I Samuel 17:34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

  35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

  36a Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear:

 

(How did he do that? Was he always just that way? A natural born great warrior? What about these other two men?)

 

II Samuel 23:8c  the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.

  20 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he slew two lionlike men of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow:

 

(How did they do it? What about these men?)

 

Daniel 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

  17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

  18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

 

(Or what about Stephen?)

 

Acts 7:54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

  57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,

  58a And cast him out of the city, and stoned him:

 

(Or Paul and Silas?)

 

Acts 16:22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.

  23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:

  24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

 

(Paul had a vision to go to Macedonia, but they were taken and severely scourged, with many open, bleeding, very painful wounds.

Then they were taken to the darkest inner prison, with their feet in stocks, so that eventually they would soil and wet themselves.

So horribly different from what they may have thought the vision meant - so how did they then do this?)

 

  25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

 

(Or Peter, who first said this:)

 

Mark 14:70b And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth thereto.

  71 But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak.

 

(How did he then, less than two months later, say this?)

 

Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

  38a Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,

  41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

 

(Were all these people just born like that? Were they almost preternatural beings, like the way catholic "saints" are presented?

No, all of them were exactly like you and I, they were regular, everyday people - the only explanation is the following:)

 

Zechariah 4:6c Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

 

(The youngest son of Jesse was apparently previously known by the following:)

 

I Samuel 17:28 And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.

(But something had recently happened to David, and the most important part was not a visible thing that his family realized:)

 

I Samuel 16:13a Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.

 

(That must have been how David was then able to slay both the lion and the bear, the same way Samson had done.

And that must also have been how David's two men, Adino and Benaiah, were able to do what they did.

Also, the best explanation regarding Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So, what about Stephen?)

 

Acts 6:5b  and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,

 

Acts 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

  59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

 

(And, of course, the difference with Peter, less than 2 months after denying Jesus, was being filled with the Holy Ghost:)

 

Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

  4a And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,

 

(But what about David being a man after God's own heart? And his always singing to the LORD, in good times and bad?

Was David just born like that? Or was he transformed by the Spirit, through the word of God?

Even when David, later, needed to repent, he knew where a good heart comes from:)

 

Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

 

Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

 

Titus 3:5d  and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

 

Ephesians 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

 

(We also could be like David, and those others just mentioned, if we would, like them, desire the Spirit to make us that way:)

 

Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

 

Hebrews 13:21a Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight,

 

II Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

 

(When it comes to witnessing, we can be as bold as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, if we only would ask for it:)

 

Acts 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

  31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

 

Acts 14:3a Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace,

 

(The Son of God, although he is God himself, allowed the Spirit to empower him, as a man, to good.

So, how much more, can we, also, ask the Holy Ghost to empowered us, for good?)

 

Acts 10:38a How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good,

 

(We also could worship like David did, but do we hesitate because we think he was so talented of a psalm writer?

Those Psalms of his, that we read in the Bible, are inspired by the Holy Ghost, that's why they are so wonderful.

If we, also read, or sing, scriptures, like the Psalms, out loud, for prayer or worship, we too can worship in the Spirit, like David:)

 

Matthew 10:20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

 

(Or, are we discouraged that we do not love Jesus will all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, or even how to begin?

Instead of convincing ourselves that our heart is not capable of truly loving Jesus, what about the following?)

 

Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

 

(The Holy Ghost is the source of that true love, where we can love Jesus, love the word of God, and love one another.)

 

(It is sad that all the things that we wish we were, or wish we could do, are only a prayer away.

If we but ask for the Spirit to do these things in us, he will, because that will glorify Jesus.

So, are we afraid to ask? Or do we think that he really won't do it for us, the way he's done it for those in the Bible?

We could be as bold and worshipful as David, and we could witness like they did in the book of Acts.

And we could be going about doing good, like Jesus did - do we desire these things of the Spirit? So why don't we ask?)

 

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