Free Be All You Can Be: A Challenge to Stretch Your God-Given Potential by John Maxwell Page B

youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.” The moment you commit yourself to a great project, not only will your statements be tested, but others will express their doubts. As soon as you say what you’re going to do, there will be the King Sauls of life who will tell you that it has never been done before and you can’t do it either.

But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The L ORD 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 may the L ORD be with you.” Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor. David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” And David took them off. (1 Sam. 17:34–39)
    When you make a commitment to charge a Goliath, the third thing that will happen is this: People will want to tell you how to do it. Can you relate to that? You see, they’ll express their doubts, but when they find they can’t talk you out of the project, then they’ll want to give you instructions on how to handle it. They’ll try to put their armor on you. Saul, who himself was unwilling to face Goliath, was more than willing to tell David how to do it. Do you know people like that? The very guy who could not handle the problem himself was willing to tell someone else how to handle it.
    As a leader, I will listen to anybody. There’s no one who can’t teach me something. But the only ones I’m really going to take seriously are those who have an investment in my cause and are willing to charge the hill with me. When they give me their advice, they’re putting their lives on the line with me. There are all kinds of people who are willing to stay in the background and tell you how to do it—but they’re not willing to take part in it themselves.
    Notice that David, when he charted his course, was confident in mapping out his strategy because of his past successes. David knew that the God who helped him with the bear and the God who helped him with the lion is the same God who would help him with the giant. God had delivered him before; God would deliver him again. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of getting success under our belts. We’ve got to have some victories. It is winning that gives us confidence. I find that people who won’t handle problems are people who have histories of failure; they’re afraid of problems.
    When I was a kid, I was very frail and anemic. I ate liver all the time—in fact, I ate it so much that I learned to like it—and I had to take medicine to spinach myself up a little bit. Even so I always had a competitor’s heart, and I loved to wrestle my older brother, who was much bigger than I. We’d shove all the living room furniture up against the wall, much to Mother’s disapproval, and go at it! Dad not only allowed this regular evening activity, he was our referee. Have you ever watched fake wrestling on TV? That’s what we did every night—only it was real—and guess who got killed every night for a whole week? So one time Dad said to my brother, “Larry, this week you can’t wrestle Johnny. You referee; I’m going to wrestle him.” Every night my dad and I would wrestle for fifteen or twenty minutes, and I would finally whip him. I would finally get him down and make him say uncle. I felt so good! After I had defeated my dad every night