoring this marriage is an impossibility.”
• “Your failed marriage will ruin your children’s lives. Nothing will ever be
  as good as it was before.”
  
  
  Sales have been low this week, the giants scream.

• ”This is the beginning of the end for your business.”
• “You’ve always been faithful to tithe, and now look at your sales. This will cause your business to fail. What have you done to mess this up?”
• “You should’ve been a more cheerful giver.”
  
  
  
  Please allow me a quick side note momentarily.
  It is so important to me for you to see the pattern in the giants’ attacks.
  
  
  
  No matter what we do or don’t do, attacks will come. (Psalm 34:19)
  God already gave us a head’s up to be prepared.
  
  
  I have encouragement for you today, God delivers us out of them all!
  Turning back to our subject.
  
  
  When we say something well meaning in an attempt to help our children, but our delivery is incorrect or the child’s heart is not prepared to receive. And if that child walks out the door, everything in our flesh wants to fall to the floor. We are made in God’simage (Genesis 1:27) and everything in us screams reconciliation with our children. When that relationship is strained for a season, giants scream.
  
  
• “You’ve scarred your kid for life.
• You’ve really messed up this time.”
• “Your child will always hate you and will never speak to you again.”
• “You’ve always been a bad parent.”
• “Even in all your best efforts, you’ve never done anything right with your
• child.”
• “You should’ve kept your mouth shut about what the bible says.”
• “You should’ve opened your mouth told them what the bible says.”

Please allow me to elaborate on this subject more than the previous ones because I’ve learned a lot about this in the past year. I have learned by experience, when we’ve trained our child in the way they should go, it is not necessary for us to constantly remind them of their training. Not every mistake they have made is a reflection of us. If someone tries to blame us, we need to simply reject it. Our children have their own minds. I’m not suggesting we get into agreement with everything our children do; however, we don’t need to be a constant reminder of every mistake they’ve made. Sometimes, the best thing for us to do is accept our right to remain silent (even when they want our agreement knowing they won’t get it, want to argue with us, or want to justify their mistake) and love them.

Most often, they already know what they’ve done wrong, they just want assurance that we will always love them through the good and the bad. Like God loves us. (1 John 4:8, John 13:34-35) And that is what God has called us to do. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) Rather than “call them up on the carpet”, we are better off to plead the blood of Jesus over the situation and tell them about a time we’ve messed up and all the ways God delivered us. (Revelation 12:11) While we all need godly counsel, sometimes we need to realize we are not always our children’s counsel. So we should pray for laborers in their field instead of steam roll onto their field. (Ephesians 6:12, Mark 6:5, Proverbs 19:20, Matthew 9:38) If what have been doing isn’t working, wisdom says to do something different.

Turning back to our text.

Goliath was so big and loud that whenever the Israelites saw him, the bible says “they all fled in great fear” Not just fear, but great fear. The bible describes Goliath very well.
Goliath:

• was a champion
• was very large
• had very elaborate armor
  
  
  It would be easy to be fearful of him because of his appearance and his confidence. I understand the temptation to fear. I don’t know about you but I have certainly felt very small in comparison to the “giants”. God has taught us how to walk by faith (everything He has said we are) and not by sight (everything the giants say we are not).

  David disregarded all his past failures, his apparent lack of experience, their obvious size difference, and the vast difference in their “armor”, or should we say in David’s case, the lack thereof. David kept his focus on God and what God was about to do.

So we must too, follow David’s example when fighting “giants”!

David boldly called Goliath a “disgrace”. When I read this chapter, I picture myself back in that day standing near the battlefield. Hearing David boldly refer to Goliath as a disgrace, I’m unsure if I would think, “This kid is crazy.” or “This kid is exactly my kind of kid!” David’s main focus was that Goliath was defying the armies of the living God. David didn’t consider the battle at hand or any of the specifics of the day. David only concerned himself with, the “uncircumcised disgrace” who was defying God’s Word.

To complicate the situation, David faced opposition from his brothers (family) and the other soldiers. The people David should have been able to count on for support. His brother even falsely accused his motives and accused him of not doing his job.
But David’s faith was not deterred and he maintained his focus. (1 Samuel 17:30) 

When we are faced with opposition by our biological family/church family/friends/others around us, we must stand strong, not be deterred, and maintain our focus.
David boldly told the king, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” (1 Samuel 17:32) Even though, Saul had no one willing to fight Goliath, other than David, the king even informed David of his inabilities and let David know exactly how big and bad Goliath was.

