Whose Son is That Young Man?
As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, "Abner, whose son is that young man?" Abner replied, "As surely as you live, O king, I don't know." The king said, "Find out whose son this young man is." As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine's head. "Whose son are you, young man?" Saul asked him. 1 Sam 17:55-58NIV
King Saul watched an unknown teenager who walked into a battleground but was not afraid of an enemy that everyone else fled from. It was some of the soldiers that brought him to the king. They took time to properly brief David about the risky situation at hand, but he was surprised that nothing intimidated David. He heard David trash all the reasons he had for not going to confront Goliath himself. The young man even turned down the specially designed armor of the king but went in to the battle without a sword. He observed his audacity as he moved towards the deadly enemy. In our characteristic way of judgment, he thought the father of David must have done a great job in his life.
Then, he watched as David exchanged words of threat with Goliath. King Saul was clutching to his heart in apprehension. Then came the moment when Goliath charged towards David and King Saul thought in his heart, this is the moment the lad will flee, but to his shock, David ran further towards the battle line. King Saul said in his heart, this can be nothing but sound home training from a father who was a military man himself.
He turned to the general commander of his army and said, “I want to know and meet the father who raised this boy”.
We already know that the king was wrong in this matter. It had nothing to do with David’s father or the family he came from. Let me explain; before David came, there were three members of David’s family in the army and they were in the number of those who repeatedly ran away from Goliath for forty days. It is possible that the King did not know but just few days ago a prophet visited the family of Jesse of Bethlehem, after passing the seven other sons of the same father through the test, none of them were fit to be a king in Israel. God Himself declared them unqualified.
When Abner could not answer his question, King Saul kept watching as David ran towards the battleline, picked out one stone from his porch, loaded it into his sling, took an aim at the rampaging giant and while everyone watched, Goliath came crashing down to the ground. As if that was not enough, David ran towards him, took the giant sword of the giant warrior of the entire Philistine army and cut off the head of the once dreaded champion.
Try to follow the electrifying moment and hot pumping of the blood through the veins of the King as the young man started walking back to king Saul with the head of the giant in his hand.
Whereas the rest of the armies of Israel charged out to pursue the fleeing host of the Philistine armies, I imagine David lift the head of Goliath before King Saul and said, “My king, I told you that it is going to be easy”.
King Saul was not looking at the Goliath’s head in his hand, “Young man, who is your father? Who raised you?”
How often do we give credit to those who have nothing to do with the success in question? This has nothing to do with Jesse of Bethlehem; he was not a warrior and if he contributed anything to what David has become, it is the rejection and disregard he showed for David.
We are taking time to explain all this because of someone among my readers who would argue that his life would have been better if he came from a different background. Yes, some people say, if only I had a rich father or if only, I came from this other country or if only I belonged to that other Christian denomination, etc.
Like King Saul, people believe that people from good backgrounds have a better chance to make it in life.
My friend, it is not true. In this moment of truth let me tell you some things. Some people think that I am making this kind of wave in the ministry because my father was a missionary with the Scripture Union, Nigeria and the Anglican Church. It is not true. My father died while I was less than ten years. I got nothing from my father. I got nothing from the Scripture Union, not even a bible study follow-up. I got nothing from the Anglican Church. It is true that I spent some time with the Assemblies of God and Foursquare Gospel Church but there is nothing I have today that came from them. There are a number of other Christian organizations that I passed through, but they did not give me anything that has kept me where I am today. I am not saying that the time I spent with them was useless. Far from that. what I mean is that what God has brought me through was different from what they meant to my life.
There are those who talk about the schools they attended; after listening to me teach, a pastor asked to know the bible school I attended, but believe me this has nothing to do with a bible school, secondary or university education. If not for the mercies of God, some of those places would have ruined what God has done with me today.
About family background; even though I came from a supposing wealthy family background, I can say it here that I have not received any kind of support from them. What Joy and I got from our families was antagonism and witchcraft attack. I can count the three times that I am sure that people from my immediate family made attempts that would have taken my life.
