In the last message we mentioned that we are the light of the world as Christians, and the light should not hide itself when darkness is trying to promote itself. As believers, don't be ashamed of your holiness and the life of Christ, which you have chosen. It is darkness that should withdraw and keep silent when light appears.

Also we mentioned that Faith must be confessed before it happens. David confessed what God had done for him, how he killed a lion and a bear. This boosted his faith and the faith of Saul to let him go against Goliath.

Now we come to the point where David was standing before the Philistine. (1Sam. 17:38).

After David had said moreover, "the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine", King Saul was confident enough to say "go, and the Lord be with thee."

This is a teaching on how to exercise our faith to bring forth result. As Apostle Peter wrote, "add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge." (2 Pet.1:5).

Saul armed David with a coat of mail and a sword also. David took them off him because he has not proved them. He chose to go with his sling and his staff, plus five smooth stones out of the brook.

(v.41). "And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about , and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance."

The Philistine must have heard some rumblings from within the army of Israel, and guessed that somebody is about to accept the challenge. So they waited to see, and when someone was coming forward, Goliath went forward also, only to find David was just a youth.

"And the Philistine said unto David, am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field."

Here is where we must learn something about faith. Faith must confess itself. It is one thing to have a dormant faith. This is how to start your engine. Potential energy will do us no work until it begins to move. Like a big rock standing upon a hill will not do any work. But when the rock begins to move down the cliff, the potential energy is converted to kinetic energy and you better not stand in its way, for it can crush and run over items. Our faith must go from potential dormant energy to kinetic active force and confessing what we want to happen is how to start our engine running.

Let's see how David did it.

"David said to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls 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 all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands."

This is David's confession of his faith. It has not happened yet, but he is confessing what he wanted to happen, believing that it shall be as he confessed. Heaven is listening. Amen.

This is what God wants to hear from your mouth also, Christian. Heaven is listening. God wants you to confess his power boldly without doubt, not being afraid, even ready to die if it does not happen.

Before going further with this story of David, let me point out about confessing the faith from the book of Daniel. When I said heaven is listening, God wants every believer to be bold to confess him like that. If you have the boldness and the fearlessness to stand for God, God has the power and the supernatural means to stand for you and to make your miracle happen.

We see the same example in the book of Daniel when the three Hebrews, Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednigo, stood before Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. He gave them one more chance to recant their faith and to bow to the golden image or they will be cast into the fiery furnace. Let's read the same kind of words which these men spake, which is the same kind of confession of the faith that I am talking about. I said this is how you start your faith engine running. Start by confessing what you believe for, that it shall be as you confessed, and don't be afraid to die for it if it does not happen. For this is how the saints are to overcome the dragon. (Rev. 12:11). "They overcame him by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death". It said, "word of their testimony", this is the confessing of our faith that I have mentioned before. Say to the mountain as you desired to happen fearing nothing. It also said, "they loved not their lives unto the death", and that is why I kept saying "don't be afraid to die for what you confess to happen even if it does not happen. Death has already been conquered by Jesus. For you to be able to confess the power of God that can deliver, for you to confess the miracle you are believing for before it happens, you must not be afraid to die for it if it does not happen. Heaven is listening, watching to see your activation of faith whether it is genuine. Is your faith genuine? Or, is your mouth saying one thing but your heart is trembling and fearful? We must not be afraid to die for our faith.

Dan.3:16 "Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednigo, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, (i.e. if you throw us into the furnace), our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O King. "

Now verse 17 is very important.

"But if not, (i.e. even if he did not deliver us), be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

These Hebrew men confessed the two sides of God. God is sovereign. They confessed that He is able to deliver us. But if he chose not to deliver us, we are still not going to bow to your idol. That is they were ready to die. They were not afraid of death. This is what Revelation 12:11 was saying. The saints overcame the dragon by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death.

This is what David possessed. He was not afraid to die for his God. If you are afraid to die, you will not be bold enough to confess what has not happen yet that you are believing for. Listen to what David said, because it had not happened yet, and he was coming against a man that had a sword and a shield, who was twice as big as himself. David said, you come to me with a sword and a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied. (1 Sam.17:45).

v.46. "This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand". See? David was confessing that God would do it. He was not afraid should in case God didn't do it. Be ready to suffer the consequence in case it does not happen. That is faith. Among the men of faith listed in Hebrews chapter 11 are some that suffered for their faith "not accepting deliverance: that they might obtain a better ressurection." (Heb.11:35).

David said further, "and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day to the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel."

You can see that he was not boasting of himself. You have to boast in God. The scripture said, "he that glory let him glory in the Lord that he knoweth God". Make sure you are not bragging in yourself, but in the Lord. You can boast in the power of Jesus able to save and to deliver. And he has the choice to come down and deliver or not to. God is sovereign.

David said further, "And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands." Heaven was listening. After he confessed thus, God said, that is my man, and He came down and did it for him. The stone from the sling was like a bullet as God sped it up and it hit the giant on the only exposed part of his face, and he went down. That was faith.

Now what is doubt? Let me give you a personal testimony to point out how doubt can occur. From this testimony you may see what faith is and how you can use your faith to overcome doubt. This testimony is to the glory of the Lord. One day I had to go tell one church member about the water baptism we planned to do the second day and I had to walk a distance to this lady's house who had signified that she wanted water baptism also. As I drove my car towards the town, I noticed that the cloud was heavy and dark and rain was about to fall. But I had to park the car and walk a distance to get to the house. So I prayed that the rain should not fall until I had gone and come back. As I parked the car, a voice reminded me that, "don't forget your umbrella under the front seat". I usually keep my umbrella under the passenger's seat in my car. As I reached out to grab the umbrella, the Lord said, "if you pick up that umbrella you just nullify your prayer concerning the rain". I paused and thought about it. I said to myself, "what am I doing?" Damning the consequence, ready to be drenched in the rain if it disobeyed, I left the umbrella and went walking the distance. The Lord honored the faith.

Whose was the voice that reminded me of my umbrella, which I had forgotten? The devil's voice. It was to cause doubt. If I had taken the umbrella, it means I doubted my prayer. You see how doubt comes, and even how technology can make people lose on faith? Technology can make people think we don't need faith when man has made a way to do the same thing. But without faith it is impossible to please the Lord.

This is how to be fearless of the consequence should in case your faith does not materialize.

Christ said it this way: "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (Mat.10:39). "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's the same shall save it." (Mk.8:35).

You can see why many times people's faith does not manifest result, because they are undecided. Remember the faith of the first church, the apostles. All of them stood firm and many died for their faith, and God still demonstrated his power through some like apostle John. Christ said, "when the son of man shall come will he find faith on the earth?" What kind of faith will he find in you? The saints overcame the dragon by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimonies, and that they loved not their lives unto the death. No matter the pressure or persecution against us, we must be ready to confess our faith and not be afraid to die for what we believe. You that read this, chose this day whom you will serve.

"Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the son of man also confess before the angels of God; but he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God." (Lk.12:8).

Are you ready to confess Christ even in the face of persecution? Are you ready to confess your faith even in the face of fearful consequences? Stand tall and not be afraid; don't be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is time for the saints to stand and not be afraid to die for the faith.

"The saints overcame the dragon by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimonies, and they loved not their lives unto the death."

Chris said, will he find faith when he returns? What kind of faith will he find in you? Think about it, and God bless you.

Bro. Julius Adewumi

Gospel Distribution Ministry