Discover how to defeat the giants in your life with this powerful message from Tony Evans. Start the new year fresh as you apply these spiritual truths to life’s challenges.

hello Glen Arden

it’s an honor to be with you you may be

seated

it’s always a privilege for me to be

here with my good friend pastor and

secret sister Jenkins and to their great

family spiritual family here and my wife

will be joining me for the final service

but it’s great to be with you here today

pastor asked me to just mentioned we

have we brought two books with us today

that will kind of go a little a lot

deeper into what we going to share with

you now on spiritual warfare victory and

spiritual warfare and the battle is the

Lord’s so they’ll be in the back for

those who want them afterwards to take

you deeper than but hopefully we will

give you a great introduction to the

principles of it today so let’s go to

the Lord in prayer father I ask that you

will take the words with my mouth

meditations of my heart make them

beneficial and acceptable to your people

so that we will all grow and learn the

secret of victory

in Jesus name Amen a man went to the

doctor one day and told the doctor doc

I’m hurting all over all parts of my

body are in pain

he said well everywhere he said well

yeah everywhere he said well touch your

forehead he touched his forehead and

said ah so well touch your ear he

touched his ear with oh wow touch your

shoulder just as shoulder with ah doctor

said you idiot you got a dislocated

finger it’s a see sometimes it seems

like everything is wrong

when actually only one thing maybe will

I want to call your attention to verse

Samuel 17 in a very familiar story you

know it backwards and forward you’ve

heard it all of your life David and

Goliath and I want to give you maybe a

little different take on it today

because I want to tell you how to defeat

the Giants in your life first of all

we’ve got a problem the problems name is

Goliath and he’s a giant

we told him chapter 17 verse 6 that his

height was six cubits and a span that’s

approximately nine foot six inches tall

so he’s a giant a giant is something

that looms large in your life it’s huge

it’s intimidating it’s so big

a giant is any noun person place thing

or thought that looms too big to conquer

in your world you know when something’s

a giant in your life because it not only

intimidates you but it controls your

emotions because verse 11 says and when

Saul and all the Israel heard these

words of the Philistine that they were

dismayed and greatly afraid verse 24

says when all the men of Israel saw the

man they fled from him and were greatly

afraid you know you have a giant in your

life when it’s telling you what you got

to feel when it’s controlling your

emotions when it’s causing your piece to

become destroy

be it a person place thing or thought

that’s a giant in your life you know

when something is a giant in your life

because it just won’t go away

verse 16 says the Philistine came

forward morning and evening for forty

days and took his stand you know when

something is a giant because it shows up

in the morning and will let you go at

night it’s attacking you all the time

day after day after day after day Giants

come in all shapes and sizes there

financial Giants and medical Giants and

circumstantial Giants and their

financial Giants their their emotional

Giants they all have one thing in common

they want to own your world they want to

shape your emotions they want to dictate

your well-being so here we are with a

giant enter a young man named David a

teenager who comes upon the scene where

this giant has intimidated a whole

nation saul and his army bringing food

from his father jesse to his brothers

who on the battle line and david comes

and he faces the same problem with a

different perspective now if i were to

ask you what did David used to kill

Goliath the Giant in his life I’m sure

many of you would say a stone and a

slingshot and certainly that was used as

part of the program I would like to give

you an a more potent reason why David

was able to slay the Giant and if you

grab this reason it will enable you to

slay the Giants

in your life the nouns the people the

places the things the thoughts that are

seeking to control your world you see

David had a different perspective and he

recites it twice in verse 26 and in

verse 36 then David says in verse 26 he

spoke to the man who was standing the

Midd who was standing there saying what

will be done to the man who kills the

Philistine and takes away the reproach

from Israel for who is this

uncircumcised Philistine that he should

talk the armies of the Living God he

says now in verse 36 your servant has

killed both a lion and a bear and this

uncircumcised Philistine will be like

one of them since he has taunted the

armies of the Living God now if you read

that verse too fast you’ll miss it David

saw something that Saul and none of the

other soldiers in Israel saw all of them

saw a nine-foot 6-inch giant what David

saw when he looked at him is that man

has not been to the doctor

