When Israel entered the Promised Land they were told to utterly defeat their enemies. The nations they would expunge from the land were evil, so evil that God like in the time of Noah had to destroy them. The problem that was presented to Israel was the influence the enemy would have upon them if they remained in the land. There could be no compromise, the potential of Israel falling away from God was too great, and thus the enemy had to be annihilated. There were 7 nations listed as inhabiting the Promised Land.
Deu 7:1 "When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves,
These were nations that had established themselves in the land, had built fortified cities and were renowned warriors and feared giants. The first group of spies sent into the Promised Land by Moses came back with great fear because of what they saw but more important was how they saw themselves, mere grasshoppers compared to the giants they saw. But with a new generation and a new leader in Joshua, the Israelites entered the Promised Land in obedience to God, resting on the promises of God to give them victory over these nations. The enemies were greater in number and stronger. Israel would need the help of God to destroy them, they could not do it in their own abilities, they had to depend upon the Lord and follow his instructions.
In our spiritual walk there are enemies that we must put to death or they will destroy us and cause our hearts to be drawn away from the Lord. Unlike the enemies Israel faced, our enemies have the ability to be brought back to life and we must constantly be aware of their attempts to entice us. When our love for God wanes we open ourselves up to replacing God with our own gods. When we give the enemy a foothold, he takes advantage of it and will continue to move into our lives if we keep the door open. Small compromises lead to greater compromises and more rationalization of the wrong decisions we have made. It is not long until we find that we are no longer serving God but are living our lives separated from him, doing our own thing. Instead of living with Agape Love, The Love of God that is unconditional, covenantally faithful and self-giving, we fall into Eros Love that is man centered, self-centered love that is manifested in our desires to possess, acquire and control.
Bob Mumford in his book “The Agape Road” lists 7 giants that we must conquer in our internal and spiritual lives. These must be put to death or they will keep us from enjoying intimacy with God and others. They come as a result of ungoverned desires that are at the root of each of these 7 giants.
The seven giants are:
1. Look Good
2. Feel Good
3. Be Right
4. Stay in Control
5. Hidden Agenda
6. Personal Advantage
7. Remain Undisturbed
The first 3 are motivations to possess and intimidate. The Kingpin of the 7 is Stay in Control and is the most dominate of them all. The last 3 are manifestations of the need to acquire and manipulate.
As God’s love takes control of our lives the giants begin to lose their grip on our lives. The selfish love that generates ungoverned desires is put to death and the true love of God takes control.
What are these 7 giants and how do they manifest themselves in our lives?
Look Good:
Mat 6:1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
Look good people are concerned about their image and reputation. They want to be seen as important and are full of pride. It is hard for them to admit they are wrong and even harder to ask for forgiveness. They present a façade and have no substance. They are mere shadows. They may wear the stylish clothes, be covered with tattoos to make them look unique, drive fancy cars and do other things that will draw attention to themselves and make people think they are on top of it all. They wear masks to hide their true identity. Like in the drama “King of hearts” each person wore a mask to present an image that was not who they truly were in their hearts. The masks give false impressions, misrepresentations and half-truths. They seek for positions and titles that will give them respect, fame and recognition.
Look good is ruled by the fear of man.
Pro 29:25 The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.
He fears rejection and is willing to do whatever is needed to feel accepted. They want to be liked by everyone. Pride keeps them from true repentance, seeking forgiveness or help because to do any of these would expose weakness which would not look good. Look good is not an authentic person. They are often people pleasers more concerned about being accepted than being real.
We live in a world where “image is everything.” We must recognize this enemy at work in our lives when we try to misrepresent ourselves to others and not be honest about who we really are. It is the genuiness of our faith that will make a lasting impression on others.
