Fight In Your Own Armor Your Own Way and Win

Series: This is How I Fight My Battles

Wouldn’t it be great to step into the defining moments of your life when you need a big victory over a giant problem or challenge and know that you can win? To know that you can run onto the battlefield and walk away victorious. Do you ever dream of battlefield brilliance and bravado that leads to life changing victories? If you’ve ever wanted to know how to fight your battles and win I’m gonna share some awesome news with you today.

Maybe it’s not a life and death battle on a real battlefield, but maybe it’s a battle for control of your mind, or a war to win over fear and anxiety or maybe you’re facing a major career or financial challenge or maybe the diagnosis was worse than you imagined or your spouse if about to walk out the door. We all have battles to fight and we need to win, but sometimes we don’t know how. Today, I want to give you a few ideas that can help you shift into a battlefield champion by doing 4 simple things.

Sometimes in our lives God intervenes and fights our battles for us and we just stand back and watch Him do His thing. And, then there are times when He lets us fight the battle in front of us – yet, we are never alone – even when it seems like we may be.

Today, I wanna focus on those times in our lives when God sends us into battle to see what He can do for us even when it seems like we are all alone out there on the battlefield of life.

Two stories today to see how to fight our battles and win with battlefield bravado, brilliance and braggadociousness – one about Mickey Mouse and his creator and one about a Shepherd and A Giant on a Hot Noon Day Battlefield thousands of years ago.

Let’s see what Mickey Mouse and his creator, Walt Disney can teach us about fighting our battles.

I wanna start in an unlikely place in the Walt Disney Studios way back in 1934 when they were just getting underway ….Mickey Mouse had just been born in a short 7 minute cartoon called Steamboat Willie and Walt Disney was consumed with a believe that animated full length motion pictures could be the next big thing but it had never been done before.

One evening in 1934 he gave his animators and workers 50 Cents to go get some dinner and then come back to the auditorium in their home offices where he would take to the stage that evening to act out an ancient german folk tale involving a fairy princess, a mirror, an evil hag and poison apple and seven dwarves.

That evening he jumped between characters and sang silly songs and brought that ancient german folk tale to life and in doing so he animated his animators to take on a dream that had never been done. To make a feature length cartoon movie that featured cartoon characters who would have elicited deep compassion, commitment and emotions from the audience. It had never been done and those who knew him called this attempt, Disney’s folly.

And, indeed it almost was Disney’s undoing. Battles are pivotal and they are often winner take all. And, this battle must be won or all would be lost and the new studio would shut it doors and Mickey Mouse would have been sold off to pay the debts.

That was the launch of the dream that activated Walt Disney Team of animators to sketch over 2 million cartoon panels, develop brand new technologies and run into costly delays that had his young company on the financial ropes when Snow White and the Seven Dwarves finally had its showcase debut on December 21, 1937 at the Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles in front of the Hollywood elites.– three years after Walt had acted out the story for his team all alone on a stage at their home offices.

His critics called it Disney’s Folly and Walt could have been the eighth dwarf as he walked down the red carpet into the theater on December 21, 1937 - NERVOUS that night

In just an hour or so the jury of movie goers will get the first ever showing of a feature length cartoon complete with sound and characters created to connect with the audience just as if they were real people. This had never happened before and may never happen again if it failed.

But that evening seven dwarves and one beautiful Snow White captured the hearts of their audience and the rest is history.

That movie launched all the great things that you now see as DISNEY – from theme parks to amazing movies like The Little Mermaid, Frozen, The Lion King and Beuty and the Beast – in all of those we know and love the characters.

Parents you have likely watched the same disney movie over and over again. For us it was Little Mermaid and indeed the Little Mermaid lived at our home once upon a time.

What’s your favorite Disney Movie and who are some of your favorite Disney characters?

< leave time for response here and show off Leslyn’s Mickey Mouse Waffles and eat one or two! >

Walt Disney had the courage to bet the farm on Snow White. Perhaps it’s really true that when you wish upon a star your dreams can come true!

But dreams come true only if you learn how to fight your battles in the unique way that God has created you. You must learn to know your signature strengths and weaknesses.

