In episode 44 of the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, host Greg Ryan delivers a concise, 8‑10 minute devotional centered on 1 Samuel 17 (the David and Goliath narrative). He frames the story as a case study of the power of the spoken word, covenant faith, and personal preparation. Ryan recounts David’s background—killing a lion and a bear—as spiritual preparation that equips him for the ultimate battle. He contrasts King Saul’s skeptical words and the offer of armor with David’s refusal to wear it, highlighting the importance of trusting the Word of God over human opinions. The core of the teaching focuses on Goliath’s taunts versus David’s faith‑filled declaration (1 Samuel 17:45‑47), arguing that David’s spoken words, rooted in covenant relationship with God, were the decisive factor that “killed” Goliath before the stone struck. Ryan repeatedly stresses that “death and life are in the power of the tongue,” urging listeners to guard their speech, align it with God’s covenant, and use faith‑filled words to win spiritual battles today. The episode ends with a promise to continue the series on spoken‑word power in the next episode.
Welcome to episode 44. Want to start this episode like I start every episode.
John 1:1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast. Where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.
Welcome to episode 44. In the previous episode, I kind of sort of left you hanging, not on purpose, but I really kind of want to get this into a 10-minute so that you can know that consistently you're going to be around 8 to 10 minutes per episode. So I just wanted to give you an idea that, you know, we're not gonna we're not gonna always end on an exact finished point. And so it's kinda like a soap opera, I guess. I just gotta leave you hanging, but that was not my intention. But there's just a lot in this chapter. It's a whole chapter of David and Goliath. And that's one of, I think, one of the reasons so many people teach on this is there's so much meat in this story. And that we could go on and on and on. And there's so many, I love this story and you could read this story and reread this story. And see something different every time. But I wanna pick it back up. David had just talked to his older brother. His older brother said, you know, you're, you know, why are you here? You just come to see the battle? And so David just got tired of talking to his older brother. He just kind of turned around and said to another person there, is it really true that I get all this stuff if I kill that giant? And so then Saul gets word, the king gets word that David wants to fight Goliath. So then we pick it up. I'm going to pick up the story where David is with King Saul, and that's in 17:32. 1 Samuel 17:32. Then David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine. And Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are a youth and he a man of war from his youth. So then you got King Saul going ahead and speaking words over David too, saying, you know, look, you can't fight this bat, you know, and you got to be careful with people talk over you. And you got to know that you're grounded. And if your thoughts and if your heart is in the word and you know by faith that you're supposed to, it really doesn't matter. I don't want to say it doesn't affect you, but it is not that powerful. Nothing's as powerful as the Word of God. But if you've got the Word of God in you, and it's another reason why I jump up and down and tell you, look, you need to get the Word of God in, because if you have the Word of God, really doesn't matter what anybody else says over you, you will have the Word of God to defend you. Well, David didn't really hear any of that. He then starts talking to Saul, King Saul, about all of the things that God has helped him do. He has a history. Of defending the sheep. And it goes back to things that you do in your life and how you, you know, how you prepare for the next battle. All the things that you've done throughout your life has prepared you for today. And so you can use all of the stuff that you've done in your past to then fight the battle in the future. And that's another reason why I want you to, you know, to think about getting in this word and then start planting some of that seed that we talked about in the previous teaching on, I think it was 31 through 39, is about the power of the seed. But you, the things that you plant in your spirit or in your soul is what you're going to be able to use to fight against your enemy, which is Satan or any of his demons in the future, or today or in the future. So all of that said, David is there He's going to tell Saul next. We're going to read about what David tells Saul, and it just talks about all the different things he's going to tell him. And in fact, I'm probably not going to read it because I don't want this to go on, you know, past 10 minutes. I'd kind of like to finish this, this teaching in this episode. But he— David pretty much tells King Saul that, that, look, your servant had killed a lion and a bear when they came and stole my father— tried to steal my father's sheep. So David had— David had killed a lion and a bear. And I'm told that the bear, you know, when it stood up on its back legs, or the lion if it was to rear up, you know, these lions— lions and bears, they're probably about 8, 9 feet, you know, if they're standing on their hind legs. So this is probably about the same size as Goliath. Standing on his, you know, his feet. So David's not scared. You know, size doesn't really do anything to fear, to give David fear, because he has his— all of his faith is in the Lord. And he pretty much says— now let's pick that up, what he tells King Saul, and that's in 17:37. He says, moreover, David said, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, go, and the Lord be with you. So David told him, look, I, I've already taken out a lion and a bear. So probably nobody— I would, I would guess that nobody in the whole army of Israel, maybe someone had