who is this uncircumcised philistine

everybody else was looking up here David

was looking down there and David says

that man has not been to the doctor who

is this uncircumcised philistine it was

the presence or absence of the

circumcision that shifted David’s

perspective a perspective is not what

you see a perspective is how you look at

what you see let me give you the

spiritual principle for victory and

spiritual warfare it’s this if all you

see is what you see you do not see all

there is to be seen let me say that

again if all you see is what you see

then you do not see all there is to be

seen it is the enemy’s goal to keep you

seeing only what you see because if he

can keep you seeing only what you see

you will only react to what you see but

if what you see is all you see you will

not see all there is to be seen a a

little boy one day lost his contact

lenses they popped out of his mouth in a

carpeted area so he’s panicking 30

minutes looking for this contact he

tells his mother mama the contact popped

out of my eye I can’t find it she said

let me help you son and in less than 60

seconds she found the contact lens after

he’d been searching 30 minutes

he said mama how could you find it so

quickly when I’m gone so long trying to

find it she says because son we weren’t

looking for the same thing you are

looking for contact lens I was looking

for a hundred and fifty dollars that was

lost down there

just depends on what you’re looking at

that will determine what you see he says

who is this uncircumcised philistine now

what was it about circumcision that

caught David’s attention well in Israel

the sign of the Covenant for the male

was circumcision circumcision brought

you under the Covenant of God

so circumcision was a coven mental Act

so the question now is what is the

Covenant a covenant in the Bible is a

spiritually binding bond a spiritually

binding bond

it was superglue a covenant in the Bible

was something God established to

inaugurate an official relationship with

his people so he established a covenant

with Abraham he established a covenant

with David his tabs are coming with

Israel the Bible says marriage is a

covenant the Bible says when you get

saved you become part of the New

Covenant the Bible says when you take

communion you are participating in the

New Covenant of his blood whenever God

wanted to establish something officially

and make it legal in the spiritual realm

he would covenant it so this is an

official term that unfortunately many of

God’s people don’t know about but it is

the authoritative term of how God

relates to his people David says that

man hasn’t been to the doctor so that

man is not on the Covenant now why was

important to know the man wasn’t in the

covenant because covenant provides a

covering when you’re under covenant

you’re under cover let it was out of

what was raining husband when I came in

this morning it was raining outside

and why was raining outside you know

when it’s raining you have an umbrella

the umbrella is meant to cover you

now you

and have an umbrella but not be under it

or you can have an umbrella and be under

the covering of it when you open up the

umbrella it does not stop it from

raining it just stops it from raining on

you because you’re under cover

if you’re not saved today you’re not

with a covenant you don’t have an

umbrella if you are saved today you have

the Covenant but you may not be under it

so you’re still going to get wet so

everybody who’s saved has the Covenant

but the question is are you operating

underneath it in football everything is

dependent upon the location of the

football first downs are determined by

where the football is placed touchdowns

are determined by whether the football

across the plane of the goal line field

goals are determined but whether the

ball goes to the post complete passes

are determined by whether the ball was

dropped or caught you take away that

football and a billion-dollar industry

collapses that one little thing controls

everything else the victory or defeat

and the spiritual battles of your life

will be determined by your proximity to

the Covenant so if you don’t understand

the covenant if you’re not in the

covenant or if you’re not underneath the

covering of the Covenant then that means

you are on your own so many Christians

all those saying are on their own and

are running from the Goliath’s in their

lives because they are not under cover

they’re not underneath the covering

covenant of God it is your alignment to

this covenant see many Christians want

to date god when he wants a wedding ring

they want to be in the vicinity of God

without making a covenant ‘el commitment

to God and wonder why they don’t have

victory and authority when the Giants

show up in their lives and so what they

do is they they they transfer covenant

for activities and wonder why I go to

church it’s not working I read my Bible

it’s not working I pray my prayers and

nothing is working I had a problem in my

garage not too long ago and that is I

went to get in my car to go to the