Walt Disney did three things to bring Snow White and seven wee men to life:

Big Idea: He fought His Battle His Way.

1. He broke ranks with the establishment – he did something that had never been done before and he had to break ranks and deal with the critics and naysayers.
2. He brought his top talents into play! He practiced “strengths based innovation” TM – he saw something nobody else had ever seen and he leaned into his strength as a leader of animators – not the greatest animator himself but one who could bring out the best in his team to do the impossible.
3. He understood his history and built upon past successes. He leveraged Steamboat Willy and Mickey Mouse to make his next iteration with Snow White and Seven Dwarves into a reality. He did the impossible.
4. He was audacious and stuck to his mission even when the odds were against him. Very few people except for Walt Disney himself believed in his dream when he hit the stage that night way back in 1934 but soon the whole world would believe in his dream. Remember that you and your dream and your Lord and your willingness to be audacious makes you a majority!

If you’re gonna fight your battle to become and do what God has planned for you then you’ll have to fight your battle your way as well – NO matter what others may say, think or do! You will have critics – get over it! They will one day stand in line to buy tickets to your next show!

The second story today is One of the most beloved Bible stories of all time is the story of David and Goliath. Now that would make a stellar Disney movie!!

You know the ending of the story – a much outmanned David takes on a giant named Goliath and wins! You know that already, so let’s not waste time there. Let’s talk about how he fought his battle and won.

Let me share this powerful story with you from I Samuel 17

< read the passage and act it out as I do >

On the day that David took on Goliath he showed Battlefield Bravado and Brilliance! Where did he learn to think and act and fight like that? How did you know instinctively what to do to kill that giant in front of an audience of thousands in the Valley of Elah on that midday battlefield?

Let’s dig a little deeper into how David fought the signature battle of his lifetime and won when the odds were impossible for him to do so.

His victory started long before that day in the noonday sun on a battlefield with thousands of soldiers looking on. It started on a cold winter’s night tending his father’s sheep in the middle of nowhere when a lion tried to attack his sheep and he took that lion on and killed it. His victory over that lion on a starlit cold winter’s night came where there was nobody watching and nobody really even cared. It was just David, a shepherd, some sheep and a deadly enemy. David was faithful with little long before he ran into the noonday sun to face off with Goliath. He was faithful in little when nobody was watching so God could trust him with much when everyone was watching.

What about you? How are you handling the little you’ve been given to do while nobody seems to care? Are you faithful and available to do your very best work every single time? Do you fight your battles today and win or do you let the enemy overtake you and defeat you. What you do with little determines if you’ll ever be given much.

It’s the ‘little much principle.’

Private practice precedes public victory. Are you winning your ‘little battles’ these days while nobody is watching? Your future depends on it.
Walt Disney was able to win with Snow White because years before when nobody knew who he was he was diligent with the little idea he had about a mouse and a cartoon called ‘Steamboat Willie’ in which he introduced Mickey Mouse to the world.

What are you doing with what you’ve been given to do these days? Are you doing your very best or are you slacking off?

Right now in the middle of this corona virus are you doing the best you can to prepare for a new kind of future? Are you preparing in private for the victory you hope to win someday in the public?

David was faithful and walked with God when nobody was looking to carry out his shepherd’s job so that when it became time to shepherd God’s people he would be up to the task.

A recent example is Kobe Bryant and shooting hundreds of shots he did not hit in the gym in the wee hours of the morning when nobody was watching. Greatness is born on the back of private practice when there’s not a soul in the stands.

Are you practicing when nobody is watching?

David had to break ranks and defy tradition. He had to fight his battle his way in his own strengths – strengths based innovation

David had to take off Saul’s armor and Saul’s well est.ablished and well meaning advice of how to take on that Giant and had to strip down to his signature strengths and fight in a way that fit him to a T! He had to fight in the way that he had fought a bear and a lion when nobody was looking. He had to do ‘strengths based innovation’ to win the battle that day. He had to fight the battle on his terms in his own way and you will, too. Nobody has your signature strengths or abilities do they? You are a one of a kind warrior. Lean into God’s design and lean into your history with God. Look back at where He has allowed you to win in the past and how He did that through you and lean in. Break ranks with traditions that don’t fit. The objective is still to win the battle and to fight your giants and win, but you may have to bust a signature move to pull it off. Something that the world has never seen before.

