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Our Gigantic Problems

April 1, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Listen to these words of instruction Moses gave the Israelites—

A people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, “Who can stand before the sons of Anak?” Know therefore this day that the Lord your God is He Who goes over before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall dispossess them and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you. (Deuteronomy 9:2-3 AMPC)

With those encouraging words, Moses readied the Israelites to go into the Promised Land for a second time. The first time ended disastrously, as the people ran away in fear of these giants.

What gigantic problems might you be facing? Maybe you’re facing them again and again?

that addiction that’s always there?
that temptation that always seems to pull you down?
that depression that turns your whole world dark?
that satanic attack at the most inopportune times?
that relationship that seems to wreck every family get-together?
that monstrous financial debt that overshadows everything?

There’s no doubt about it: Those problems are gigantic!

It feels like they’re crushing you. It feels like they’re undefeatable.

That’s because they are.

Let me be more clear: YOU cannot defeat them on your own.

But listen again to what God said through Moses, “I will defeat them, I will subdue them, so that you can finish them off.”

James says it this way, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

The devil isn’t scared of you. The gigantic problems looming over you don’t tremble at your name. But every knee must bow to the King of kings. Every problem must crumble and give way before the Lord of lords!

Don’t try to tackle these giants on your own. Instead, submit to God. What plan does He have for this battle? What has He already spoken to you in the Scripture that will give you assurance of His victory?

I love this photo from We Lost Kings. The caption says—

“To defeat the obstacles before us requires more than mere strength—it demands a deliberate strategy. A man must approach his trials with discernment, understanding that raw power alone rarely conquers what lies ahead. Strategy calls us not to rush headlong, but to see clearly, to step wisely, and to strike with purpose. Every obstacle is a lesson in mastery, and every victory a testimony to the power of wisdom applied.”

It’s not your muscle or smarts or sheer determination that will overcome your gigantic problems. But your invincible, undefeated, and undefeatable God will knock every giant down to size, setting you up for the inevitable victory.

Kneel before God. Listen to His voice. Feel His power. Then—and only then—can you step forward in assured victory!

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: addiction, Book of James, depression, Deuteronomy, giant, problems, spiritual warfare, victory. 1 Comment »

Sowing Seeds For The Future

May 13, 2020 — Craig T. Owens

Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses. … The Lord commanded through Moses that you give us [Levites] towns to live in… (Joshua 20:2; 21:2).

The Israelite leadership designated 6 cities of refuge and 48 Levitical cities. It was a big responsibility for the leadership of those towns to protect both the innocent person who was being pursued by the avenger of blood, and ensuring that the Levites were taken care of.

There is one city that particularly stands out to me: Hebron.

This city was formally called Kiriath Arba: so named after the biggest, baddest of the Anakite giants who had lived there. This is the strongly-fortified city that was inhabited by not one—but three!—giants that the 85-year-old Caleb defeated (15:13-14).

Hebron became both a city of refuge and a Levitical city. Caleb also secured Debir, which became a Levitical city too (15:15-17; 20:7; 21:11-15). Later on, Hebron would be David’s capital city for seven years until he moved his throne to Jerusalem.

A mark of a godly leader is one who sows the seeds that others will harvest.

What would have happened if Caleb hadn’t defeated those giants?

Or if he wasn’t willing to take on the added responsibilities for fugitives and priests?

Caleb conquered in his lifetime to benefit people for hundreds of years after he was gone!

God still needs these forward-looking, boldly-conquering servant leaders. I want to be a leader like that, and I hope you do too!

This is part 46 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Caleb, conqueror, giant, Hebron, Joshua, King David, leadership, Levites, servant-leadership. Leave a Comment »

Defy The Experts

July 17, 2018 — Craig T. Owens

Later war broke out with the Philistines at Gezer. That was the time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai of the clan of giants. The Philistines had to eat crow.

In another war with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite whose spear was like a ship’s boom.

And then there was the war at Gath that featured a hulking giant who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six on each hand and foot—yet another from the clan of giants. When he mocked Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.

