The Goliath we all have to face in our lives is not the devil. For the devil has already been defeated! Our Goliath is that which, as yet, has NOT yet been defeated! Our Goliath is that which, as for David, we need to not delay for forty days in dealing with, but personally run to and confront! Which is ourselves. For what is it that will ultimately bring us all down? Is it not the giant of our flesh? For surely the flesh in all men is a giant. The devil will USE our flesh to bring us down. But it’s not the devil who we must overcome, but our flesh. Our personal Goliath is our flesh!

The word of God says, “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.” (Revelation 21:7). And what then is it that we are to overcome? Does the LORD our God not tell us in the next verse? “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation‬ ‭21:8).‬ Nowhere in that list does it mention the devil even once. It mentions things we do. Things we define ourselves with by our own actions. Things we become by what WE do. We are called to RESIST the devIl, but to OVERCOME our flesh.

Our flesh is the desire nature. Two scriptures frame this perfectly. “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the DESIRES of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16). “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own DESIRES and enticed.” (James 1:14).

The key point being that we are tempted or drawn away by OUR OWN DESIRES. Is that what is in the devil, or what is in us? It is what is IN US. Which is according to our fallen nature or desire nature. Which is that by which we are enticed or tempted away by. And just like the devil tempted Jesus in three ways, the three ways in which we are all tempted is outlined in 1 John 2:16. Which are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, all expressions of the desire nature. “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

So if what is in us can no longer be enticed away or tempted, does that make the devil our Goliath or our flesh the Goliath we must overcome? I would say that if we have died to all that is the flesh, which is to deny self or die to self, then there is nothing left for the devil to temp us with. The Goliath we all need to confront is our flesh. For we are ALL called to be David’s. We are all called to be giant slayers. We are all called to cut the head off the giant of our flesh, for a giant it surely is. And just like David cut Goliath’s head off with the sword, we are to use the Sword of the Spirit to cut the head of our Goliath off.

The devil KNOWS exactly what of our fallen nature can be tempted because HE is father of the fallen nature -- because he is the fallen one -- and  because he is the spirit of the fallen nature that entered and corrupted the nature of man into his image and likeness when Adam sinned and fell. He is intimately connected with what in our nature can tempt us because it is his nature in us. But if the fallen nature is dead, if we have denied ourselves, taken up our cross and followed Jesus in the way of righteousness, what then is left for the devil to tempt? What remains for him to leverage and draw us away?

This is why our God says the devil has already been defeated. Because He has provided a way for us to overcome the flesh. And in overcoming the flesh, we overcome the devil by default. We do not need to overcome the devil. We only need to deal with our flesh nature. And we do that by the simple exhortation to abide in him and He will abide in us. Because the way we resist the devil is by God abiding in us. If God abides in us, the presence of God in us will devil will flee. For wickedness and sin cannot coexist or cohabit in the same place as God. "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (James 4:7). If we submit to God, but default, we resist the devil. We resist the devil simply by submitting to God, not confronting the devil. Therefore submit to God, in all things, and in all things, we then have this assurance that the devil will flee.

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16).

For “the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”‭‭ (I John‬ ‭2:17‬).

And for all those who overcome by becoming giant slayers in this life of their own flesh, which is to die to self, I WILL BE HIS GOD AND HE SHALL BE MY SON!