Be All You Can Be: A Challenge to Stretch Your God-Given Potential (10 page)

I’ve found that before any great accomplishment is achieved in reality, it’s believed in the heart. If we need to hear the applause of the crowd before our Goliath is down, we will never slay him. We have to begin our attack in the face of criticism, believing that the applause will come later.

In addition to criticism, you should count on some loneliness, too. I want you to notice that when David charged up the hill, he didn’t charge up there with an army. They were all in their tents with their knees knocking. I can picture them, hundreds of heads peeking out their tent flaps, probably ready to run in the opposite direction when David was destroyed. And I can see David, steadfast in purpose, moving up the hill alone. When you face your Goliaths, you won’t be backed up by an army either. You will have to face them by yourself.

When I think of loneliness, I think of an Olympic competitor. He displays his personal skill, while the world just watches. No one jumps out of the stands to run with him. I think of Christopher Columbus when he wanted to sail due west to Asia, believing that the world was round. “Oh, no,” everyone else said, “the world is flat.” I think of Henry Ford and the car. One of my great-great-uncles was a good friend of Henry Ford’s. He once told Mr. Ford, “I have no doubt that you can invent an automobile, but once you’ve invented it, where will you drive it? There are no roads! There will be no place for you to go.” My uncle didn’t realize that if you have a great enough idea, people will literally move mountains to make that idea become reality. But you have to have the strength of your convictions to launch your dream alone.

Every person who has never killed a giant will tell you that it’s impossible. They will tell you it can’t happen. So if you set out to confront a Goliath, expect to meet criticism and feel loneliness; it’s all part of the process. David understood that. And David Livingstone charted great paths for missions in Africa. One time, a missionary society wrote him a letter saying, “We have some people who would like to join you. Do you have some easy access roads to get where you are?” Dr. Livingstone wrote back and said, “If you have men who will come only if there are good roads, I don’t want them. I want men who will come even if there is no road at all.” Count your cost. It will cost you something to be victorious in battle. You cannot knock giants off easily.

The third stone that you need in order to knock off your giants is this one: Chart your course. Let’s look at how David charted his course in 1 Samuel 17:31–40. “When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul, and he sent for him” (v. 31). I think this verse holds a great lesson for us. The moment that you commit yourself to any great project, you will be tested. As soon as David said he was going to charge Goliath, someone was willing to take him up on it.

I think every person who sets a great goal knows the trauma of first publicly declaring that goal. Many times when I knew that God was calling me to do something that was different or difficult, I had to go through an inward emotional struggle to get myself to say it publicly, because I knew that once I said it publicly, somebody would hold me accountable for what I had said. When I was called to preach, I struggled until I was seventeen years old to say it publicly because I knew that once I announced it, my friends and my family would take it seriously. In 1973, as a young preacher, I felt that I should lead to the Lord two hundred people who were outside of my church. I remember driving from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Lancaster, Ohio, wrestling with God for the entire eight-hour trip over whether I should declare this goal publicly. I knew that as soon as I told people, they would really jump on it. I declared it publicly, and for a week I knocked on doors and did everything you’re supposed to do to win somebody to the Lord Jesus Christ, but nobody was getting saved. On Saturday night when I came in to do some last-minute study in the church office, a friend was out in the lobby, and he said, “Pastor, I’ve been praying for you all week since you declared you want to win two hundred people to the Lord. I just wondered, how many have you won this week?” And I remember telling him, “None—but I’m going to win somebody before tomorrow night.” I turned around and walked out of the church. I went clear across town to do some serious soul-winning—and led a couple to the Lord. They were in church the next morning. What happened? The moment you publicly announce that you’re going to charge a Goliath, somebody in the crowd will hold you to it. As soon as David said, “I’m going to charge Goliath,” what did the people do? They took him to King Saul. David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine” (v. 32). In verse 33, Saul says to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.” The moment you commit yourself to a great project, not only will your statements be tested, but others will express their doubts. As soon as you say what you’re going to do, there will be the King Sauls of life who will tell you that it has never been done before and you can’t do it either.

But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The L
ORD
who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the L
ORD
be with you.” Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor. David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” And David took them off. (1 Sam. 17:34–39)

When you make a commitment to charge a Goliath, the third thing that will happen is this: People will want to tell you how to do it. Can you relate to that? You see, they’ll express their doubts, but when they find they can’t talk you out of the project, then they’ll want to give you instructions on how to handle it. They’ll try to put their armor on you. Saul, who himself was unwilling to face Goliath, was more than willing to tell David how to do it. Do you know people like that? The very guy who could not handle the problem himself was willing to tell someone else how to handle it.

As a leader, I will listen to anybody. There’s no one who can’t teach me something. But the only ones I’m really going to take seriously are those who have an investment in my cause and are willing to charge the hill with me. When they give me their advice, they’re putting their lives on the line with me. There are all kinds of people who are willing to stay in the background and tell you how to do it—but they’re not willing to take part in it themselves.

Notice that David, when he charted his course, was confident in mapping out his strategy because of his past successes. David knew that the God who helped him with the bear and the God who helped him with the lion is the same God who would help him with the giant. God had delivered him before; God would deliver him again. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of getting success under our belts. We’ve got to have some victories. It is winning that gives us confidence. I find that people who won’t handle problems are people who have histories of failure; they’re afraid of problems.

When I was a kid, I was very frail and anemic. I ate liver all the time—in fact, I ate it so much that I learned to like it—and I had to take medicine to spinach myself up a little bit. Even so I always had a competitor’s heart, and I loved to wrestle my older brother, who was much bigger than I. We’d shove all the living room furniture up against the wall, much to Mother’s disapproval, and go at it! Dad not only allowed this regular evening activity, he was our referee. Have you ever watched fake wrestling on TV? That’s what we did every night—only it was real—and guess who got killed every night for a whole week? So one time Dad said to my brother, “Larry, this week you can’t wrestle Johnny. You referee; I’m going to wrestle him.” Every night my dad and I would wrestle for fifteen or twenty minutes, and I would finally whip him. I would finally get him down and make him say uncle. I felt so good! After I had defeated my dad every night for a whole week, Dad said, “OK, Larry, you and John wrestle again.” And my brother never pinned me again. Did I get strong in a week? No, physically I was about the same, but mentally I had grown a lot. All of the sudden I had deduced that if I could beat my father, I could beat my brother. Dad said it took almost an hour the first night. Larry would almost pin me, but I’d think, “Hey, wait a minute! I whipped Dad; I can whip him.”

That’s what had happened to David. David was mentally tough. So he charted his course based on his past successes. That doesn’t mean we handle our problems the same way every time, but it does mean that our attitude is the same.

Let me give you another acrostic, this one a formula to help you “plan ahead” when you get ready to tackle the Goliaths in your life.

P
redetermine your course of action.

L
ay out your goals.

A
djust your priorities.

N
otify key personnel.

A
llow time for acceptance.

H
ead into action.

E
xpect problems.

A
lways point to success.

D
aily review your plan

The letter
P
stands for
predetermining your course of action
: Decide what you want to accomplish. David knew what he wanted to have happen. He wanted to kill Goliath; he wanted to take Goliath for the glory of God.

After you determine a course of action,
lay out your goals
. Ask yourself, How do I want to achieve that? Think of the course of action as your umbrella; that’s your main purpose. Then set goals that will enable you to accomplish your purpose. David decided to take off the armor of Saul, pick up a slingshot he had used before—a proven, trusted victory tool—and take up the stones. Each of these goals had to be reached before his mission was accomplished.

Third,
adjust your priorities
. That’s so important! Once you have determined your course of action and laid out your goals, you’ll discover priorities you have to discard, because they won’t be effective. You’ll have to discard Saul’s armor, whatever it is, and pick up what you need.

The
N
stands for
notifying key personnel
. David even did that, didn’t he? He went to King Saul and said, “Here’s what is going to happen; here’s what I’m going to do.”

The letter
A
stands for
allowing time for acceptance
. After you’ve predetermined your course of action, laid out your goals, adjusted your personal priorities, and notified the key personnel, you need to allow time for acceptance. Why? Because the world is not used to defeating giants. The more difficult the project, the longer it takes people to accept it. If in your leadership you are finding that some people don’t need time to accept some of your goals, it is probably because your goals are way too small. You’ve got to take bigger steps, make bigger plans, meet bigger giants.

Head into action
. That comes right after the time for acceptance. Some never defeat their Goliaths because they think that allowing time for acceptance means they have to have a consensus. They think they have to have everybody approve of their plans. You will never kill giants in your life if you need everyone’s support. Give them time to understand and accept what you’re going to do, but don’t expect them to agree with it. They may not vote for it, but allow them time to swallow it, and then head into action.

The letter
E
stands for
expecting problems
. The bigger the project, the bigger the problems. It’s always that way. If you’re having too easy a time achieving your goal, maybe your goal is not big enough. Don’t let problems surprise you; expect them. I once had breakfast with a fellow in the construction business. He made a statement I’ll never forget. He said, “I have made my money off everybody else’s problems.” And he’d made a lot of money! He was willing to tackle what no one else would tackle. What others drew back from and were intimidated by, he was willing to take on.