Feel Good:
James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
Feel Good people are pleasure seekers. Whatever makes them feel good whether it is a healthy or unhealthy activity is what they pursue in excess. They avoid pain and discomfort at any cost. They focus on the sensual and sensual pleasures. Eventually pleasure becomes the governing force in their lives and from it addictions to drugs, food, shopping, sex, pornography, gambling etc. arise along with compulsive behaviors. Feel Good people will risk anything because immediate gratification is an insatiable goal. Eventually, however, feeling good stops working because there are not enough drugs, alcohol, attention, or sex to meet the ungoverned desires that keep expanding. The more they use the less satisfaction is received thus leaving greater frustration and pain.
Our society is becoming more pleasure oriented than ever. Paul warned that in the last days people will be:
2Ti_3:4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
Entertainment and recreation are consuming more of our time and energy. Many people live for the weekend so they can do what brings them pleasure. We want our church services to make us feel good. If the message is disturbing we will look for another church that will make us feel good and help us continue to live in denial of the issues we need to confront. People want to feel good as a way of escape from difficult situations that they are encountering through their own choices or as a result of choices of others that have direct effect on them. People involved in ministry are not exempt. We have all read or perhaps personally knew pastors who have fallen into illicit relationships, drug addictions, pornography etc. The desire for pleasure is strong and we must stand against it, resist it and place the focus of our lives on pleasing God rather than self.
Be Right:
Job 40:8 Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?
Adam and Eve were banned from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet this desire to be like God, to know good and evil and become like God was the very thing the serpent used to cause them to fall. Original sin left us with an innate desire to enter God’s sphere where we have assumed that we possess the needed knowledge of good and evil. This leaves us insecure, anxious, and unable to admit being wrong.
It is the curse of insecurity that makes us feel the need to always be right. An unwillingness to readily admit mistakes is fueled by the insatiable desire for the approval of others. Do we honestly believe that others will like us less or respect us less if we admit that we are wrong? Yes, we do. http://gscandrett.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/the-need-to-always-be-right/
If we admit we are wrong we question whether we have ever been right. Be Right does not want to be challenged or confronted or even questioned. They are often stubborn and rebellious and are very rigid in their thinking. They present the image of always being right yet live with the fear and shame that they may be found out.
Be Right often experiences broken relationships because they have to be right and anyone with a different opinion is labeled as wrong. A rift is created because they are unwilling to admit the possibility of error. They become inflexible and refuse to accept the reality of their situation. “My mind is made up, don’t confuse me with the facts.” Parents who are unwilling to admit failure and ask for forgiveness from their children drive a wedge between them that can cause a lot of lost intimacy with their children.
Be right wants to be in control and have things their way. Many churches have suffered from leadership that demands submission because they know more or better than the people. There was a time when there was a “Shepherding Movement” in the church in which certain leaders had to be consulted by the followers on almost every decision that they made. They were the Be Right people who lorded over their followers. It was unhealthy and eventually was disbanded. Be right is often self-righteous just like the Pharisees whose righteousness turned into darkness (Mt. 6:23).
Be right people are not happy people and they are not fun to be around. I have been around people who were always correcting, always insisting they were right and it literally drove people away from them. No one wants to be around people who are always finding fault and constantly insisting they know more or know better.
I witnessed this in a friend who did not like the way his daughter-in-law was carrying out her responsibilities as a wife and mother. He thought his son was being overworked and taking on more responsibilities than he should have. It became a big issue for him because he thought he knew what was right for them. Instead of resolving anything it created animosity between the daughter-in-law and him. His son did not have an issue with what was happening, everything was fine with him and there was no need for Be Right to interfere.
When we have the attitude of Be Right we place limitations on receiving instruction from others and we do not handle the Word of God properly because we already have our mind made up regarding its meaning. Receiving instruction or prophetic words are also difficult because of our need to be in the Right and not needing others.
When Jesus healed the man who was blind, the Pharisees were not able to receive the words of the healed man or his parents and felt offended that he a “sinner” would have the audacity to correct them.
Joh_9:34 They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.