office for a meeting and I pushed the

garage door opener and the door would

not open I push and I push and I push

and I push but the door would not open I

went over and tried to push it up but

the door was too big and too heavy it

would not open so now I’m frustrated

because it’s not that I’m not trying

it’s not that I’m not pushing it’s not

that I’m not trying to lift the problem

over my head it’s just that nothing was

working so I pick up the telephone and I

called the garage repairman and I said

my garage door is not working and I

don’t know what else to do I need you to

do something to let me out so I can get

my car to the garage so I can go to my

meeting he said you’ll be a favor I said

what he said go over to the garage store

keep the phone in here go over to the

garage door so I went over to the garage

door he said now look down to your left

and to your right I looked down to my

left I looked down to my right he says

you see two square canisters I said yes

he said which way are they pointing I

said one is pointing over here and the

other one is pointing out he said that’s

your problem those canisters aren’t

talking to one another because they’re

not aligned with one another so they’re

not getting the signal and because

they’re not getting the signal you don’t

have the power to open up the door the

power is missing because of the

Raymond is missing so if you’ll just

take this one and turn it so it faces

that one you’ll find power that was

already available that was not talking

to one another so I took this canister

made it face that canister push the

button and that which I was trying to

force just rose up all by itself because

I was in proper alignment if you are not

confidentially aligned then despite the

fact you’re safe despite the fact you go

to church despite the fact you read your

Bible despite the fact you pray without

governmental alignment that you cannot

draw down divine authority and if you

don’t even know to think to look behind

what you see see everything visible and

physical is preceded by something

invisible and spiritual everything

visible and physical is preceded by

something invisible and spiritual so if

you want to correct something that’s

visible and physical you must first

identify and correct the thing that’s

invisible and spiritual but if you do

not first identify and correct the

invisible spiritual cause you cannot

come up with a visible physical cure if

you do not identify the visible physical

cause then you cannot come up with a

physical physical solution so what Satan

wants to keep you doing is to keep you

dealing with what your five senses per

take up what you see here taste he wants

to keep you in the physical so that you

miss the spiritual so that you’re not

governmental so that there is no

authority that you can draw down from

heaven but what you see what you can’t

see that you can deal with something

beyond what you do see because if all

you see is what you see you do not see

all there is to be seen

and so David sees the fact that this man

has not been cut this man has not been

to the doctor so he has no

ina thority associated with him he just

a big guy he’s looking big so let me

give you let me let me give you a little

uh a thing to do it’s real simple thing

you know do you do identify the giant in

your life whatever that giant is in your

life that thing that looms large that is

intimidating that is controlling your

emotions and I want you to right now

before I even finish the rest of my

sermon give it a name I want you to give

that giant the name Goliath because if

you give it Goliath you’ll know where

it’s going to wind up so let’s move on

and see where this giant winds up so

David now is decided that he’s detected

the spiritual default in this man the

Philistine in verse 41 comes and

approaches David with the shield bearer

in his hand and he looks at David with

disdain he says you’re a youth verse 42

you’re ready and he says am i a dog that

you come to me with a sticks and stone

with slingshots and then Goliath makes

the spiritual mistake he’s going to make

a spiritual mistake and any giant

outside of God’s will in your life is

going to make the same spiritual state

and it’s the spiritual mistake you want

your giant to make you need your giant

to make this mistake what was the

mistake he says in verse 43 the

Philistine said to David am i a dog that

you call that am i a dog in verse 43

that you come to me with sticks and the

Philistine cursed David by his gods

oh now the Philistine went spiritual

because he cursed David by his gods you

know many of you know my son was a

Washington [ __ ] for one year and he

came out of Beyla and he’s a Washington

[ __ ] and we came up to the games and

and he was a fullback so

so the quarterback gets the ball and

would hand it off and sometimes he got

the handoff and we handed off to my son

Jonathan well my son Jonathan got the

food got the ball something happened

when the quarterback got the ball

everybody came out to the quarterback

because the quarterback had the ball but

once he handed the ball off everybody