How many times, 

does someone in our lives tell us (well meaning or not) 

everything we are not able to do while at the same time, 

telling us exactly how huge and experienced the “giants” are that we were up against? 

But again, David was fully persuaded and very bold in his approach to the king, telling Saul“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 17:36-37)

David kept his focus on God and what God was about to do!

David said, “because he had defied the armies of the living God”.

We can now say, “because Jesus!”

The king finally relented and he decided since David would go against this “Philistine“, David needed his (Saul’s) gear. The gear (the ways) that had helped Saul be successful, in the past.

But David had to fight this giant and use his own experience in this battle. David said, “I cannot go in these,” So he (David) took them (Saul’s way) off. (1 Samuel 17:39) 

Tradition, religion, theology doesn’t win the battle. 

Putting God first wins the battle. (Matthew 6:33)

With his sling in his hand, David approached the Philistine. (1 Samuel 17:40) Sometimes in our lives, giants have to be approached.


Goliath was about to be killed in very short order but still could not shut up. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!” (1 Samuel 17:44)

That would make most people stop and gulp but Goliath’s threats did not deter David. 

David did not waver, but remained bold and fully persuaded in God’s will and ability to deliver the giant into his hands.

David said to the Philistine, “I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty.” (1Samuel 17:45) We have to know that we know that we know, the power in the name of the Lord Almighty and talk to the “giants”. (Jeremiah 10:6, Ephesians 6:12, Matthew 12:37)

David didn’t stop there. He went onto tell Goliath exactly how the next few minutes were going to play out, saying, “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” (1 Samuel 17:46-47)

This kid is B.O.L.D. In my opinion, this qualifies David as the poster child for boldness! Let’s just take a moment to break this down. When faced with a giant, David boldly proclaimed:

• I will strike you down!
• I will cut off your head!
• I will also deal with all your friends! I will give all your carcasses to the birds! And the wild animals!
• But most importantly, the whole world will know that my Lord saves! And they will know, the battle is the Lord’s! And, I will also inform you, Mr. “Giant”, my God will give all of you into our hands!

At that, Goliath was done and wanted to finish David off. Did Goliath’s advancement deter David? Did Goliath's advancement shake David up? Not in the slightest. Goliath moved closer to attack David. So what did David do? 

David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. (1 Samuel 17:48) Who does that?! 

A man and woman of God fully persuaded in the power in the name of the Lord Almighty does that!

We all know what happened next. David used his sling, popped Goliath right in the head, and Goliath fell to the ground. (1 Samuel 17:50) How is that even possible?! Mark 9:23 makes that possible!

And then, David danced “his victory dance”! David ran and stood over the giant. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off Goliath’s head with his own sword! (1 Samuel 17:51) Talk about adding insult to injury and rubbing it in! David had an attitude of, I am going to kill whatever comes against God’s Word and cut it’s head off! David was making sure Goliath would never return. Decapitation is death. The giant wasn’t going to return into David’s life nor will “giants” that we decapitate return to ours!

Then, all the sudden, the king wanted to know who this kid was. (1 Samuel 17:56) And
David, although he had acted in more bravery than the king and all his men, David never forgot who he was and whose authority he was under. Glory to God! (1 Samuel 17:58)

When we do what He has called us to to, He rebukes the devourer for us. (Malachi 3:11) I am fully persuaded, God rebukes the devourer for me. Can you imagine what that looks like in the spiritual realm?! His Word cannot fail.

When a “Goliath” (sickness, pain, disease, financial attacks, marital attacks, prodigal children, etc) try to come against our covenant, we have to rise up like David did, fully persuaded, “grab our slings”, run towards the giants and boldly proclaim, “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you down and cut off your head! And the whole world will know my God lives! All will forever know it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands, in the name of King Jesus! 

Then what shall we say about such wonderful things as these? 
If God be for us, who can ever be against us?!” (Romans 8:26-31)

Rock Throwing Tirades!

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; (Romans 12:10-12, NKJV)

Road trip'n with my Bestie! She's my happy place ;)

Several weeks ago, we had a get together at our place with friends. If you’ve been reading our most recent blogposts, you know our place is currently an RV on a remote campground in Alaska. There is a gathering place on this particular campground lovingly referred to as “The Smokehouse”, where campers sit around an open fire, chat with other campers, cook meals to share, make smores…just your average camping hangout. Some families bring their musical instruments so everyone can enjoy a singalong.