We can become entrenched in our denominational doctrine and become proud or our special knowledge or revelation that others do not have. When we are validated or proven right regarding a point of disagreement we gloat with pride knowing that we were right all along. We find it hard to not say, “I told you so.”
Be right is difficult to identify, expose and slay because it is so defensible and insidious. We feel justified in what we are doing or saying because it seems right. Getting free from the Be Right Giant requires grace, space, liberty, and understanding from others.
Stay in Control
Luke 4:5-6 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
Desire to be in control is a major issue-it is also set forth in Is. 14:13-14 in the five “I wills” of satan.
Isa 14:13 You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'
Stay in control has to be in the driver’s seat, he always wants to be in control. He believes that if he is in control, everyone is safe and the results are guaranteed. He is like god to others, determining what the end result will be as long as he is in control. He struggles with relinquishing control to God because he does not know the results or he thinks that God will ask more that he can give.
Stay in Control refuses to abide by limitations, they must have everything under their control regardless of the boundaries others may have established. They cannot participate in anything wholeheartedly unless they are in control. They deceive themselves into thinking they are the only person who can do it right so they have to be in control.
People who have to be in control exhibit behaviors like the following:
• It's difficult for you to trust people.
• As much as possible, you need to do everything yourself.
• You rarely think that you're wrong.
• You love to be the center of attention.
• You get bored when you have to listen to other people talk.
• You tend to think that you know what's best for other people.
• You don't like people touching your stuff.
• When you're in a relationship, you like to know where your significant other is at all times.
• You are definitely a perfectionist - and your own worst critic.
• You can't stand to wait for people who are running a few minutes late.
• You tend to interrupt people a lot.
• You don't like taking orders.
• You don't take it lightly when people disagree with you.
• Other people's messes really bother you.
• When you're watching TV with other people, you always have to have the remote.
• You are easily irritated.
• You generally don't trust people.
• You are insulted when people don't take your advice
Anxiety is a major symptom for anyone who has to be in control. Lie detectors function on the principle of our fear of losing control and consequently being discovered.
Being a loner is one way to stay in control. Isolation eliminates the possibility of losing control. Stay in control shies away from real love because of the fear of being hurt if they reach out in love to another person. Loss of control with its accompanying rage, violence, defiance, and self-hate, is the first cause of suicide. Loss of control leads to the heartbreaking discovery that you are not God.
We have to confront the Giant of control with grace, forgiveness and mercy.
Hidden Agenda
Jud 1:12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;
Hidden agenda is covert with words of peace and a heart of criticism. With this giant in operation we lie in wait with hidden motives, watching for weakness and vulnerability, ready to spring the trap, which has been disguised and then set with lies or half-truths. We hide one thing in our hearts while proclaiming another. This Giant is a user; it seeks to use life, people, and every event for the express purpose of advancement of our own interests.
Judas had a hidden agenda. He ate with the disciples and pretended that all was well but he had already contrived the plan to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. The Pharisees used their hidden agenda to try to trick Jesus by asking questions they thought would put him in a corner. Jesus knew what was in their hearts but they did not know what he knew.
Luk 20:19-22 The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. So they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?
Jesus was aware of their hidden agenda and he did not give them the satisfaction of achieving it.
Paul addressed hidden agendas in his letter to the church in Corinth.
2 Cor 4:1-2 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
Paul highlights 3 hidden agendas in these verses. Hidden agendas are maneuvered, cultivated, and nourished in secret, clandestine, and often self-deceiving ways. Once engaged, we cannot rest until and unless our hidden agenda has been accomplished.
I have seen this in operation when people need something but they do not come out directly and ask for it. They hide their agenda by stating things like “I wish I had one like that.” Or “I would like to go but I don’t have the money.” Both of these are stated to people who have the means to give what you need and in statements like these, you have a hidden agenda of hoping they give you what you need.
Personal Advantage
Jud 1:16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.