These came from the clan of giants and were killed by David and his men. (1 Chronicles 20:4-8)

All the experts said that it was humanly impossible for a human to run a mile in less than four minutes. They looked at all the data and concluded it just couldn’t be done.

But in 1954, Roger Bannister ran a mile in 3:59.4.

Since that time, over 1400 runners have been inspired by Bannister’s success and have also broken the “unbreakable” barrier of a 4-minute mile.

Before David faced the giant Goliath, the experts were probably all in agreement: giants just can’t be killed by normal-sized humans.

But David killed Goliath. And then, inspired by his success in doing the “impossible,” David’s fellow warriors began chopping down giants too!

What’s holding you back? What have you or other so-called experts declared “impossible” or “unbreakable” or “undoable”?

If God is calling you to take on the giant, DO IT!

Defy the so-called experts. Do the “impossible.” Don’t let what others say is un-doable hold you back from victory!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Chronicles, Bible study, David, experts, giant, Goliath, history, impossible, Roger Bannister, Scripture, success. 1 Comment »

A Warrior For God’s Favor

June 18, 2018 — Craig T. Owens

I love this guy!

Caleb is a dog. I’m not kidding: his name literally means dog. To be more specific his name actually means a rabid dog. What?! Yeah, but it totally fits his life.

Caleb first shows up on the scene when the Israelites are getting ready to explore Canaan for the first time. They have just been delivered from Egypt and in about two months have arrived at the border of their promised land. Moses wants to send a representative from each tribe to scout out the land.

So the first thing we learn about Caleb is that he is a leader of the largest, most powerful tribe in Israel (Numbers 13:1-3, 6).

After scouting the land for 40 days, these men come back with a report for everyone. Halfway through their report, Caleb interrupts everyone—“We should go take the land right now, for we can certainly do it!” (13:30). Caleb was outspoken for God’s favor. He firmly believed that God was for them.

Unfortunately, nearly all the other scouts (except Joshua) disagreed with Caleb. They warned that there were giants in the land that would eat them for lunch. In essence, the same people who had seen God deliver them from the Egyptians and part the Red Sea for them now thought that God wasn’t able to defeat giants. This vocal majority turned the entire nation against Moses and wanted to return to Egypt!

So God promised that none of the adults would enter the promised land, with only two exceptions: Joshua and Caleb. God pointed out that Caleb “has a different spirit and follows Me wholeheartedly” (Numbers 14:24). This is where we first learn that Caleb is rabid. The term rabid means zealous, intense, fanatical, inspired. Caleb is a man who is focused—intensely, wholeheartedly focused—on God. In fact, this word wholehearted is used about Caleb three more times (see Joshua 14: 8, 9, 14).

Along with the rest of the Israelite community, Caleb wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. He never thought God had forgotten him; he never lost his intense wholeheartedness; he stayed rabid the whole time. He had a trust in God that never diminished. His motto might have been: “God said it; I believe it.”

After 40 years in the wilderness, and then five more years fighting to claim their promised land, Caleb was still raring to go. He told Joshua, “I am still just as strong as I was 45 years ago. I’m 85 years old and still ready to take on giants. Let me at ‘em!” And he did it! Caleb drove out three giants in order to claim his territory (Judges 1:20).

But Caleb wasn’t done yet. He then used God’s favor to be a blessing to others. The Apostle Paul tell something that Caleb lived out: God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need AND plenty left over to share with others (2 Corinthians 9:8). Without a word of complaint, Caleb gladly accepted not only the responsibility of letting the Levities live in the town he had conquered, but he also took on the added duties of making that city of Hebron a “city of refuge.” In this city, Caleb would keep anyone safe from those seeking their lives until a proper trial could be held.

Caleb was successful for nearly 90 years because he was convinced that God was for him.

**Nothing could distract him from wholeheartedly clinging to God’s favor!**

Caleb was a warrior for God’s favor, and he was a successful warrior because of God’s favor. The same can be said of you IF you will decide to cling to God’s favor wholeheartedly.