‘David said to the Philistine, “you come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to 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

In The Beginning It Was So

Life is spiritual and full of battles. In spiritual warfare, what is the place of words – what we say – in the dynamics of battle? That is the focus of these meditations.

In the beginning, as God was about to begin the work of creation, he was confronted with the problem of darkness. The earth was “formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:2). The earth was shapeless, without the definite structures we now know that give meaning to things and therefore it was useless. It was empty – without inhabitants. To make matters worse, darkness covered this shapeless confusion and disturbance. Simply put, there was chaos.

God could have willed creation into existence, for such is the power of his will. Or he could have devised another means to deal with the darkness that confronted him. For instance, when it came to the making of man, God “formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). But in dealing with the darkness and beginning the work of creation, God did something that is very instructive – he spoke.

God looked darkness in the eye and spoke into it and brought light out of darkness

Sovereign power and divine wisdom saw that the way to deal with the problem of darkness and chaos was to speak, not just will. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. He didn’t will the light out of the darkness; He looked darkness in the eye and spoke into it and brought light out of darkness. You and I know that light and darkness do not co-exist; the presence of one is the absence of the other. Yet in speaking, God brought light out of darkness. What brought victory against this darkness was what God said. There is power in words.

There are situations that we confront that the correct weapon to use is your mouth and the spoken word. No other weapon will work. In fact, in some instances, even when something else will ‘work’, what is needed or even commanded is that you speak. Whereas at Horeb, Moses was instructed to strike the rock to get water for the Israelites to drink (Exodus 17:5-7), at Kadesh he was told to “speak to the rock” for it to pour out its water (Numbers 20:7-8). Well, he struck the rock this second time too and although it brought forth water, he paid dearly for that violation. We must know when to speak and when to act otherwise.

David Vs Goliath

Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath and his people represented the devil’s opposition to the welfare of God’s people. Make no mistake—Satan will not appear in an obvious physical form. As a spirit, he will act through intermediaries, and their versions are diverse. In the instance in the scripture above, he came through the Philistines.

When the battle lines were drawn, the warring parties didn’t just begin to fire arrows against each other. The Philistines, led by Goliath, were smarter than that – they knew the power of words in warfare. Even though the Bible dedicates a full paragraph just to describe the imposing physicality of Goliath (vv. 4-7), that was not the first weapon he brought out from his arsenal. The bible says “Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel.” He called them “servants of Saul” and dared anyone to step out and fight him and went on to state the consequences of such recklessness – slavery. For a nation that had a history of centuries of slavery in Egypt, that must have caused them post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Goliath said, “This day I defy the ranks of Israel!” What effect did these words have on the collective psyche of the Israeli military? ‘On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul (the commander-in-chief) and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified (v. 8-11). The power of words in warfare! What dismayed them wasn’t the warrior’s fear-instilling build or the other weapons he and his fellow soldiers carried but his words. For forty days, Goliath came forward every morning and evening and took his stand (v.16). They had been at the battlefront for over a month—but there were no gunshots or bombs, just words. Words had done the damage before any physical weapon could be deployed.

Then, sent by his father Jesse to check on the welfare of his brothers who were in the army and report back, David appeared on the scene. His father said they were with Saul and all the men of Israel in the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.

In certain battles if you do not open your mouth to speak, you have lost ab initio

When you read that they had been fighting for 40 days, you would be forgiven for thinking like a modern-day person that F-16s were flying, stealth bombers were dropping explosives, uncountable bullets were fired, routes were being mined and arms and ammunition were being produced at scale with other non-military hardware being repurposed. No one did that. The fighting (present continuous) that was going on here was a war or words, where Goliath and the Philistines who knew how to speak were winning and the Israelites who closed their mouths were in dismay. In certain battles if you do not open your mouth to speak, you have lost ab initio. In such instances, a closed mouth is tantamount to defeat. As believers engaged in an ongoing war, we must learn to use the weapon of words to fight.

Thankfully, David knew this. While he was speaking to some of the men in Israel’s camp, Goliath stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance and the bible says, “and David heard it” (v. 23). This is no ordinary hearing. This was not the type of hearing that resulted in dismay like it did with the rest of the army. This hearing was the type that a spiritually conscious warrior heard and was awakened enough to want to act.

