In the Bible story of how the young shepherd boy David killed Goliath, the Philistine Giant, we learn that David selected five pebbles to put in his pouch. He took one of them, put it in his sling, swung his sling, and brought the giant down.

We all face giants in our life. Like Goliath, they have names — I have faced a brute named Chronic Pain; you may be up against a particularly nasty one called Cancer; others face Loneliness, Addiction, Financial Troubles, Family Discord, Divorce, Loss of a Loved One — the list of Philistines goes on and on. The one as nasty as the next.

So God arms us with prayer.

Each sincere prayer we pray is like one of David’s pebbles — a short prayer looks like a small and insignificant act, but it has enormous power. Enough power to bring down the giants in our life.

But prayer is not a magic spell. It comes out of a relationship. A little boy cannot run up to any stranger and say, “I’m in trouble. Come and help me against so-and-so.” He has to go to his father, who will help him in the appropriate way, even if the boy himself has caused his own troubles.

Here are not five pebbles, but ten. I figured David’s skill with the sling was above average, so you and I need twice as much ammo. Just to be safe.

I pray that these ten short devotions will help you in your ongoing struggle to overcome the giant in your life.