On the particular weekend our friends had joined us, the campground was full of campers of all ages. All the parents were at the Smokehouse while most of the kids were playing near the middle of the campground where they could be easily seen from the Smokehouse. 

Suddenly, a teenaged boy had joined the smaller children. He asked one of the ten year old girls, “Can I pick you up? I want to see how much you weigh.” She responded with, “No.” He picked her up anyway. He picked her up at her knees and started flinging her around upside down. One of our friends (we will call him “Sam") asked her dad (our other friend), “Is that your daughter?!” Her dad “Bob” (for confidentiality purposes) immediately yelled her name, “Susie!” (also for confidentiality purposes) as he immediately headed her direction. He kept yelling her name in a very…well, a very fatherly way…a father who knows his authority. Needless to say, every camper on the campground knew, Dad was on his way to his daughter. Also needless to say, every camper on the campground knew not to get in between him and his daughter!

The second time Bob yelled, “Susie!”, the teenage boy gently put her down and quickly disappeared in a camper. 

Bob checked on Susie and thankfully she was unharmed. 

Susie’s friends ran to the Smokehouse. I asked for details on what had happened. One of the children said, “Momma, were we right in throwing rocks at the teenager when that boy picked Susie up?!”

To clarify…that would by my child asking that question, also that would be my child throwing rocks.

In the weeks after this occurrence, I’ve thought a lot about how this situation played out. This situation has really impacted me and made me more fully realize the importance of our inner circle. It has also made me more grateful for my inner circle.

We all need “Sams” in our inner circle. These are the friends who keep a watch on us when we don’t even know it. They notify our Father the instant they know something is up. Earnestly keeping us in prayer manifesting great power and producing wonderful results on our behalf! (James 5:16) I cannot tell you how many times my “Sams” have contacted me ready to do battle, letting me know they are praying for me and to say, "Hey, what's up?". Thanks “Sams”, I love and appreciate ya’ll!

We also have to have our "fervent in spirit” friends who we can trust to go on a spiritual rock throwing tirade when we are being flung around upside down! (Romans 12:10-12, Ephesians 6:12, Psalm 34:19) 

Dr. Terry Mize recently posted on his Facebook, “Always stay until the devil leaves…” 

Yes. 

That. 

Those friends.

And then…there’s our faithful Father who never leaves or forsakes us! Our Rock! Our Fortress! Our Deliverer! The Father, who always answers when we call on His Name!  (Deuteronomy 31:6, Psalm 18:2, Romans 10:13, Jeremiah 33:3, 1 John 5:14-15)

A great big shout out to my inner circle! May I always be sensitive to the Spirit in keeping you as you so faithfully keep me, I love you all!

Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank You! Thank You for all the “Sams” and the “rock throwers” You have placed in my life! Thank You for their diligence! Thank you for their patience with me! Thank You they remain steadfast with and for me in prayer! Thank You for their encouragement! I am so rich in the friend department! Thank You for ordering my steps and answering my prayers by placing them in my life, each of them are more than I could have ever thought of or asked for! I pray for them right now, in the name of Jesus, every need met and perfect wholeness in their lives and the lives of their loved ones! I pray for every reader right now, for each of us to invest our time, effort and energy into the inner circle You have placed in our lives. We thank You for friendship and we thank You for our our ultimate Friend, King Jesus!

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Proverbs 20:24

John 15:15

Ephesians 3:20

Tea with Michelle Duggar

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18, NKJV)

Thanks for the pic Google!

If I could sit down for a cup of tea with Michelle Duggar, I would hug her neck and say, thank you.

Thank you for:

• showing us how to restore gently (Galatians 6:1)
• refusing to give up on your kids (Galatians 6:9)
• walking in forgiveness, grace, and restoration (Colossians 3:13, Luke 6:37)
• teaching your children to do the same (Proverbs 22:6)
• teaching your son to admit fault and make restitution (Proverbs 22:6)
• your obedience to God’s Word (James 1:22)

I would also let her know, one negative mark against her (in almost 50 years) in no way negates all the good fruit she has so elegantly shown us. (Matthew 7:16)

Lastly, I would offer her a word of encouragement by telling her to continue to holdfast to God’s Word, pray for her persecutors, and understand her way of life will always be seen as foolishness to her accusers. (Hebrews 10:23, Matthew 5:44,  1 Corinthians 1:18, Psalm 105:15)

And on the bright side, hey…who knows, perhaps Anna can run for president one day. 

