Isaiah 54:17 MSG
but no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged. Any accuser who takes you to court will be dismissed as a liar. This is what GOD’s servants can expect. I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best.” GOD’s Decree.

1Samuel 17: MSG
38  Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armour. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armour.
39  David tried to walk but he could hardly budge. David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me. I’m not used to this.” And he took it all off.
40  Then David took his shepherd’s staff, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s pack, and with his sling in his hand approached Goliath.

Ephesians 6: MSG
11  So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way.
12  This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
13  Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet.

I can say of some assurance that everyone who has ever attended a Sunday School has heard the familiar Bible story of David versus Goliath.  Yes, the story how good overcomes evil.  How a little boy with five smooth stones from the nearby brook defeated what was called a ‘giant’.

How the armies of Israel and those of the Philistines were at war facing one another.  How that Goliath, a giant that stood far above all the men in his height kept throwing taunts to the army of Israel to send him a man that he could slaughter.

Yes, the story of a son of a shepherd who was tending his father’s herd of sheep and was called upon to take his brothers that were serving in the army their lunch.

How that when David arrived that he heard Goliath practically calling the soldiers of Israel’s army, chicken. 

King Saul was searching for any man that would go and do battle against the giant but none were to be found, until David stepped forward.

Laughter and snickers probably came from within the camp of the army for David was not built like a brute with bulging muscles.  The only thing we truly know from Scriptures is that David was good looking.

Saul finally approaches David and asks for his experience.  David tells the king of how he fought of a bear and other wild beasts that tried to attack the herd of sheep. 

The king gave in and accepted that David was willing to go out and fight against Goliath the giant of the Philistines.  King Saul orders his men to take the kings armour and dress David in them.

David though pauses, looks at Saul and takes off the armour and tells the King I cannot use them because I have not learned how to.  Instead David takes the sling the killed the bear walks over to the nearby stream and picks out five smooth stones and places them in his bag that is hanging at his side.

I remember the first time I truly started to understand what the lesson God wanted us in the Army of God to understand.  The lesson of how we can only use the armour that God has trained us to use.

Ephesians 4: MSG
10  And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts,
11  filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher

When I started playing the piano I tried to sound like others that I heard.  I would practice night and day trying to duplicate the sound from inside my mind onto the keys of the piano.  If someone would visit our home church that could play the piano I would let them take the bench and sit back down on the pew.

Finally, someone came to me and told me I was doing wrong by this that I was as good as everyone else even if I was different.

It was the same for me when I really started preaching.  I would listen to other preachers and such to find a pattern that I could use.  I soon learned however that I just had to be that which God wanted me to be.

I have watched over the years young ministers try to be like some other teacher, preacher, and even pastor only to quit in frustration.  The only thing they were doing wrong was they were trying to use armour that they had no training in how to use.

I admit I was no great orator when it came to preaching, but, there was one thing that I knew to do, that was to Study hard the Word of God.  Learn my subject inside and out, forward and backward.  When I was young I seldom wrote any notes, the reason is I never tried.

You see using the armour of God the way God wants you to takes time to train in.  Like any other talent or gift you must be willing to start at the beginning, slowly and surely you will find the armour that you fit into.

No other person will ever be a Billy Graham. There is not another song writer like Dottie Rambo or Bill and Gloria Gaither.

Several years ago I would have told that I am not a writer, but, in trying to write posts for my blog I am slowly gaining confidence that I have found my place in a style that God wants to use me with.

No, as a writer I am not Max Lucado, for there is only one of him.  But then he is not me, a person who plays the piano and the gospel organ.

If you are trying to find your pace in your early ministry I would encourage you, do not try to be like others. Yes, God gave us the armour, it is up to us to train in how to use it.  You may never preach to thousands at one time, but, you may reach thousands one person at a time, one day at a time.

We all are called to be fishers of men.