NCarolinian

                    In case  you did not know, faith is a struggle, it is a fight! Paul writes to his protégé, Timothy, saying - "Fight the good fight of faith." (1 Tim. 6:12)           However, Paul does not simply stop there, he continues with the admonishment to -  "Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." (1 Tim. 6:12)          There seems to be two levels of action implied here - striving (fighting) and seizing (taking hold). These descriptive words do not have anything to do with the initial Salvation of an individual. The Holy Spirit makes this point clear through Paul to the believers in Ephesus -  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) ...

                              The idea of walking around naked everywhere as the norm, like Adam and Eve experienced before The Fall, is hard to imagine now-a-days, but not impossible. Clothing is essential - mentally, spiritually and physically.          Clothing has gone a lot of different directions since God clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skin (Genesis 3:21). Besides the fact that clothing is used as a sanitary function and cultural expectation, we observe clothing used for status, protection, making a statement, as a disguise and simply as a comfortable covering.          We have certain, one-time outfits or at least far-and-few-between apparel in our closet. There are clothes that show we are in mourning. There are clothes that display we a part of a wedding party. There are clothes that hint at a Prom nearby. There are clothes we wear ...

Big and ferocious things were not strange encounters or battles to David. This shepherd boy had to learn at an early age how to kill animals several times his size, weight and speed. His flock of sheep depended upon him. Fast forward to David's encounter with Goliath and David is protecting a particular flock once again - the nation of Israel. One of the big takeaways from this battle is what happened just prior to David walking out on the battlefield. 1 Samuel 17:38-40 says, "Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. 'I cannot go in these,' he said to Saul, 'because I am not used to them.' So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine....