In 2017, boxing champion Floyd Mayweather fought MMA champion Conor McGregor. It was billed as the biggest fight in history. When Mayweather won, he took away nearly $400 million. His mother never gave him a million, his friends did not give him a million, but beating an opponent did.
David did not become famous by fighting a midget. He fought a giant and that made him a household name. God has allowed for us to have opponents because our rewards and reputation come from the opponents we defeat. Did you notice Jesus never seemed to have a day without enemies, just seven chapters into John, the Pharisees decided to kill him.
When you stand for the truth, liars will resent and despise you. When you walk by honour, the dishonourable will not like you. When you are diligent, the lazy will hate you. When you live like Jesus, satan will be coming to kill you!
There is a Scripture that I bet none of you have on your fridge or in your memory box, and it is Matthew 10.22. It says “you shall be hated by all men for my name’s sake”. Jesus goes on to say “if they called the master Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” (Matthew 10.25). Jesus sent us forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, so we need to be able to perceive wolves. Not to honour them and have them close to us, but to avoid getting eaten. I have seen wolves in sheep’s clothing this year go out of their way to devour sheep, and it has been a tragedy. We need to learn to perceive! This perception starts when you realize that you cannot be an effective Christian and not have enemies.
Your opponent will hate you, and hate what you are doing for God, and will want it to stop. They will often try and persuade you not to go all out for Jesus, to calm down, to give less, to serve less. They will try and get you to serve other gods. Your opponents will be revealed as they resent your increase. One of the things that will happen as you increase in goods is that you will find out who your true friends are, as fake friends will actually resent your increase and success.
Nehemiah faced opponents who were unhappy he was rebuilding the wall, Ezra faced opponents who were unhappy he was rebuilding the temple, David’s brother was annoyed he wasn’t afraid of Goliath.
Your opponents will often go hard to recruit others to oppose you too, they will share their misguided and envious comments with others to get them to despise you too. In Ezra 4.5 they hired counsellors to stop them building the temple. Do not be surprised that your opponents are trying to recruit others to stop you building.
Listen carefully – if you are in a church that is advancing, someone in that church is recruiting people to the opponent camp, opposing the building, the growing, the increase. If you listen to them, then you will become an opponent too. You are literally joining satan’s team and becoming an accuser. Do not do that. You will forget how to dream, you will forget how to make a noise for Jesus, you will become a Pharisee.
Your opponents will go for your weaknesses, Delilah knew how to weaken Samson! I have noticed opponents spent a lot of time discussing the past not the future. The Pharisees were the opponents of the woman caught in adultery, but Jesus never was. Why? They were looking back while Jesus was looking forward.
Sadly, often an opponent is family (Matthew 10.36) – whether that is your biological family or church family. Judas was right in the middle of Jesus’ ministry but still betrayed him and opposed Him.
What do we do with opponents like this? David handled Eliab perfectly – he just walked on and got on with his mission. He didn’t use his stones for his brother, he kept them for his mission – but neither did he listen to his opponent or spend time in a committee with him discussing the giant. NO – he walked on and kept doing his mission. That’s what you do – keep building, keep standing, keep winning.
And your opponent will lead you into rewards that no family member or friend has ever given you. The spoils of war should be your focus. Like David we should say what do we get when we win – well, we get to sit on His throne and reign with Him.
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