Corona Devo 3207

Everyone knows what sticks and stones will do (break my bones), and we know the rest of that rhyme too: "but words will never hurt me".

Is that true, though?

Ask the child with the critical parent.

Ask the bullied boy or girl.

Ask those following Jesus in a world that knows Him not.

Ask me.

Ask yourself.

Whose words are defining us today?

If we are not careful, other people and their words will gain an unhealthy and incorrect influence over us.

God's Word, and His Truth define us and who we are, and God has a lot to say...an entire Bible, actually. All written for you and me to better understand His love for us and His truth about us.

God also gives us true accounts within the Bible of people who did it right when it came to believing what God said about them, instead of believing the bullies.

David knew God, and David knew what God said about him...and David believed it, and David stood upon God's Word about him.

~~~

How did Goliath treat David?
And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he despised him. ~I Samuel 17:42

~~~

Did Goliath respect David, or mock him?
So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ~I Samuel 17:43

~~~

Did Goliath seek to intimidate and invalidate David with his words?
And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”   ~I Samuel 17:44

~~~

Who did Goliath say and infer that David was?
Nothing...Goliath treated David as nothing, and Goliath spoke untruths and lies at David about his worth.

But the remarkable thing about David was that: He didn't listen to Goliath. David already knew who he was, because David knew Whose he was. And much more importantly, David already knew Who God was.

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. (46) This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. (47) Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”  ~I Samuel 17:45-47

~~~

David knew and had faith in the Lord, and so David was not duped when other people, even a giant tried to get in his head.

David knew who God said that he was. David had read the Scriptures (God's Word), and David had believed in God and in what God said.

We can too.

We must, if we are going to have victory over this world and the people of it. Their words and slurs and lies and distortions and fallacies and taunts and untruths about us cannot be our truth.

No one else (or their words) has the power to define who we are. Only our Heavenly Father should hold that authority over us. And today, let's (finally!) tune-out the noise and the lies in our lives (and our minds), and let's tune-in to what God says.

God says that we are loved... 
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  ~Romans 5:8

God says that we are blessed... 
So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.  ~Galatians 3:9

God says that we are made in His image...
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (27) So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  ~Genesis 1:26-27

God says that we are chosen...     
For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you...   ~ I Thessalonians 1:4

God says that we are victorious...
They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.  ~Revelation 12:11

God says that we are righteous...
God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.  ~I Corinthians 1:30

~~~

The noise and the lies of the people of this world can beat us up, like sticks and stones.  But even without a stone in our hand, we can have victory over the giants in our lives.  

God says so.  

God says that He has defeated darkness, and He has also promised that we have vindication and victory because of Him.  

Yes, words and weapons will be forged against us, but (in Christ!) we will refute every tongue that accuses us.  

I like the sound of that.

...no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.  ~Isaiah 54:17

Sticks and stones may break my bones but Jesus defines and defends me.

Blessings,

sarah 

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com