Life has a way of confronting believers with battles that feel larger than life. Fear, discouragement, guilt and temptation often seem impossible to overcome. Yet according to Dr. David Jeremiah, these struggles are not new. They are modern-day giants, and Scripture provides a roadmap for defeating them.
During a recent interview with Sheila Walsh on Turning Point, Jeremiah discussed lessons from his teaching series Slaying the Giants in Your Life. Drawing on the story of David and Goliath, he explained that today’s believers face giants every bit as intimidating as the Philistine champion.
“I really wanted to concentrate on the giants that we face in our culture today and how they’re just as big to us as a 9-ft 6-in giant was to David,” Jeremiah said.
Here are the 11 giants Jeremiah highlighted, along with the biblical principles he shared for overcoming them.
1. Fear
Jeremiah spoke candidly about his battle with fear during his fight with cancer.
“People ask me when I had cancer, was I afraid. Were you afraid when you had cancer? And I think absolutely I was,” he said.
He explained that fear was eventually replaced by God’s peace and presence.
“We are not to live our lives in fear. I don’t think that’s the will of God for us.”
2. Discouragement
Jeremiah called discouragement one of the enemy’s most effective weapons.
“I think that’s Satan’s favorite tool to use on me,” he said.
His solution comes from the life of David.
“And David encouraged himself in the Lord.”
Jeremiah said worship music, Scripture, prayer and trusted relationships help him push back against discouragement when it appears.
3. Loneliness
Despite constant online interaction, Jeremiah believes loneliness has become a growing crisis.
“I sense that there’s so many people through social media, they think they’re connected, but they’re really not connected,” Walsh observed.
Jeremiah pointed to authentic Christian community as the answer, emphasizing the importance of meaningful relationships within the local church.
4. Worry and Anxiety
Jeremiah said anxiety is increasing as society moves further from God.
“The absence of God creates anxiety,” he said.
He pointed viewers back to Philippians 4.
“The Bible says, ‘Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your request be made known unto God.'”
He also emphasized the biblical command to encourage one another.
“That means we’re to pour courage into other people.”
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5. Guilt
One of Jeremiah’s strongest teachings centered on guilt and forgiveness.
“There is no place in the Bible where it ever says anything about us forgiving ourselves,” he said.
Instead, believers should focus on receiving God’s forgiveness.
“God forgives completely, fully, unconditionally. And when God forgives, you are forgiven.”
Jeremiah added that Christians must continually remind themselves that they have been forgiven “by the highest authority in the forever world.”
6. Temptation
Jeremiah made a distinction many believers need to hear.
“It is not a sin to be tempted. It is a sin to yield to temptation.”
He pointed to Christ’s temptation in the wilderness and reminded viewers that temptation itself is not evidence of failure.
“Temptation is hearing a knock at the door, but yielding is opening the door and letting it in.”
He also highlighted God’s promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13.
“God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also provide a way of escape.”
7. Anger and Resentment
Jeremiah noted that not all anger is sinful.
“Actually, the Bible says be angry and sin not.”
The greater danger comes when anger remains unresolved.
“Resentment is anger gone underground.”
He warned that buried anger eventually resurfaces.
“Then at an inappropriate moment that you never dreamed was going to happen, boom, you explode, and all that resentment comes out.”
8. Doubt
Jeremiah encouraged believers not to panic when questions arise.
“Somebody once said, ‘There is more faith in an honest doubt than in anything else you can ever have.'”
Rather than destroying faith, he said doubt often strengthens it by forcing believers to seek answers.
“Doubt drives you to find answers.”
He added that doubt becomes dangerous only when it is allowed to define a person’s entire spiritual life.
9. Procrastination
Jeremiah described procrastination as more than a bad habit.
“Here’s what I believe. That the time between when God tells you to do something and when you do it, that time belongs to the devil.”
He said delayed obedience creates opportunities for spiritual compromise.
“When God says do this, you do it.”
10. Failure
For Jeremiah, Peter’s denial of Jesus remains one of Scripture’s greatest examples of restoration.
“When you fail, you don’t become a failure.”
He reminded believers that setbacks do not have to define their future.
“Failure is never final unless you let it be.”
God often uses mistakes and disappointments to prepare His people for greater victories ahead.
11. Jealousy
In an age of social media comparison, Jeremiah said jealousy has become increasingly common.
“When you’re jealous, you have a person in your focus, and you’re jealous of that person.”
The answer is finding identity and joy in Christ rather than comparing lives.
“Joy is not happiness. Joy is a relationship.”
He said believers can overcome jealousy when they understand God has a unique purpose for every life.
“You shouldn’t be jealous of somebody else because you didn’t come here to do that. You came here to do this.”
Jeremiah concluded by returning to David’s encounter with Goliath. The lesson, he said, is not that giants disappear, but that believers face them differently.
“We can’t face our giants, Sheila, in our own strength.”
“But when we face our giants in the name of the Lord, in the power of his might, we can have the same victory that David had.”
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