Worked for Hillary right? 

Oh wait, that’s right…her husband lied under oath but kept his job (like so many other public figures).

Welcome to America folks! (Isaiah 5:20)

I almost avoided my sarcastic humorous side….almost...

God did the most amazing thing!

Today’s blogpost is a continuation from our previous blogposts. To catch up, please read our previous blogposts, thanks!



Yes, the LORD has done amazing things for us! What joy! (Psalm 126:3, NLT)

While staying in a temporary RV waiting for our RV to go through inspection, we took a family day and went on a road trip to Whittier Alaska. As we drove towards our destination, my youngest said, “Mommy, where does God want us to live?” I said, “You ask Him and He will show you.” (1 Corinthians 1:9, 1 John 5:14, Matthew 7:7) Little did I know at the time, God was about to show us before days end! And, He was about to show us a place way beyond our expectations!

That evening, on the way back to the Ship Creek RV Campground in Anchorage, Mike mentioned he had heard of an RV campground in a remote area outside Anchorage. 

We are country folk, we don’t “do” city well. We can when necessary but we really prefer to be out in the woods. And being in Alaska, we all wanted to experience as much Alaskan wilderness as possible.

As we headed back to Anchorage we started looking for the RV campground Mike had mentioned. We found no signs and our gps took us on a wild goose chase. I used my phone to get an address which told us we were about 40 minutes away from the campground…in the opposite direction. We were all tired, ready to go to bed, and really didn't know if this campground even existed. I was impressed to keep looking for this campground so I said, “I really believe we need to go back and take one more look; otherwise, we may really kick ourselves. Let's not give up yet." (Galatians 6:9)

This time, we drove straight to the campground and wow! A glacier in our front yard, a creek ten steps out our backdoor, surrounded by mountains, bike trails, hiking trails, lakes, canoeing, bear hunting, and meeting other campers around the fire pit in the evenings! This place truly is days of heaven on earth for us! (Ephesians 3:20, Deuteronomy 11:21)

For confidentiality reasons, we won't currently disclose this location. 

Thank you for your understanding! 

Thankfully, we have made the transition into RV living quickly and painlessly with great expectations of many fun adventures.  If you are considering this lifestyle, below is a list of things I’ve learned thus far from living in an RV.

• We are meeting so many great people from all over the world, making life long friendships.
• There is way less time needed for "house" freeing up more time for "home".
• With less to do to maintain a home and compete for our time, energy, & attention, there is so much more time to fish, bike, hike, canoe!
• Due to water restraints, when I shower I can either wash my hair or shave my legs…so alternating is key.
• We manage really well sharing one vehicle. The trade off (no payment/interest/insurance) far outweighs the minor inconvenience.
• Now that we have a creek 10’ feet out our back door, a glacier 300 yards out our front door, our girls rarely ever ask for screen time (video games/ipad/itouch).
• We are very thankful for these amazing adventures!
• I have a deeper understanding of the phrase, Happy Camper! 

How long will we do this? I don’t currently know. I do know, when this season ends, we will move into the next season. Life is full of seasons (Ecclesiastes 3:1) and if I have learned anything, I've learned...

Seasons come, and then Seasons Go

Yesterday Mike said, "If we had a boat, it would really enable us to get into remote areas of Alaska. My response, "When you buy one, just make sure it is big enough for me to live on!"


Yep...

Seasons come, and then Seasons Go

Father God, I know many people reading these blogposts are experiencing seasonal changes. Some seasons are looked upon with great anticipation as some seasons can be unsettling. In the name of Jesus, I pray for every reader right now, that they will always seek you first during their seasons. I pray they have eyes to see and ears to hear and they continue on the perfect path you have called them to. May we all seek you first in all we think, say, and do. And may all we think, say, and do...glorify You...in the name of Your Precious Son, Jesus, amen! Father, thank You for answered prayer in my life and the life of everyone reading Key Tov Blog. May they be filled with peace, Your Peace, the Peace that passes all understanding!