Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, ¡°The War in the Canaan.¡± The invisible war of heart determines our victory or defeat. If we look into the war between the Philistines and the Israelites, the army of the Philistines believed in their military power and had high morale that they showed arrogance in which they thought they already gained victory. It is the same with North Korea as it is proud of its nuclear weapons. On the other hand, the army of the Israelites was filled with fear by looking at Goliath, who was a commander of the Philistines, and was busy looking for a place to hide. However, there was no one who boldly volunteered to fight for Israel. So many people worried that Israel would be ruined before the Philistines. At that time, David moved forward to fight with Goliath. He would have been a 17 or 18 year old shepherd boy. No one thought that David could be a match for Goliath. Even Goliath cursed him as he saw him first. In my childhood, as my mother prepared meals in the kitchen, our dog kept coming and going so it made my mother annoyed so much that she took a staff and bit it severely that it jumped out of the kitchen many times. Goliath might have grown up in that same situation so when David came forward with a staff in his hand, Goliath shouted, ¡°Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks? I will kill you with a single stroke.¡±

1 Samuel 17:42-44 says, ¡°He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, ¡®Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?¡¯ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ¡®Come here,¡¯ he said, ¡®and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!¡¯"

David couldn¡¯t stay calm with this Philistine general¡¯s curse. He must talk back to him. Therefore, David answered with the fourth dimensional response to Goliath¡¯s third dimensional curses. The third dimension is a visible material world while the fourth dimension belongs to the invisible world. David answered, ¡°David said to the Philistine, ¡®You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands.¡¯"(1 Samuel 17:45-47)

Our battle is the battle of dream. When we fight against our enemies, we first confront them in our dream. We should first dream what kind of enemies they are and calculate about them. Goliath thought the battle against Israel as a piece of cake. He dreamed that the battle would be easy as he bit a dog in the kitchen to cast it out. Thus he might think that he would kill Israel with ease as a housewife kicked her dog out of the kitchen. However, David dreamed a quite different dream. When he saw Goliath, he thought that when he had been keeping his father's sheep and a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, he went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on him, he seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Therefore, as he had killed both the lion and the bear, how could Goliath be more powerful than the lion and the bear? This uncircumcised Philistine would be like one of them. He looked at the God who would fulfill his dream.

Psalm 37:4 says, ¡°Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.¡±

God always fulfills our dreams in our hearts.

Ephesians 3:20 says, ¡°Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,¡±

God promises that He would answer our dreams and visions more than enough. God would use even stones on the ground as powerful missiles. While David was approaching his enemy, he chose five smooth stones from the stream. One stone could be enough for one enemy, but why did he put five stones? People think that when David was attacking Goliath, if his whole family came forward, he would fight against all of them so he took five stones and put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it. When he slung it powerfully, nobody knew where it would strike. However, if it would strike squarely like missile, no one could stand it. When David tended his father¡¯s sheep in the field, he always practiced to strike someone like Goliath; so if he had determine to strike, he would strike squarely. But as Goliath wore full armor, David¡¯s stone could have landed on his armor and failed to hit him. Goliath also wore iron helmet so there would be no hole for a stone to enter. If David¡¯s stone had hit his arm or leg, it would have had no effect.
There was only a crack between his eyes. It is because he should see through that crack he could not cover it. When Goliath came forward, there was only one place for David¡¯s stone to enter and hit hard; it was between his eyes. David slung one stone and exactly hit that spot!
¡°In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.¡±

As David slung one stone, Goliath fell facedown on the ground! It struck the Philistine on the forehead so hard that the stone sank into his forehead and broke his head bone and entered into his brain so no brain operation could save him. God¡¯s work is always marvelous!

¡°As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.¡±(1 Samuel 17:48-50)

David did not fight with the third dimensional weapon of iron but with his plan in his thoughts. It brought him a huge success and victory. It strengthened the Israelite soldiers who ran away and hid themselves!
David ran and stood over the Philistine and took hold of his sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. The Israelites had a great victory then and there!
When the Israelites in high spirits returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put the Philistine's weapons in his own tent.
While the soldiers were busy plundering the Philistine soldiers¡¯ possessions, David cut off Goliath¡¯s head and tied his head up with a cord and carried it on his shoulder and drew it to Jerusalem.
He carried it to Jerusalem and put it among his other possessions along with his shepherd belongings. The past experience of accomplished dreams by moving forward with faith becomes the treasure of current life. Because David experienced God¡¯s deliverance from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, he did not step back even when he saw Goliath and was able to boldly move forward.
In our Christian life, our real experience will give us a great hope and power in dealing with real problems.

1 Samuel 17:37 says, ¡°The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.¡±

Our experience of victory in the past strengthens us greatly. When we receive God¡¯s answer to our prayer will give us much power when we face difficulties. Therefore, we should not underestimate experience in our Christian life. This week one of my congregation, named Park JeongEun, who is over sixty, sent me a letter of appreciation.
She was diagnosed as lung cancer and I laid my hand on her to pray for her healing on 22 August. A month later when she received another medical examination for her operation, amazingly her cancer was gone!
Her doctor wondered saying, ¡°She is one in one hundred.¡± Jesus said,
" 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." When we hear the Lord¡®s word, we can have amazing courage and be strengthened. " 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." When we have dreams and faith that we can overcome our disease, this kind of miracle can happen today.

We need to read the stories of these victorious people in the Bible, come to a realization, and make them as our own. Don¡¯t regard God¡¯s promises as the old stories but possess them as our potential with boldness.

Colossians 2:13-15 says, ¡°When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.¡±

God has always won through Jesus Christ! When we rely on the Lord, we must possess His mighty grace as our own. Jesus was crucified on the cross to settle our sins by shedding His blood on it. He made us as wholly innocent righteous people. He settled all dirties of sins and rather made us sanctified and holy. He destroyed all our diseases and made us healthy by His stripes. He removed all our curses and allows us the blessings of Abraham and leads us to resurrection and eternal life. We must accept this wonderful grace of the Lord into our hearts and make them as our own. Jesus¡¯ resurrection is our resurrection and Jesus¡¯ ascension is our ascension and Jesus¡¯ heaven is our heaven. We must harvest God¡¯s work with Jesus.

¡°for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.¡±(1John 5:4)

We need to have the Lord¡¯s victory on the cross as our own by faith.
¡°But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.¡±(Hebrews 10:38-39)


We live by faith.

¡°And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.¡±(Hebrews 11:6)

The Bible says that whosoever comes to God must believe that He
exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. We never get rid of the law of visualization. David focused on Goliath and struck him with a stone and Mark 11:23 says, "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,'¡± It doesn¡¯t mean that we can throw a stone at any place. ¡°If anyone says to this mountain, ¡®Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.¡± We should have a clear goal and practise our faith according to the law of visualization.


An invisible world makes a beautiful, visible world. When we make a beautiful world through dreams and faith in our spiritual world and confess it with our mouths, the Holy Spirit will accomplish it. Even though dreams and faith are invisible, if we boldly move forward by having dreams and faith, God changes our life beautifully. Therefore, we can overcome like David as God is with us.