Bear and Lion Country

David did not boast when he told King Saul, "Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God." (I Samuel 17:36, NIV). No, David spoke from a place where God had tested and proved him.

It was also a place where David found the promises of God to be true in bringing about a supernatural deliverance while watching sheep. Later, David (a Christ type figure) would be a shepherd king watching over an entire nation. To conquer a giant or lead a nation required his faith to grow and mature in bear and lion country.

Beloved, at times we will encounter and lions and bears in our Christian walk. Paul writes, "If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." (I Corinthians 15:32, NIV). Paul was not merely speaking of people but demonic powers working through human flesh to oppose the work of God. Remember we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).

To avoid these spiritual beasts will be to our disadvantage. In conflict, we find His strength and in confrontation we learn the truth of God's promises to sustain us. In lion and bear country we move beyond the printed page of God's promises to experiencing the reality of them as God fights for us. Lion and bear country is a wilderness that many saints had to walk through before tasting personal victory or entering into ministry.

Moses ran from Egypt after murdering a man. He spent 40 years in the back of the wilderness tending his father-in-law's sheep before God called him to deliver Israel out of bondage. After his conversion, Paul spent three years in the desert before going to Jerusalem as a minister of the gospel (Galatians 1:17). Jesus full of the Holy Ghost was lead into the wilderness where He was sorely tested by the devil (Luke 4:1).

Beloved, every beast you slay in His name trust in God deepens. You see His hand at work fulfilling His word. An excitement grows because what God has done for you will help others be set free like David who slayed Goliath.