This morning, I felt like one of the many standing in the valley of Elah gripped with fear. Yet I was determined to gain a fresh perspective, so I chose to draw nourishment from the Vine (the Lord Jesus Christ), and He indeed graciously renewed my mind with a much better outlook. The truth is I so often allow the giants in my life to loom large and paralyze me causing such ill effects that holding my breath always triggers. But as a child of God, I should never allow uncircumcised giants to have that power because of my relationship to Jehovah Tsaba, the LORD of Hosts – a Warrior who fights my battles.

If you are a child of God, you have access to the power of Jehovah Tsaba as well.

God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-6

This is called a dual citizenship. We may be physically situated down here, but spiritually we are up there. Salvation connects us to the Vine (Jesus Christ) that’s God’s part, but our part is growing in grace: keeping the healthy flow of sap by spending time in the Word, praying and obeying what the Word of God teaches. Then our spiritual eyes can clearly see the perspective we are to keep especially when encountering the giants of the land.

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

When we or a loved one is facing a spiritual battle that needs the long arm of the Lord, we have access to Jehovah Tsaba: the LORD of Hosts!

David is our role model! As David encountered the giant, Goliath, he did not retreat in fear like the rest of Saul’s army. David knew not to fear because he was intimately acquainted with Jehovah Tsaba.

“For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”

“You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts [Jehovah Tsaba], the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.”

ONLY A BOY NAMED DAVID

Read the whole encounter in 1 Samuel 17. For more on the Vine, read John 15.

How many of God’s people hide out in the valley instead of taking a stand on the mountain giving full confidence in Jehovah Tsaba?