The physical size difference between him and Goliath that added an element of fear in others meant nothing to this man who had experienced God’s victories in the wilderness (vv. 34-37). Then it was against wild beasts but the enemy was the same. You must not miss it – the enemy, I said earlier, has many elements and entities that he employs in his game of disguise. It is still the same person.

Before he had any physical weapon, David immediately started speaking his own words; “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God” (v.17). Open your mouth and speak; don’t just lock up that conviction in your mind. He also didn’t just speak, David addressed Goliath’s mislabelling of the Israelites. Whereas Goliath said they were “servants of Saul” (v.8), David said they were armies, “armies of the living God” (v.26).

It’s not who we are in ourselves—but whose we are—that counts

He would later try on Saul’s war clothing but not being used to them (vv. 38-40), he relied on the God to whom he belonged. Your identity in this conflict is also very important and you must know who you are – a soldier in the army of the Lord. It’s not who we are in ourselves—but whose we are—that counts. The devil knows who he fights. The sons of Sceva went to war with a false identity and came away battered (Acts 19:13-16). Fight from the standpoint that you are backed by the most powerful force in earth and heaven.

At the battlefront, the war of words resumed. The Philistine champion didn’t first deploy his physical weapons but chose words that he slung at David. He 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 responded with words of his own: “I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty … This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head … the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands” (vv. 41-47). It was thereafter that David, with the help of the God he had spoken about, killed the giant Philistine champion with a stone slung from a sling.

A sword in a scabbard does no harm. It is good that you have the sword of the Spirit in your heart; unsheathe it and use it by speaking out the words and promises of scripture like Jesus did when he was tempted (Matthew 4:1-11).

What You Say Is What You Get

The Bible says, “Let the weak say, ‘I am strong’” (Joel 3:10). This was not a command to ignorant or naïve people, or to strong people to declare what or who they were; it was a command to people who knew they were weak. For the sake of the battle, they were to speak into existence what they needed to become. This wasn’t delusion—it was a strategy. Declaring what you need to become is a biblical method of engaging spiritual reality.

They could have been asked to see or imagine themselves as strong but the command was to declare it. Something happens to you when you hear the right words – you are awakened to the truth and what is possible with God. It stirs your faith, for faith comes by hearing. It was what David heard that spurred him into action. The words also have an effect on the enemy as we’ve seen all along.

After Amalek attacked Israel and was defeated, God told Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven” (Exodus 17:14). Even though God was going to do it, It was important both for Moses to say it and for Joshua to hear it. That is the battle strategy; what you say is what you get.

At Lazarus’ grave, Jesus did the same thing. ‘He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out (John 11:43-44). At the home of Jairus, while everyone was losing their head, Jesus declared, “The child is not dead but asleep” to the scorn of the people. He took her by the hand but still engaged death with his words: “Talitha koum!” (“Little girl, I say to you, get up!”) and it was so (Mark 5:41-42). At Joppa, in the home of Tabitha who had died, Peter got down on his knees and prayed but he didn’t stop there. He turned to the dead woman and said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up (Acts 9:40).

You Too Have a Mouth, Use It

Prayer is of utmost importance, but we must know when a battle requires that you deploy the weapon of speech. When mountains stand in your way, heed the wisdom of Christ. Twice he taught us to speak to the mountain.

The disciples were unable to drive out the demon responsible for the seizures that a young man suffered from. After Jesus dealt with it by the word of his rebuke, he told them, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from there” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you’ (Matthew 1714-21).

After he spoke to the fig tree and it withered, Jesus said the same thing, ‘You can also say to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and it will be done’ (Matthew 21:21).

When the trumpet is blown, it must be followed by the shout, “For the Lord and for Gideon” (Judges 7:18) for the Midianites to be vanquished. There is a time to blow the trumpet when moving round the walls of Jericho, but there is also a time to open your mouth and shout. If they didn’t shout, the walls wouldn’t fall down (Joshua 6:4-5).

Even mountains have ears that are waiting to hear your command

If you are to speak to a mountain but choose to pray only, it will remain there in your way. The command is to speak. If you do not speak you will not see the results. Even mountains have ears that are waiting to hear your command. Open your mouth and speak to them. I know there are times when we pray with groans that words cannot utter and the Spirit is there to help, but that cannot be the only war strategy you have. Open your mouth and speak what you desire to see. It is an admonition of scripture and we must put it to use if we will see results. You’ve been equipped with divine weapons—and your words are one of them. Whether confronting darkness, facing giants, raising dead situations, or moving mountains—open your mouth.