Then he took his staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, that is, in his shepherd’s pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine. I Samuel 17:40 (New American Standard Bible, NASB)

Most Christians have heard of the story of how David slew Goliath, the Philistine giant, with just a sling and a stone. And the Bible tells us that David chose not one stone, but five stones, before he went up to meet the giant in battle. There has been much debate about why he chose five stones, but that’s not the focus of my post today. Some say that he selected five stones to take out not just Goliath, but his brothers as well. That may have been his logic, but the Bible does not tell us for sure so anything we would come up with would be speculation.

Today, let’s consider the number five and that David chose to go into battle with five stones. Throughout the Bible, five represents grace, which is God’s willingness to do on our behalf what we cannot do ourselves. So, we see that David was counting on God to make him the victor and not on his own strength. Today we have God’s grace helping us as we do battle against the enemy- and we have five lethal weapons to use. Our five stones are:

• The Name of Jesus

• The Blood of Jesus

• The Word of God

• Praise

• Prayer

These aren’t listed in any specific order because they are all valuable in living a victorious Christian life and I don’t want to emphasize one over another. Any and all of these “stones” are needed.

The name of Jesus is our authority. We use it to defeat satan. Every being has to bow a knee to the name of Jesus.

The blood of Jesus seals our victory and provides healing, deliverance, protection, and provision. The blood of Jesus is our life and our defense.

The Word of God is a two-edged sword that cuts off the enemy at every point. It can slice and dice his demonic army into tiny pieces.

Praise silences the enemy and defeats him hands-down. Jehoshaphat sent the praisers out in front of the army and a huge battle was won without them ever having to fight.

Prayer gets God involved in the fight, and when He is fighting for us, we cannot lose.

When we pick up these five smooth stones, we are ensured of victory every time. Like David, we can hit the enemy right between the eyes! So, gather your five smooth stones and start swinging!