Yes, lest I forget, the witchcraft attacks, antagonism, betrayals and inexplicable hatred we suffered from them contributed to make me an international authority in the field of deliverance and spiritual warfare. Those were the secret resources that enabled me to write more than twenty different book titles on the subject of deliverance and spiritual warfare.The rejection and lack of support contributed to make me a self-sufficient person, because I learned it very early that no one is coming to save me. This life has been between me and my God. It is not about my family.
Let me not make this too personal, go and ask some of the people you believe are successful in life and you will be shocked that their stories are not different from that of David and mine.
You might have come from a bad background but you must not let your background to pin your back to the ground. One time in my life, I took time to check the backgrounds of some people I considered very successful ministers of the gospel, but I was shocked that they did not get to where they are today because of what they got from where they came from. Most of them were disowned by their families because they picked up their bible to follow Jesus Christ. Now they have become successful and their families are claiming them. There are a good number of them that were doctors, university professors, lawyers and bigtime businessmen; almost all of them took nothing from their past. They trusted God like David did, put in some quality time for self-discipline and development, and that was how they got to where they are today.
Unfortunately, few people know what I am talking today about the so-called successful people. In my years of relating with different Christian denominations, I discovered that the so-called large congregations only steal trained church workers from the smaller ones. You are free to investigate this yourself; most pastors in the large congregations are the disciples from other churches.
I want you to know that you can become the richest person in your country
I want you to know that you can fulfil your dreams in your career.
I want you to know that what people say or think about you can only govern you if you let them.
I want you to know that your background does not have the power to pin you down if you do not let it.
There are eight things you have to bear in mind as you enter into the next phase of your life.
1. You need to have a very strong relationship with God. He is the one that can truly bless you. Somewhere the bible says that a man receives nothing unless it is given to him from above (John. 3:27). Do not joke with your prayer and meditation time because this is how you build the closest tie with God. Fear magnifies your problems and doubt diminishes your God but it is in the place of prayer that you cage the two enemies of your purpose.
2. You need to invest time in self-training and development. This is different from going to school or attending church fellowships and programs. You need to deliberately train yourself for what you want to become. It may involve taking an additional academic program or discipleship training or exposure to some kind of apprenticeship. That is how you prepare to be qualified for your expected elevation.
3. You need to intentionally seek out people who are serious with their life and connect with them. Connect with people who motivate you. You did not have the opportunity to choose your parents or siblings. The only thing that is within your power to choose is your friends and you must not joke with it. That includes the church denomination you identify with and the person you relate with as a personal mentor or pastor. If the church you currently belong to is not building you up, child of God, walk out of that place. If the person you take as a mentor is not building you up, prayerfully seek out for someone better for yourself. When you get to heaven, you can explain.
4. You need to walk away from any relationship that is draining your energy spiritually or emotionally. You must not hate them before you walk away. You may need to walk away for awhile just to fix what was broken in your life. That includes people who refused to improve despite your years of investment in them. That also includes people who kept making promises to support you but never keep their words. When you walk away, you will free your mind to check out for new opportunities.
5. You must not let the pains from your past drain your energy or dampen your focus to where you are heading to. Like we learned from David, be thankful for them. Each time the devil throws thoughts from your past at you, cover them with thanksgiving. “I thank God for carrying me through all of these”.
6. You must be ready to serve in small things while you wait for the great things. David was anointed as king of Israel, but while waiting for the day he would be crowned, he kept taking care of his father’s sheep and carried food to his brothers in the battlefield.
7. You must be on the standby every moment because you do not know when the opportunity you have been praying for would come. David did not know that his connection with the king of Israel will come the day he was told to send some food to his brothers. He did not know that killing Goliath was the first step of the ladder to joining the mighty men in Isreal’s army.
8. You must not allow the opinions of those who do not understand what God is doing with you to push you out of God’s direction. Some give their opinions out of ignorance; some give their opinions out of envy in order to sabotage you, and there are those who weaponize misleading opinions to derail you. Only you know what God has told you in the private. Hold to them firmly.
I need to let you know that if you have read to this point in this meditation that you are almost ready to shake the world around you.
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Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com
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