Hello, my name is Johnny Taylor, and I am with Flowing Oil Ministries. Welcome to God Today. I want to share with you a story that is a favorite of mine in the Bible. The story is David and Goliath. When you think about David and Goliath, we just automatically believe that David’s biggest conquest was this giant of a man, Goliath. The Bible says that this man was 9 feet, 9 inches tall, and he was three times stronger than the average man at that time. The Bible also tells us about a time when David was back and he wasn’t in the limelight, he was in the pasture taking care of his sheep. That word “pasture” means “a place of rest, a habitation of rest for livestock”. This means that David was in this place of rest, in a quiet place.
The Bible says that one day a lion came. And tried to steal a lamb, and that David broke the jaw of the lion and rescued the lamb from the mouth of the lion. Then a bear came and he did the same thing with a bear. When you study it out, it says that a lion is 20 times stronger than the average man and the bear is 10 times stronger than the average man. This means that the lion was 17 times stronger than Goliath. That bear was 7 times stronger than Goliath. When David was able to defeat the lion in the quiet place, and he was able to defeat the bear in the quiet place, and when it came time to come against Goliath, he knew that once he had defeated the lion, and once he had defeated the bear, that Goliath was no match. He could tell Goliath that “the same God that rescued me and delivered me from the paw of the lion, the paw of the bear is going to deliver me from you.” That’s what happened.
That tells me that sometimes our biggest battles, our biggest victories happen in our quiet time, in our quiet place. It manifests in the natural. I’m telling you today get alone with God, find that place of rest. That place of rest should conquer many battles. When you come out into the public view, and into the place where that manifests, you will find out that the battle that you encounter in the public is not as big as the battle that you conquer in the quiet time, where you receive the victory for it all.
I encourage you today – I am going to pray for you – find that time alone with God in that pasture, in that place of rest. Let God reveal to you His love, and His grace, and His strength, and give you the power to overcome every obstacle and every enemy. You will find out that the enemy that you face in public is not nearly as great as the one you defeated in private because He was there with you. I bless you, I tell you, I encourage you to find that quiet place. In Jesus’ name. Amen.