David innovated the battlefield strategy that day and elevated it from a ground war to an air attack. He had better technology and was smart. As the 123rd Special Tactical unit’s motto says, Genius Overcomes Strength.

What is your signature strength? How have you learned to walk with God and face your challenges and overcome them? It may be very different from anyone elses and that is more than okay – it’s expected and necessary.

To fight your battles and win you’ll have to innovate and elevate your battle plans and break ranks with the establishment.

Take off Saul’s armor and history and lean into your you-i-ness and put on your own strengths and fight in your own way.

Comparison Kills Calling and It Stops YOU from being you. Be you. Lean into your past relationship with God and how He’s assisted you in battles when no one was watching and fight your battle your way with God as your source.

David had built a relationship with God long before his faceoff with Goliath in the Valley of Elah in the glaring lights of history with all eternity leaning in.

What about you? Do you have a relationship with God? Have you ever asked God to save you from doing life on your own power and would you consider asking Jesus to come into your life today? Would you ask him to forgive you of your past failings and to restore you to a right relationship with God? And, then would you accept God’s desire to adopt you into His family as a dearly loved child so that you could create a lifetime of connection with God like David had? You can pray to receive Christ today and find the connection and power you need to fight your daily battles and win. You have almost zero chance of winning the battles in your life on your own? But you have 100% chance of winning when you allow the Power that raised Jesus from the Dead to animate you and empower you. Would you do that today?

< pray them into a relationship with Christ >

So, now that you have a life giving relationship with God you are ready to fight your battles and win.

Your private relationship with God and your private practice will always precede your public victories So, stand moment by moment and day by day in your place no matter how small it seems and do what is right every single time. Practice winning in the small things when nobody is watching so you’ll be ready to run to the battlefield when the noon day test against your life’s giant comes. Develop a daily habit of winning with God in the little things so you’ll be ready to trust him when the big test comes.

How can you practice in private?
-Read your Bible and pray every single day – walk with God moment by moment
-Do what’s right every single time.
-Never cheat – not even a little bit.
-Be full of truth and put on the full armor of God every single day and practice winning so it becomes second nature.
-Live by faith today by stretching out of your comfort zone and give more, serve more and do more than you think you’re ready to – build some faith muscles.
-Associate with other overcomers and those who have a burning desire to win their life’s battle through faith in the Son of God, Jesus, who loved us and gave himself for us.
-Put the ‘little-much’ principle into play today so you’ll be ready to win tomorrow.

Be Audacious and Bold and Braggadoucious in Battle – Lean into the string of little victories and run to the battlefield and slay your giant! Do your very best to be your very best in everything that you say and do and you’ll be ready when your time comes.

Coach John Wooden taught his players this maxim: I will prepare and perhaps my time will come.

David’s time came and he was ready. Your time will come soon. Will you be ready?

If you want to fight the big battles of your life against giant odds and giant enemies then do like David did.

1. Practice your signature strengthe every single day.
2. Get into the gym and practice even when nobody is watching.
3. Be faithful in the little things every single day.
4. Build a daily faith walk with God.
5. Break Ranks with traditional armor and tactics and fight your battle your way in your own armor. Don’t duplicate others, rather, innovate your battle plan to fit your signature strengths – strengths based innovation
6. Because you and God have been practicing in private you’ll be ready to Be totally audacious – bold, brilliant and braggadocious on the Battlefield when your day comes!! Run toward your giant! Bet the farm! Speak boldly about your God against your Giant. Your own talk will flood your heart with faith! Talk smack to your giant. Don’t just listen to him. Let your past history and victories with God inspire you and remind you and let His power slingshot you into the face of your Giant win the battle you were born to win by the power of God at work in you.

This is how you fight your battles and win with Boldness, Battlefield brilliance and audacity!

You and God have got this.

Fight your battle your way with God inside and run to the battle field!

I’m praying for you to win!