Battle Plan

Ever notice how fear tries to set the rules? We take you straight to the front line where strategy decides outcomes long before the first swing. Pastor Lee unpacks a practical, Scripture-rooted battle plan built on prayer, worship, the Word of God, and the full armor described in Ephesians 6—so you stop reacting to pressure and start standing with purpose.

We trace the standoff in 1 Samuel 17 and reveal the hidden cost of letting your giant define the terms. For forty days, Israel surrendered initiative to Goliath’s script. David changes everything by rejecting Saul’s ill-fitting armor and choosing tested tools: a sling, stones, and the name of the Lord. That choice is more than history; it’s a template for modern spiritual warfare. You’ll hear how to identify and refuse strategies shaped by fear, how to use prayer as your staging ground, and how praise resets your focus when threats feel loud and large.

From the belt of truth to the shield of faith, we break down the armor of God as a daily operating system, not a metaphor on a shelf. You’ll learn why attention is spiritual territory, how to starve the enemy of airtime, and how to move decisively when faith says go. Expect clear steps you can use today: establish a simple prayer rhythm, speak Scripture aloud when doubts circle, build fellowship that keeps you alert, and guard your mind with the hope of salvation. The battle belongs to the Lord, but your stance is your choice—suit up, stay alert, and advance with confidence.

If this spoke to you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs courage, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. What’s the one piece of God’s armor you’re putting on first this week?

