Everything He put there was good---just like in heaven.  In the Garden of Eden, there was no death; there was no sickness or disease, there was no lack of any kind.  Health, happiness and prosperity were there in abundance. That’s what God wanted for mankind.  It was His will then, and I believe it is still His will today. 

3 John 2 states, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 

So it is definitely Gods will for all his children to prosper!  He wants us to be successful in life, He wants us to be well in our bodies, and He wants our soul to prosper.  I think it’s interesting to note, that the Bible links prosperity and health, along with the prospering of our soul, which comes through salvation.

Let’s look at heaven for example.  God’s will is carried out there perfectly.  Is there sickness in heaven?  Is there sorrow or grief in heaven?  Is there lack of any kind in heaven?  Of course not!  Some people think that Gods will for the earth and Gods will for heaven are different.  But Jesus didn’t think so.  He taught his disciples to pray for God’s will to be done “in the earth, as it is in heaven”.  We serve a God that never changes.  His desire for His people to live an abundant life is still the same today, as it was from the beginning. 

The reason there’s sickness and disease on the earth now is not because God’s will changed.  It’s because man stepped outside of that will through disobedience.  Today in our own land, we have laws that have been put into place for our good and for our protection.  But there are still those who disobey those laws, and break those laws, and many innocent people suffer at their hands.

God told Adam, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat:  But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it, thou shalt surely die.  Ever since the day that Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s word, and yielded themselves to Satan in the garden; God’s will has not been done on the earth as a whole.

So because we live in a world where sin abounds, there’s an overwhelming sense of hopelessness in the world today.  People are living there lives discouraged, and depressed, wondering how am I going to make it in this world. That’s not the way God intended for us to live.

But the Bible tells us, “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed, by the renewing of your minds in Christ Jesus.  I think if were going to make it in this world today, we are going to have to change the way we think!  We need to start walking by faith, and focusing in on what the Word of God is telling us, putting our trust in God, and not allowing the World to dictate to us on how were going to live. 

John 16:33 Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.  

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.  He came to destroy sickness and disease.  He came to destroy sorrow and depression; He came to destroy lack and poverty included. But I think too often we have allowed those thieves and robbers who come up against us to break in and steal away the blessings that God intended for us to have. 

Jesus said that the thief’s only purpose in coming is to steal, to kill, and to destroy.  And we know today that we have an adversary, the devil, who goes around as a roaring lion, seeking those he may devour. We have been studying in the Bible, how God delivered his chosen people Israel, out of bondage and slavery to Pharaoh, and He led them into a Promised Land called Canaan.

Since the beginning of creation, God has always desired to bless his people, and give to them a good life, right here on the earth. He is looking for people who by faith and obedience to His Word would allow Him to bless them. God wanted Israel, to be this kind of blessed people in the earth.  And I believe according to the scriptures that He still wants the same thing for His people today.

God gives us a picture of that kind of abundant life that He desired for his people.

Deuteronomy 8: 6-9  Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.  For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valley and hills;  A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;  A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it.

So God prepared a great land for them to live in and to enjoy.  It was a land flowing with milk and honey.  It was a land of rest and abundance where no enemy could stand before them, and no sickness or disease could stay on their bodies.  

Exodus 23: 25 And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. In fact, as soon as they came out of slavery in Egypt, God wanted them to go to that land.  And we know today that it was a short journey to Canaan’s land, it should have never taken them 40 years to get there. 

I believe that God is still trying to get many of us today, to that place where He wants us to be, so that we may live and enjoy the blessings of the Lord in our life.

After two years of wandering in the wilderness, Israel arrived at the banks of the Jordan River.  God had promised them that they would inherit the land on the other side of Jordan, a good land and a large land flowing with milk and honey, but they stopped to send in spies to examine the land and to see if it was a good land.  I think sometimes we hesitate moving forward in faith, especially in the things God is telling us to do, because we want to have proof first that it is a good thing!

So when the spies returned, some of them reported that the land was a good land. They brought back with them pomegranates and figs to show how rich the land was.  They had cut down one branch with one cluster of grapes on it that were so big and so heavy that it took two men to carry it back on a pole.

But they also brought back an evil report saying that the land was inhabited by many giants.  In fact, ten of the spies were absolutely terrified of the giants that they had seen there, and said that we are not able to go up against them for they are stronger than we are.  They felt like grasshoppers in their sight, because they were so tall and there were so many of them.

Have you ever felt like that?  Have you ever thought that there is no way you could ever stand up to some of those giants who have come up against you? Have you ever been so terrified of the fear that is facing you, that you feel like giving up?