killed a lion or maybe someone had killed a bear, but to kill a lion and a bear in one lifetime, I mean, that's, that's pretty impressive. So David had a resume, and he went in to the king. And we're not even going to talk about how the king knew him, but, you know, he, he had, he had, um, standing, I guess, if you will. The king knew who David was. He had seen him before, and you can find that out in 16. But as we keep going into this story, King Saul, you know, he wants to help prepare him the best way he knows how, and so he gives David King Saul's armor. And, you know, David tries to put it on, and he's never really worn that and hadn't really tested it. And he says, nah, this ain't gonna work. So he just gets out, it gets back into his shepherd outfit, and grabs 5 smooth stones. And we're not going to talk about the stones today, but I want to go into talking about the power of the spoken word. And then once he has the stones in his bag, then he draws near to the Philistine. And then the Philistine Goliath came out— and this is in 41— and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. So the Philistine comes out, Goliath comes out, and he's got an armor bearer or shield bearer, you know, he's got— so David's really fighting two people. He's fighting someone that's holding this shield and Goliath, but I mean, we're just going to talk, we're going to kind of talk about Goliath. And then when Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, and he was only, for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. So 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 the beasts of the field. And I want to stop right there because I believe that Goliath would have beaten David if David would have just kept his mouth shut and, you know, in his mind said, "Look, I'll show you." But that's not how— that's not how this story ends, and that's not how the story works, because Goliath spoke words over David. And then I want you to hear the spoken word that David uses In my opinion, this is what I think. This was what— with the power of the spoken words, I think this is what killed Goliath before he was dead. This empowered David, who was under covenant. And we're not going to get in all that right now, but David spoke these words because he was a follower of God, and he knew that he was under covenant. He knew he was under God's protection, just like with the lion and the bear. And then in 45, he— then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you, and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air, and the wild beasts of the earth, that all of the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all of this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. Now I know that may be a lot of scripture, but it's, it's not going to hurt you. And that is David's response. That is his verbal rebuttal, if you will. And it's about the power. Remember at the very beginning of this teaching is that death and life is in the power of the tongue. So David spoke death to Goliath in that, in that instance right there. That's when I believe, that's when the Goliath was dead. And so David just fulfilled his faith-filled words. He just took action and then went and, and grabbed the stones that he'd already picked up in his, in his little pouch and he just needed one stone. And so, 'cause he had already spoken faith and he already said, "Hey God, you're gonna take care of this anyway," because he was under covenant. And it is a great story. And we see, and one of the other things I want you to see or to think about is David had, he don't have any armor on. You know, Goliath is 9-foot tall and got all of, if you read all the stuff that he had, how much all this stuff weighed and all that stuff. You go back and I would just encourage you to read the whole chapter. But just when you start reading it, think about the power of your words as you're reading it and how all of this ties into what you say is so important. And I just don't think in the body of Christ or in the church today that words, that the authority that you have with words is really taught like it should be. And that's why I'm here, is I wanna tell you Look, your words have power, and so you got to pick and choose what you say and how you say it and how you mean it and all that good stuff. But David said what he meant. He heard Goliath's words, everybody else heard it, and they were cowering. David heard the same words, and instead of cowering, he got mad because he knew he was the Lord's. He knew that God had protected him from the lion and the bear. And, and we can go back to one other place that I didn't really touch on, but that is very important. And talk about the covenant a couple of times where David said, you know, this— he had said, this uncircumcised Philistine, that is his— David was recognizing that this, this giant was not under the same covenant as he was. So he knew that he was going to win. He knew going in, he had the faith And that's why it's impossible. You know, it's where David had said, you know, God had said that David was a man after God's own heart. And it's because David used faith. If you go to, I think it's, uh, Hebrews 12, I'll have to look, but it's a— no, it's Hebrews 11, I think 6, that it's impossible to please God without faith. So God is pleased when we use our faith. He's not displeased when you don't. It's just, I think it's his— he don't have his arms folded. And, and I'm not going to go off, that's another rabbit that I'm not going to chase. But it is, he is looking down and try to encourage you to use faith, because that's how you're going to win your battles here on earth, is we're going to use faith. But it requires you to speak words. And we're going to stop right there. This is a little longer than I like, but I wanted to get this point across, and I wanted to finish the talking about David, King David and Goliath. And we're gonna pick up the same, the power of your spoken word on the next episode.
Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.
