Taffi Dollar - The Importance of Not Running From Battles - Part 1
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So thankful for you being here this morning, so thankful for you who are tuning in online. I just believe that this is a time where we can just continue to stay full of God and to be in the overflow. I don’t know about you. I’m learning the importance of just how beneficial it is to keep your tank full instead of running around on E. How many of you know it’s just such a peace in knowing that you can be in a place where God is able to speak to you, God is able to do things in your life because you’re positioning yourself and putting yourself right where he wants you to be? It’s something about being full of God that puts you in the right place at the right time, will allow you to have the right relationships, that will allow people to come into your life at the time that he’s appointed for your life.
Being full of God just causes our psyche and our conscious to be awakened to what God is doing. And so that’s what this time is about. This morning Bible study, I just kind of tag myself in Pastor Kim, Pastor Carol, the other ministers who normally do. And I just want to share some things today that I think will help you. Last week we talked about you’ll never win a battle you don’t show up for. Anybody remember that, you never will win a battle that you do not show up for. I think we talked about, entitled it «Hope When it’s Hard».
And so we emphasize the importance of just showing up. That was what David did. He showed up and he was one that was equipped because he was right there at the right place at the right time. You know, he wasn’t in the shepherd’s field, he was at the battleground and doing what he was instructed to do. And as a result, he just began to walk in a victory that he had never envisioned that day for his life. And so today we wanna continue on and we want to talk about «Why We Run,» «Why We Run». And I want to begin today and I want us to look at the importance of not running from battles, the importance of not running from battles. We all have moments in our life where we just may want to run, hide, disappear, thinking that if we do that, that things will be different.
But you know what? God wants us to learn some things today and get ahold of some principles and examples that we can look at and glean from. In Genesis chapter 3, verse 10, this is an example of why Adam and Eve ran. God was looking for them, God had been spending time with them, and he thought that they were in a place where he could continue to spend time with him. But on this particular day, after they had eaten from the fruit of the tree, God came along and he says, «Where are you»? And they had made a decision to move from where they were accustomed to being. And so many times in our life, we have to ask ourselves, are we running from battles in our life? Are we hiding from situations in our life?
I heard someone say that man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides. And so we have to understand and recognize where did running from problems come from? And we can look at that in Genesis chapter 3, verse 10. And this is where it all started in Eden, when Adam and Eve failed God. When they ate of the fruit of the tree, they ran away and wouldn’t face it or God. And so it is in our life that we can do the same thing. In verse 9, let’s look at this. I’m gonna back up one verse. «And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, 'Where art thou? '» Where art thou? «And he said, 'I heard your voice.'» This is Adam speaking, «In the garden, and I was afraid, God». He heard God’s voice, he was in the garden in Eden. He heard God, and so in response to him hearing God, he says, «I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself».
And so, I want to look at this in 1 Samuel chapter 17 because we’re going to continue on with this story here that we looked at last week as it relates to David when he faced the giants in his life. And we know in these last days, there are some giants that are trying to raise their ugly head in our lives. It might be the giant of anxiety, it might be the giant of depression. It might be the giant of loneliness, fear, addictions. It might be anything that you could be dealing with in your life. But I want us to look at what David did and how he responded. Because like I said, he showed up for the situation and he did not run like Adam and Eve did from the situation. He did not run from the battle. He did not hide from Goliath.
The Bible talks about how Goliath would go around and for 40 days and 40 nights, morning and night, it says that he was strut himself around just to intimidate the army of Israel. He would on purpose do this because of his size, his stature, and because he was so big, you couldn’t miss him. And so problems and circumstances in our life, we have to decide how are we going to deal with them? Are we going to let them deal with us? Are we going to show up to the battle? Are we gonna hide and say, «The battle doesn’t exist I’m too afraid,» like some of the brothers that David had? Or are we going to do what David did?
So here in verse 24, 1 Samuel chapter 17, verse 24, look at what it says. «And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man,» referring to Goliath, «they fled from him, and were sore afraid». So we have to decide if we’re gonna be like the men of Israel when they saw their problems, when they saw the giant in their life, they fled, they ran because of how big and how intimidating the situation was. So we have to make up in our mind, are we going to continue to run or are we going to deal with situations? There’s the decision to either cover up like Adam and Eve did. They covered up the situations, they covered up themselves. When they hid, they were trying to protect God from seeing what was going on. There’s this word of escapism and also there’s this word of avoidance. So we have to make some decisions today on how we are going to deal and address things that happen in our life, giants that happen in our life. Let me read this to you. I thought I might just kind of start with this to kind of make it a little light here.
«A father passing by his son’s bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope prominently on the pillow, it was addressed, 'Dad.' And with the worst premonition, he opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands. The letter said, 'Dear Dad, it is with great regret and sorrow that I’m writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I’ve been finding real passion with Stacey, she is so nice. But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercings, tattoos, her tight motorcycle clothes, and because she is much older than I am. But it’s not only the passion, Dad, she’s pregnant. Stacey said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods, has a stack of firewood for the whole winter, we share a dream of having many more children. Stacey has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn’t really hurt anyone. We’ll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with other people in the commune for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, we’ll pray for science to find a cure for AIDS so that Stacey can get better. She sure deserves it. Don’t worry, Dad, I’m 15 and I know how to take care of myself. Someday, I’m sure we’ll be back to visit so you can get to know your many grandchildren. Love your son Joshua. PS, Dad, none of the above is true. I’m over at Jason’s house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the school report that’s on the kitchen table. Call me when it’s safe to come home.'»
