Women of Noble Charchter

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FAITHFULNESS

David of the Old Testament was a faithful lad. He herded sheep and ran occasional errands for his father Jesse. I can only imagine what David's days were like as a sheepherder. Long and quiet mostly. There he found time to really dig deeply into the character of his holy God. There he found solace in the protective hedge of his Father.

God taught him how to lead his sheep to better pasture. He taught him the selflessness of being the one who is responsible for others. He taught David how to depend on Him for his daily breath and song.

God taught David everything he would need for where he would soon be heading as ruler and king. All he knew was that God had given him the responsibility of being a keeper and he was responsible and kept his task with all diligence.

There was no murmuring and complaint. He just did the task at hand.

When the lion and the bear came he trusted in God to deliver them into his hand. He fought for his cause. He reacted with fire and passion to slay his flock's attackers and safely delivered them out of their mouths. How often are we faced with adversity and grumble? How often do we set out with purpose and when trouble arises we shrink back and say it must not have been the Lord?

How lord will we halt between two opinions. If it be the Lord who has called us to this position in ministry then shouldn't we do it with all of our hearts?

I noticed that as faithful David persisted in the things of God with diligence, the Lord began to answer the yearnings of His heart. He knew that David desired to be with his brothers in the heat of the battle.

That he yearned for the right to fight for his cause. He could have brought his brothers the bread and cheese his father had sent them on the battlefield and then gone home. He didn't though. He stuck around long enough to hear the ramblings of an over confident giant with an attitude problem. He didn't waste time beating around the bush, he let the king know that he would be the man to challenge this no covenant-carrying philistine.

They tried to give him the kings armor and weapons but he refused them. They were too heavy and cumbersome. We know that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. He would use the weapons God had trained his hands to war with. He would use his training to defeat the enemy at hand. You see God had trained him to do battle through his days of being a shepherd.

He had been faithful in the little that God had given him and one day the first of his many breakthroughs came. In his dedication to his assignment he mastered the lessons that God had taught him and passed the final exam of Goliath.

We have been herding sheep, but with what kind of attitude are we embracing the work of the Lord? Are we giving it all we've got or doing just enough to get by? With what kind of heart do we serve? In serving we are really only getting what we put in. The bible says, God is not mocked, that which a man sows is that which he shall reap? Are we setting out to master our tasks at hand? We should be because believe me the series of finals will come and will we be ready? We will if we set our hearts on mastering our current assignments.

Being diligent in learning our crafts. David experienced great victory on the day of the lion and bear. These prepared him for an even greater victory with the enemies of God, the philistines. These were the first of many trials that would mold him into his calling and destiny of being king.

Finally, how long was it between the time David was anointed king until it manifested in the natural or earthly realm? So many of us are waiting for our destiny to come up and slap us in the face. We have an anointing yes, but we may be anointed to be a shepherd until the time of manifestation. Often it's our trials that are molding and bringing us into position to receive. We spend so much of our time just waiting around for the manifestation instead of allowing God to prepare us for the manifestation. He is preparing us through our current circumstances, assignments, and trials. David made his assignments his passion.

He did his service as unto the Lord. He allowed his assignments to prepare him for his destination. He remained faithful to God through the entire time of shepherd to hero to outcast to king. He made a friend of the Lord and used what he knew of Gods character in his prayers. He knew that God was a deliverer because he had faced a lion and a bear. He knew that God was faithful because He had proven to be Davids help over and over. He had focus and determination to be excellent or to Excel?

In all he was doing at the time and to always trust God for the outcome. We have an account of Davids life to learn from. We have the tools available to be all that we can to be all that God is calling us to. To be people after Gods own heart.