left the quarterback it went over to my

son of the halfback whoever got the ball

okay

because whoever had the ball inherited

the problem

okay the enemy’s coming out to the

quarterback as long as the quarterback

has the ball but once the quarterback

hands off the ball the enemy has to go

to where the ball is whoever is holding

it so guess what Goliath says I’m coming

to you in the name of my god David says

you come to me varies for t5 with the

sword in the spear but I come to you in

the name of the Lord of hosts the God of

the armies of Israel whom you have

taunted oh you think your God is better

than my god he made it a spiritual

battle between gods

guess what David did he hands the

football off he says i’ma let my god buy

your God imma get you God’s fighting

because if I can get my god

against your God then I can handle you

against me because I’ve handed the

problem all to somebody who’s bigger

than you and your gods because he

understood the Covenant and because he’s

operating covenant aliy he knows David

as he knows Goliath is not operating

covenant elite he knows he has authority

now let me show you something David does

he does an amazing thing when you’re

operating covenant alee he says I come

to you in the name of the lord of the

armies of Israel

he uses God’s name

now there’s a whole theology of names

but let me summarize it for

you names in the Bible God has 85 names

in the Old Testament 85 different names

why does God have 85 different names

because he attaches the name to a

situation and the name he attaches is

relevant to the need of the scenario so

when you see these 85 names popping up

all through the Old Testament that’s

because they’re all these different

scenarios he’s addressing so guess what

he’s got a name for your giant okay

because his name always pops up in

different scenarios so when he creates

in Genesis 1:1 he uses the name Elohim

in the beginning Elohim created heaven

linear because that’s his creative name

when he creates man he uses the name

Yahweh or Jehovah capital L capital o

capital R capital D when you see all

four letters capitalized that’s your

hova because that’s God’s relational

name because now he wants to relate to

man when he wants to show you he’s in

charge he’s got a Hebrew name I don’t

know I don’t need your boss your manager

the one who tell you what to do when

when you need somebody to meet a need

he’s Jehovah Jireh Genesis 22 so he got

all these names cuz he’s got all these

situations we’re in in which we need the

name of God so David’s in a battle so

guess what name he uses Jehovah sabah

jehovah sabah means the lord who

oversees and army why does he use that

name cuz goliath and the philistines are

an army so god’s got a name for whatever

giant you’re facing in your life okay

you’ve got the appropriate name now

names are very important in the Bible

and they’re important to us – if I say

Bill Gates you think money if I say

Serena Williams you think tennis you

know because those names have a reality

attached to it you’re not gonna name a

child Hitler you’re not a name the child

Benedict Arnold because what is attached

to that name you don’t want to be

attached to that child if you call

somebody chubby that means they’re fat

because somebody’s slim that means

they’re skinny because that name is

reflecting a characteristic so God’s got

all these names to reflect this

character for the circumstance you find

yourself in what he wants you to do is

he wants you to make your physical

battle a spiritual battle so he can deal

with the spiritual reality which

empowers you to deal with the physical

reality that you’re facing that you’re

intimidated by Satan wants to keep you

only dealing with the physical skip the

spiritual because you know that you skip

the spiritual he can control your life

on the physical but if you ever see the

Covenant and are operating undercover

being able to draw down Authority then

you can use the name of God to overcome

the false gods that are bringing about

the physical challenge that you’re

facing in your life many of you know my

son Anthony and the singer and he’s a–

and when he first started singing he was

you know he was just learning his way in

and he asked me to pick him up from the

airport I said okay he told me what

flight he was on so I went to pick him

up he’s a third person off the plane

we’re walking to baggage claim and as we

walk in the baggage claim halfway to

baggage claim I stop I look at him I

said oh no you didn’t he started

laughing because he knew exactly what I

meant you see if you the third person

off the plane you in first class if you

the third person off the plane you in

first class but he didn’t have

first-class ticket he didn’t have

first-class money what he had was my

name

cuz he’s a junior so I knew what he had

done he had gone up and said my name is

Tony Evans and I’m an executive Platinum

flyer and do you have any upgrades they

said oh dr. Evans we’re glad to have you

flying with us again today guess what he

did he used my name but because it