With Personal Advantage in operation, we are constantly maneuvering for title, position, or recognition. The original Greek work for Personal Advantage is translated “selfish ambition”: Strongs #2052. This Giant uses others for its own purposes. When we are not the center of attention, we suffer envy and pain. We will help others only if it directly benefits us.
Mat 19:27 Then Peter said in reply, "See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?"
Peter wondered what was in it for himself. What personal advantage could he expect?
The disciples were affected by this when they disputed among themselves who would be the greatest or be placed in charge.
Personal advantage people use others for self-promotion and value relationships based on what they will get out of it or how others will help them fulfill their own dream.
An original idea behind the word parasite in the ancient Greek was one who arranged to have all his meals in other people’s homes and then paid for these meals by flattering their host or hostess.
Parasites suck the life out of others. They use others solely for their own benefit.
John wrote is his letter to Gaius about a problem he had with someone who acted out of personal advantage.
3Jn 9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.
Diotrephes hindered the apostolic work of John by discrediting his written words. Selfish ambition is a giant that must be evaluated whenever we considering work in the Kingdom. Am I truly motivated by love for God and people or am I looking at opportunities to advance my position or status? Am I looking for personal benefits of trying to work for the benefit of the Kingdom?
Remain Undisturbed
Jer 48:11 "Moab has been at ease from his youth and has settled on his dregs; he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile; so his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.
This Giant disguises himself as the need for stability, or the need to preserve his reputation or honor of respectability when more is asked of him than he wants to give. Becoming a Father pleaser requires that we deal with being undisturbed. Kingdom rule may cause serious disruption and or interference with our own plans, desires and comfort levels. Undisturbed says “I will follow you, but I cannot follow you that far!” Undisturbed is that subtle difference between admiration for Christ and identification with Him.
When undisturbed Giant sees drastic or unpredictable change in his life, his sets his face, hardens his will and determines to deny or avoid all challenges at any cost. Note Jesus’; evaluation of the power and strength of the Undisturbed Giant in
Matthew 13:14-15 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: "'You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.'
Inconvenience becomes a barrier to our helping others. It is too inconvenient to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, invite the stranger in, clothe the naked, or visit the prisoner. (Mt. 25:35-35. As someone once observed, those with modern home entertainment centers do not rise up in revolt.
Undisturbed was on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (Luke 10:30-35). It wasn’t that the Levite and the priest were not concerned about the man; they just did not want to be disturbed. The Samaritan was willing to have his day, journey, and pocket book disturbed in order to act in mercy and compassion. Undisturbed is a lifestyle so guarded and protected that we don’t let anybody or anything touch it. Every one of us has experienced this.
When we set ourselves to remain undisturbed, we calcify and soon become undisturbable.
Hos 4:17 Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.
Jesus said of the people about to be judged in the fall of Jerusalem
Mat 11:17 "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.'
Their unwillingness to and inability to be disturbed and respond to Christ and his purpose was symptomatic of what it means to be ruled by this Giant.
Undisturbed can describe a powerful and potentially useful person wrapped in spiritual sloth, apathy and self-preservation. We can lose our life because of the refusal to embrace the adventure and take the risk.
Heidi Baker and her husband Rolland established a ministry in Mozambique reaching out to hundreds of kids and families in need. I encourage you to read any of the books she has written as her life will truly inspire you. There is a short video I want to show called “Stop for the One” that will challenge us to not be undisturbed. http://youtu.be/mO8FFI6pJJA
These 7 Giants will always try to sidetrack us in our walk with the Lord. We have to recognize them when they surface and put them to death in order for us to advance God’s Kingdom in our personal lives as well as the work of God’s Kingdom in the world.
1. Look Good
2. Feel Good
3. Be Right
4. Stay in Control
5. Hidden Agenda
6. Personal Advantage
7. Remain Undisturbed
Which Giants are controlling or influencing your life?
