The first of what would be many battles between Harry Potter and “He who shall not be named” shouldn’t have even been a fight. It should have been an easy victory, and not even a contest. It was like a middle school basketball team set to scrimmage the 96’ Chicago Bulls. One side clearly has no business even being there, let alone competing. “He who shall not be named” was a strong, capable, experienced adult and had just taken out two extremely able parents by himself.  All he had to do now was take care of a baby. A baby probably covered in drool and milk stains that couldn’t even talk yet.

However, it wasn’t an easy victory, in fact, it wasn’t a victory at all. The baby not only beat, but flat out smoked the much older, wiser, stronger, more capable wizard. The whipping was so bad it left the wizard with virtually no life and forced him to flee like a dog with his tail between his legs… but that was just the beginning.

Over the course of their next battles the circumstances were pretty similar. The odds were always against and mounting against the young Harry Potter even as he continued to learn and grow because “He who shall not be named” also continued to gain strength. Yet in each battle Harry emerged alive. Fast forward to their last and most awesome battle, it was an epic showdown between the same Harry Potter and the now full strength Voldemort. Harry logically had a donuts chance in a police station. This was a battle between a mere 17 year old student vs. the strongest wizard of all time, this was like the fictional version of David vs. Goliath.

Let me paint this for you like Bob Ross: Harry Potter is 17 years old. He’s a scraggly, skinny, floppy haired kid facing a wizard so powerful, so strong, and so intimidating that the mere mentioning of his name makes grown experienced wizards shutter in fear and wet their robes. The picture of the battle probably looked like the header on this post. However, Harry (David) had no fear of Voldemort (Goliath) even though he was clearly smaller, less capable and less experienced. Why is this? Harry had courage, faith, and he didn’t see it the way we see it. He actually thought he could win. He actually KNEW he could win. That’s why this teenager barely old enough to grow armpit hair could stand against the biggest obstacle imaginable and throw a pie in his face by calling him Tom Riddle in front of everyone. The message Harry was sending was more than just calling him out for what he really was, it was a message of calling out his power. Harry was essentially saying “this power you THINK you have is in YOUR head, not mine”. Long story short Harry Potter worked him like a 9 to 5 Monday through Friday in front of everybody left at Hogwarts. Harry (David) slays Voldemort (Goliath) easy peezy lemon squeezy. Harry solidifies his place even more into wizard history. Light overcame dark and everyone lived happily ever after… well, except for Fred. The End.

On top of being awesome, Harry Potter and the story of David and Goliath have relevance in our lives? How? The fact we are in their exact position every single day facing our own individual Goliaths (or Voldemorts). The world is heading down at a rapid pace. Morals are in massive decay, what is acceptable seems to be ever increasing and more and more people seem to be losing their way each day. We seem to be outmatched, outgunned, undersized, and outnumbered. Furthermore, to make matters worse, our individual Goliaths or Voldemorts are tailored and customized to best destroy each of us. They are built to exploit our weaknesses and detect and then prey upon any chink in our armor. It doesn’t sound good for us does it?

Our Goliaths and Voldemorts could be any number of things. It may be drugs, alcohol, pornography, judging others, stress, language, self doubt, anger, food addictions, thinking we’re not worthy, capable, or good enough, struggling with depression, inappropriate music, bad habits, dishonesty, laziness, various other addictions, or a million other things. It is ANYTHING that that stands in our way or is stopping us from being as Christ like as possible. You may think changing your life for the better and overcoming bad habits is not worth it or impossible. We may not even be trying because we don’t think we can succeed! We may think we’re incapable of forgiving, letting go, or being kind. You know what’s ironic about all that!? Guess who’s telling you that… Your enemy! The very thing in your way is where that false logic is coming from. Look, this is a battle, the enemy will show no mercy and this is nothing more than trash talk. He wants to get in your head. It’s a means of intimidation. He wants you to give up rather than show up. Our enemy wants’ to prevent this battle from even happening. The question is why? Why is he so focus on preventing this battle instead of inviting it?

It’s simple.  It’s because he knows he can’t beat you. It’s that simple. His ploy is fooling YOU into not knowing or realizing that YOU are stronger than he is. His whole act is a giant façade, an act, a hoax, a fraud, a lie, a game he’s playing. He can’t beat us because of who can fight WITH us. Even more it’s who can fight FOR us. Exodus 14:14 says “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace”. That my good people, is the game changer. Christ ensures and guarantees victory. Christ = check mate to the enemy in every single case. With Christ, only one side ever even has a chance, and it’s not Goliath, it’s not Voldemort, it’s not the 96’ Chicago Bulls… it’s you and me.

Does that mean overcoming evil and changing our lives for the better will be easy? No! — Wait, what!! Didn’t I just explained how this could be a beat down? Here’s the catch…

This “battle” reoccurs every single day. A victory today doesn’t mean the battle is over nor does it insure a victory tomorrow. It doesn’t mean we can let our guard down or take it easy once we achieve victory. Likewise, a loss today doesn’t mean we hang our head and accept defeat tomorrow. No! If you lose today, you pick yourself up, shake the dust off, and get ready to open up a can tomorrow! You never give up! Every day is a new day. Weakness today doesn’t have to mean weakness tomorrow, unless YOU personally allow it to. Our Goliaths and Voldemorts only have as much power as we choose to give them. So the question is: “how much power are we giving them?

The truth is they are built to exploit our weaknesses yes, but we can be altered to handle their every attack! We are built to withstand and overcome. We are bigger, better, and stronger than we know or even think we are. We each are capable of incredible, tremendous, amazing, things, things that we never knew we were capable of. Whether it is a calling, a talent, trait, or ability or simply our example, or personality that shines a light for others we with and through Christ can change hearts, minds, lives, and generations! We can uplift and inspire others and we can affect others in a positive way if we choose to. There is nothing stopping us from doing this other than ourselves. We are so much more than we think we are. It’s just up to us to discover and realize this! The time has come to make the changes needed, roll up our sleeves and get to work… and open a can up a can of awesome!