became his name because he’s covenant

and as my son he could claim my

authority to be both up to first class

he didn’t have the authority but he had

my name and when he used my name

he got clothes that didn’t belong to him

you may not have a name that has

authority in hell but God has a name

that has authority everywhere and if

you’re undercover you can use that name

to claim divine authority we work we

wore medication we want occasion in on

and Niagara Falls when the kids were

young and we drove all the way from

Texas to Niagara Falls New York long

drive got there we read like 2:00 in the

morning got there and we were all just

dog tired went up to the hotel and I

hadn’t made reservations exactly

and all my planning I forgot to make

reservation and only a couple hotels at

Niagara Falls and all of them were full

the next closest hotel that we could

even get to was an over an hour away

it’s 2:00 in the morning with dog-tired

I forgot to get it so nobody is happy in

my car

nobody is happy cuz dad forgot to get

the hotel there were a lot of people in

front of us everybody was told no more

rooms no more rooms no but rooms so I’m

frustrated now mad don’t want to talk to

nobody you know because you know I made

a mistake I failed and in my failure it

was affecting the well-being of my whole

family I said all we can do is get

something to eat

and let’s get something to eat even

though it was still open

let’s give something eat and we’ll just

have to find a hotel that’s when

Priscilla mitts war room herself

that’s when Priscilla said but daddy we

haven’t talked to God about this problem

I need her to tell me that I don’t need

to tell me that I’m the pastor I tell

you that you don’t tell me that she said

no daddy you we haven’t talked to God

about this problem so I’m caught in

between like I’m not even talk to God

mood right now so I told her you pray so

she prayed she bowed her little head

she’s a young teenager by maybe 13 years

old and she says now Lord you know we’re

in a situation we can’t fix you know we

didn’t make reservations we stuck out

here Lord and and we’re tired Lord and

and and we haven’t consulted you my dad

haven’t consulted you

so she praises this eloquent prayer says

Amen I say okay now let’s get practical

let’s eat and then we’ll go find a hotel

while we were eating to get ready to go

to get the next hotel find another hotel

the manager comes over to the table he

said sir weren’t you one of those

families looking for a room I said yes

where there were some people in front of

you I can’t find them

one of the families had an emergency

they got to leave right away do you

still need a room I looked at Priscilla

and said shut up shut up shut up

but she was operating under covenant I

was looking at the circumstances I was

looking at the reality Goliath is real

you can’t deny him he’s 9 foot 6

don’t make him smaller than he really is

but understand that behind him there is

a spiritual reality he has not been to

the doctor so he doesn’t have final

say-so over your life over your world

over your well-being and so forth family

I want to challenge you today to go on

the offense against your Goliath the

things that loom large in your life that

looks undefeatable and start dictating

to it in the name of God in the name of

God a couple of days from now we will be

having our first great-grandchild

my granddaughter will be

having a child she no husband in Houston

and um

everybody is looking forward to this

well I have mixed emotions I’m excited

but it reminds me how old I am so it’s a

mixed situation but when my

granddaughter her name is Karis was a

little girl she was over my house and

she was screaming she was outside the

yard

screaming I’m rushing to the door a dog

was chasing her not Reverend Robert the

dog was dog was nipping at her so she’s

terrified because she’s a little girl

the dog is so much bigger

she calls me papi she said papi papi

the dog the dog you don’t the dog papi

she ran into my arms huffing and puffing

and screaming and the dog her she’s

huffing and puffing and screaming

because she’s terrified she’s a little

girl being chased by a Goliath dog but

after a while the dog barking at my feet

with her in my arms she looked up at me

with tears coming down her eyes and then

she looked down at the dog she looked up

at me did she look down at the dog she

looked up at me again did she look down

at the dog one more time she looked up

at me and this time she looked down at

the dog it went then anything here

where’d she get that power from we

should get that authority from where did

she get that ability from to stare her

Goliath in the face and make fun of it

because she knew that the one coven

literally holding her was bigger than

the one that was against her the one

that was scaring her was smaller than

the one hold

her and when you understand that you’re

in the hands of a powerful God all the

devil and his Giants can do is make

noise Rara and you can go

nananana claim your authority in the

name of Jesus Christ

god bless you the books will go into

more detail