How many of you know we can easily try to avoid and hide and cover up our problems? That’s a way of us addressing and in some instances thinking that we’re dealing with them. And so, you know, this is something that I am learning, you know, as a woman, as a leader, as a wife, as a parent, because these aren’t things that I was taught. And perhaps these may be things that you haven’t been taught. Just how to deal with opposition, how to deal with problems, how to navigate through life. And so when we get over into the things of God and we recognize that there’re going to be battles in life and obstacles and challenges and all kinds of things in a pandemic, how many of you know we’ve got to begin to learn how to face these things, to face the giants in our life, to face the situations in our life? Just like David did, he faced the giant in his life. And so it is, we must face the Goliaths. We must face things. And you know what? It’s so vital that we understand this important area of our lives.
Let’s look at some ineffective ways that people deal with problems. Some ineffective ways that people deal with problems. Number one, they ignore the problem and hope that it will go away. I’m sure that maybe the guys, the older brothers, the ones who were in the army, you know, for 40 days Goliath, the scripture says that he strutted himself. He strutted himself, is what it says in the TLB translation, for 40 days. And so, you know, they probably just ignored him in hopes that he would just disappear. That this giant would go away. That this problem would just disappear.
And so look at what it says here in verse 16 of chapter 17, verse 16. It says, «And the Philistine drew near morning and,» what? «Evening, and presented himself,» not just one day, not just every now and then just to remind them of who he was, but what is said twice a day, «And presented himself for forty days». And I’m telling you, that’s what the enemy wants to do in our lives. He wants to constantly bring things to make them appear bigger than life, to make them appear as if they are impossible. But it’s so vital that we begin to understand that one of the ineffective ways that people deal with problems is they ignore the problem in hopes that it’ll go away.
Another way, look at verse 28 of that same chapter, verse 28. «And Eliab his older brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, 'Why comest thou down hither? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, the naughtiness of your heart, that thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.'» Another ineffective way to deal with the problem is to minimize it. And it’s so interesting that his older brother was more focused on David being at the battle and commenting about David being there. «I know why you’re here. I know why you’ve come to be nosy. I know what you’re doing,» in hopes that Goliath would be minimized and that the situation would be minimized.
Look at verse 25, another ineffective way of the same chapter. Chapter 17, verse 25. Let’s look at what it says here. «And the men of Israel said, 'Have you seen this man that is come up? '» They were talking among themselves about the problem, about the giant, about this situation. This man that won’t quit. He keeps coming out, not just in the morning, not just, you know, every now and then, but every day. «Have you seen him? Have you seen this giant? Have you seen»? And so they ask themselves amongst themselves, «Have you seen that this man is come up? Surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich with great riches».
And so another ineffective way that we deal with problems, we talk about the problems with others. We talk about it with others like they did there. And then another ineffective way is we do nothing. We do absolutely nothing. And you know, I’m just being honest 'cause sometimes we don’t know what to do. Verse 11 talks about that. Look at verse 11. They did absolutely nothing. «When Saul and all of Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid». They were dismayed, and you know what? They did absolutely nothing. And so we have to make up in our mind, are we going to allow, like the Israelite army did, 40 days of fear, anxiety, intimidation to just parade itself in our lives? Or are we going to deal with the situations in front of us? Are we going to, like David did, be willing to face it, be willing to confront it, be willing to take responsibility?
Lord, I need you. I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are on you. I don’t know what’s going on right here. I don’t want to just ignore it because I know the more I ignore it, it’s not going to change anything. The more I try and minimize it, the enemy just comes back with more and more darts, more and more thoughts to try to get the attention over on these things. I don’t wanna be idle and just allow this thing to just parade itself around in my life, Lord. How many of you know, that’s when you gotta go to God, and ask the Lord to help me to deal with the battles of life? Help me to deal with this situation in my life because I’ve never done this before.
Never been in this situation. So we have to make up in our minds, we have to be cognizant of the need to make a decision, the need to not allow those things to be bigger than what they really are. So one of the ways that we can do to stop running away from our problems is to be bigger than your fears. Be bigger than your fears. I remember before the pandemic started, Creflo called me and he said, «I got a call from the mayor of South Fulton, and he says we’ve got to cancel services, we’ve got to shut down the building». We cannot allow any more than whatever the number was at that time. And we were right on the cusp of our annual conference. And I said, «Dear Lord».
This was like second or third week in March before, you know, things just began. Things were just kind of starting to happen. And it was this toiling between to cancel it or the decision to have it. Now granted, that was before any events were virtual, before things, everybody during that time was just canceling everything. All the major events were canceled. Music festivals, sporting events, everything was canceled. Anybody remember that? And so I said, «Lord, I just need to not allow my fear to govern dealing with this situation, dealing with this problem». And so I realized the importance of just being led by God and knowing whether or not I’m doing what God wants me to do, 'cause I’m more concerned about pleasing him that I am anything. And you know, we had some things in place, thankfully, that we could easily pivot and make the meeting virtual, and that’s what we decided to do.