Transcript

Why You Need A Battle Plan

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hey, what's going on, everybody? This is Lee Day, and I pastor Christ Family Outreach Church located in Amelia County, Virginia. And I specifically want to say thank you today for tuning in to this episode of Beyond Sunday. Right now I'm going to talk to you about your battle plan. Because Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12 says this for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Paul reminds us right here, my friends, that we are gonna wrestle. We are gonna wrestle. Sooner or later, we're gonna have to get our hands dirty and we're gonna have to wrestle. The word wrestle, if you're taking notes out there, write this down. It means to engage or to contend by force. You see, it's important to understand, my friends, that we win the battle every single time when we have a strategic and successful battle plan. The enemy cannot catch us not paying attention. You know what I'm saying? He cannot catch us off guard. That's not gonna be good. But every Christian must have a battle plan if they're gonna live in victory. And I'm just gonna give you some ideas on this episode of what should be part of or included in your battle plan. Our battle plan should consist, obviously, of prayer. Of course, it should have worship and praise included in it as weapons. Quiet time listening for the voice of God should also be there. But other things can be added to help, such as fellowship with other believers and so on. But but those few things right there are an absolute must. Charles Spurgeon said, and I quote, When you plead the name of Christ, you plead that which shakes the gates of hell, and that which the host of heaven obey, and God himself feels the sacred power of that divine plea. Unquote. I'm gonna say it one more time. Charles Spurgeon, when you plead the name of Christ, you plead that which shakes the gates of hell and that which the host of heaven obey, and God himself feels the sacred power of that divine plea. Man, that's so good. That is so, so true. If you got your Bibles, let's turn to 1 Samuel chapter 17, and I'm gonna begin with the first verse, and this is what it says. Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and they were gathered at Soko, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Soko and Azica and Ephesdamim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze, and he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron, and his shield bearer went before him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine? And are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. And when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. I'm not sure, my friends, if you ever thought about this before or not. But consider this. Why in the world is Israel allowing their enemy to choose their battle plan for them? Goliath got this great idea in his head, and this is what he's gonna do, and this is how he wants it to go. But who in the world is Goliath that he gets to say how the battle plan is going to happen for God's people? At times, you and I have probably done the exact same thing, haven't we? I mean, let's be honest out there. We allow what we're facing or what we're going through to be the determining factor. Israel saw the giant of a man named Goliath and allowed his size to put fear in their hearts and in their minds. They were guilty of placing their focus on Goliath rather than their focus and their faith on God. 1 Samuel chapter 17, moving on with the twelfth verse says this now David was the son of an Ephraith of Bethlehem in Judah named Jesse, who had eight sons. And in the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years. The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn, and next to him Abonadab, and the third Shema. David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand morning and evening. Think about that. For forty days Israel allowed Goliath to choose their battle plan for them. My friends, when you don't follow the correct plan, it can eventually lead to confusion in your life. It can lead to the wrong type of surrender, which will lead to failure in your life if you're not careful. You can become unsettled, leading to a lack of confidence in what you need to be doing. And when you don't follow your battle plan, Satan will try to slip in his plan just like Goliath did to Israel. And it was really slick, right? It was really slick, my friends, how Goliath thought he could just come on down and tell Israel what they were going to do out on that battlefield. It was Israel's victory to be had, and the enemy so slick he thinks he's just gonna slide on down there and tell them how it's gonna go down. Israel had people in charge, okay? They had people who had developed strategy and battle plans, and yet Goliath simply strode on down the hill with confidence and told Israel what they're about to do. Now think about that. Telling the people of God what they're about to go do. Now, 1 Samuel chapter 17, beginning with the 17th verse, we're pushing on, says this, and Jesse said to David his son, take for your brothers and Epha of this parched grain and these ten loaves and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. Okay, so so so many of you know what's going on here. David's gonna go down. He's gonna see his brothers. His brothers are gonna get upset that he's there, all right? But but but David is gonna go and he's gonna hear this this Goliath taunting Israel and speaking dirty about his God. And David don't like it. David gets upset about it. Okay? Now David stands up to that nonsense. He's got a battle plan, all right? He's been in this position before. Maybe not with uh a giant of a man, but with a giant of a bear and the giant of a lion. Hey, David's been there before. He's got a battle plan, all right? And you and I, we've we've been there before, if you think about it. We've been there before with our enemy before. This this ain't the first time that you've been attacked, okay? You know, you know who your enemy is. Jesus says that that the thief, Satan, comes only to steal and kill and destroy, okay? He's he's attacked you before, he's thrown the fiery darts at you before, and you've had victory before, haven't you, my friends? So, so so don't let this time be any different when the enemy comes up and tries to offer a different strategic plan against you. No, no, no. Same enemy, all right? Same enemy. You beat him back in. Let me encourage you. You beat him back in, you'll beat them today, my friends. Okay? You'll you'll you'll take them out today, too, in the name of Jesus. Stay true to your battle plan. I want to encourage you in that today. Stay true to your battle plan. So, so King Saul, he he hears that that David is willing to take out Goliath. And Saul looks at David and he's like, But but you're just a young boy, you know, like what are you gonna go down that hill and do? So Saul offers David his armor, uh, but that wasn't David's battle plan at all. It wasn't what he was used to doing and using. It didn't even fit him, of course. It was all too large for him. So David says, Hey, I I fought the lion, okay, and I fought the bear, but but but this this new armor was was not in my normal battle plan. I I didn't need it then, I don't need it now. King, that's yours, it's not mine. I've got a battle plan. So so here's the battle plan of David. He he goes to get his go-to weapon. He he he took his staff in his hand and five smooth stones and his sling, and that's how he goes out and approaches the enemy. As followers of Jesus Christ, our go-to weapon must be prayer and of course the word of God. Those two together with your faith will always keep you in the position of victory. Now we're gonna press on a little bit here because in 1 Samuel chapter 17, if you turn in your Bibles all the way to the 41st verse, that's where we're gonna pick up. And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David with his shield bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods, and the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field. My friends, David ain't playing. David ain't playing. He says, Hey, enemy, Goliath, I know you come down here with your plan, but I don't have no time to listen to it because I got my plan. Now, now that's brilliant. He did not give, listen to me, friends, he did not give the enemy one opportunity, not one chance, not one iota to whisper his plan or shout his plan in his ear. No, no, no. I'm not gonna give you enemy any room to try to influence me. I'm not gonna give you any ground, any position to try to sway my heart and change me. So the 45th verse says this. And let me just say this before we get into that 45th verse. Don't give the enemy no time. Don't give him your time is too valuable. Time is a precious gift. Don't give the enemy any time to mess around in your head. The 45th verse, back to it, it says this. Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin. That's your plan. That's what he's saying. That's your plan. He says, but I come to you in the name of the Lord God of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled. Hey, hey, hey, Goliath, that's my plan. I'm coming to you in the name of the one living true God. That's my plan. My friends, that should be our battle plan. Whenever we step up to the plate, we step up to the plate in the name of the Lord God, representing God Yahweh, the Father, as ambassadors. The 46th verse says this: This day, David says, This day, the Lord God will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head, and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord God saves not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand. And when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine, and David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took a sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. See, that's the position that the enemy has to take. They gotta turn and they gotta run in the name of Jesus. Israel wasted 40 days. Have you ever thought about that? They wasted 40 days of their life gripped in fear because they did not follow the battle plan to defeat their enemy. Think of how much time you and I waste in our lives when we simply do not operate in the battle plan called prayer, the battle plan called worship, the battle plan called praise and quiet time, and the plan called listening to God for the voice of God. When we're not operating within the realm of our battle plan, the world and the voice of the enemy can begin to have an impact in our lives. And the same way Goliath did over Israel. One man's appearance impacts the battle plan of an entire nation. Man, that that's wild to even consider. Make sure that your battle plan is the right one. Let's go to Ephesians chapter six, verse 10. And this is what it says. We're gonna go on for a few verses here. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. My friends, that's a battle plan right there. That is a battle plan. Matter of fact, when this episode is over, you ought to take some time and just go reread Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 20. That is a battle plan. Paul said that we're to put on the whole armor of God. Every piece, every part of it. That means we cannot leave anything out. Okay? Shoulder pads are a good thing in football, but I still wouldn't want to step onto the football field without a helmet. And we got too many Christians running around out there with part of the armor on, not all the armor on. That's dangerous, okay? Because the enemy's looking to hit you at your weakest spot. Paul said the benefit to putting on the whole armor of God is so that we can withstand in the evil day. Withstand means this, okay? Withstand means to successfully hold out. To successfully hold out. And when it comes to our battle plan, we cannot allow the enemy or what we're going through to change what we know works. The word of God always works. And you can never go wrong doing what God has already called you to do as a Christian. He's called you to put on the armor. Okay? We've already been told that we need to put the armor on because it works. So we need to we need to pray, we need to worship and praise the Lord. We need to listen for the voice of God, and we need to stay in his word. You are the victor, my friend, because Christ has already won. Let's pray. Father, I pray in the name and the blood of Jesus that we would continue to suit up in the armor of God. We're told, we're told in your word to put it on. We're never told to take it off. May we always be aware of the fact that we need your armor, the fact that we need a strategic battle plan. Help us, Father, in the name of the blood of Jesus, to be focused, to remain focused, understanding that the enemy is slick, he's sly, he's crafty, and we don't have any time for his games. So, Father, I pray, I pray that we stay in tune to you, on guard, developing constantly, deeper and deeper, stronger and stronger in this battle plan of faith. In the name of the blood of Jesus Christ, we ask all these things. And everybody, listeners, everybody said together in the name of the Lord. Amen, amen, and amen. God bless you, friends. Until next time, stay in prayer, stay in his word, and share with someone the hope that you have in Jesus.