Caleb and Joshua had seen the same giants, and they tried their best to get the people to trust in the Lord, and enter into Canaan’s land, but the people refused to go up against the giants and into the land which God had desired to give to them.  So as a result they were condemned to 38 more years of wandering around in the wilderness.  And there they were to remain in the wilderness until that faithless generation had died out. 

I think there have been times in our own life, when we have been faced with some giant struggles that come to oppose us, and instead of standing up strong against it, we back down in fear and allow the enemy to come right in and rob and steal from us by force.  

And it makes me wonder what good things God has desired to give to us and we have missed out on, because we have failed to obey Gods direction in our life?  I wonder how many years have we chosen to remain in the places that we have been in because we have refused to face the giants that have come up against us?

It was Gods will to bring Israel into a land that flowed with milk and honey.  A good land that was rich and abundant.  That land was right here on the earth, and I believe that it is Gods desire for His people today to inherit the land, and to go in and to possess the land.  But to do that, we are going to have to slay some of those giants that come against us. God wants our trust and our obedience to His Word today, even in the face of great conflict and opposition.  Disobedience will keep us out of the will of God, and cause us to miss out on the blessings of God.

38 years later, they arrive back at the Jordan River.  Moses speaks to them once again and prepares them to enter into Canaan’s land.  And he lets them know that they are about to face some giants on the other side of Jordan.  Israel ran and fled from those giants 38 years earlier, and now their children are standing at the same place, and the giants are still there and they had to be faced.

I believe I am speaking to a group of people who are facing some real giants in their life.  You may not want to face your giant.  You may want to run from them in fear.  You may want to avoid them completely and hope that they will just go away.  But I want you to know your giants will not just go away.  They must be faced, and they can be defeated. 

Can you remember the story of David and Goliath?  As a shepherd boy tending his father’s sheep, whenever a lion or a bear would come up and take away one of the lambs from the flock, David said he would go after them, and would kill them and would take back the lamb out of their mouths. 

David learned at an early age that there are lions and bears that come in to steal, and to kill, and he was not about to let them get away with it.  Later on he would accept Goliaths challenge and go after him in the name of the Lord.

Too often we have allowed our adversaries to come in and to steal and take away the good things God has given us charge over. We need the courage that David had to rise up and to face some of those Giants in our life.  To go after them and to take back what is rightly ours.

For so many people today, the thief has come in to destroy marriages, homes, families, relationships, He has stood against and stolen away many of the blessings of the Lord, and out of fear we have retreated and have allowed him to get away with it.  Well today is a new day, and it’s a day of standing up against the giants in our life.

Ephesians 6:13-17 Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

Maybe there are those around you who are putting you down for the things that you are trying to accomplish.  Maybe their telling you that you’re going to fail, that you can’t make it, that you will never succeed at what you are trying to do. God is greater than your giants.  The God, who worked then, is the God who will still work in our life now! You don’t need new methods to defeat your giants.  Tried and proven weapons like prayer, faith and the Word of God will still get the job done today.

2^nd Corinthians 10:4 The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, (weak), but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.  You see, faith will take that which towers over your head and will put it under your feet!

God did not save you to let you fall at the hand of your giant.  God is not interested in your defeat.  He is interested in your victory!  It may look like you are outnumbered, it may look like you are in an impossible situation, but I want you to know that David didn’t look at Goliath, Daniel didn’t look at the lions, Noah didn’t look at the flood, and Moses didn’t look at the Red Sea. They trusted in the Lord to bring them out.  And He will do the same thing for you today.  What the Lord is saying to us this morning is, “don’t look at your giants, and don’t look at your lions, don’t look at the failing economy, and all the things that have come up against you today. 

But keep your eyes focused upon the Word of God and Trust in the Lord with all your heart and He will give to you the Victory! Let’s follow David’s example.  Go to the River, (Gods Word); pick out your smooth stones, (Gods Promises).  Put them in your bag, (your heart).  Put the stone in your sling (your mouth), then run toward your giant and let the stones fly with all your might. 

Jesus is the High Priest over our profession.  He is faithful to see that the words that we profess in faith believing shall come to pass.  David stood against Goliath with the Word, Jesus defeated Satan with the Word, and we will defeat the Giants in our life, with the very Word of God. 

The Bible says, “Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world, and if God be for us, who can stand against us?

Deuteronomy 28: 1-9 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.  Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 

Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.  Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.  The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.  The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto: and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.  The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself.

Does that sound too good to be true?  Well it’s not.  That’s the blessing that God has desired for his people, and that the blessing that Jesus bought for you on the cross.  And it will begin to operate in your life if you’ll “hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God.