With Father’s Day right around the corner I want to take the time to point out how “Manly” the bible really is. I know there is a lot of love and grace talk, but there’s also a lot of stuff that would make for one sweet action movie. There’s even a group of guys who were a couple thousand years ahead of their time but would have made for an awesome prequel to “Act of Valor.” Their names… David’s Mighty Men.
You find them in 1 Chronicles 11 and these guys were no joke!

They start with Joab, David’s Commander-in-Chief. He earned the title for leading the charge into the fortress of Zion and capturing it. This became David’s home and set up Jerusalem as “The City of David.”
Then there’s Jashobeam, the chief of the officers, he just killed 300 men in one encounter with just his spear. Next to him was Eleazar, him and David took a stand against the Philistines when the rest of the Israelite army ran away and defeated their entire army by themselves.
These guys were so fearless that one time they heard David say he wanted water from a specific well near Bethlehem so they went to get it for him… even though they had to go through the Philistine army to get there.

Abishai, Joab’s brother, wasn’t considered a part of “The Three,” but he also killed 300 men by himself in one encounter so he became the Chief of the Three (apparently 300 is the magic number).

Then there was the chief of David’s bodyguard, Benaiah. He struck down two of Moab’s greatest men, killed a 7’6” Egyptian with just a club even though the Egyptian had a huge spear, and got mad at a lion so he chased it into a snowy pit and killed it… nbd.

And this is just 5 of them! As I’m reading through all of these and wondering how all of these amazing guys ended up in the same place one thing dawned on me; you attract what you are.

They are following a guy who killed a giant named Goliath (1 Sam. 17) when he wasn’t even old enough to enlist in the army. Even before that, he killed a lion and a bear when they tried to take his sheep (1 Sam. 17:36). He went on to become a high-ranking official in the army and his reputation grew until people would tell stories of his amazing victories. David wasn’t just leading mighty men because he was a king, he was raising up mighty men because he was one!

Think of the type of people you want to surround yourself with and work to become that. You won’t be welcomed into those circles until you can swap stories. Step up. Put away fear. Become the leader God created you to be!