I don’t follow football, and a few days ago I couldn’t have told you the name of Philadelphia’s team. But on Monday, November 16, as I was listening to a message on YouTube, the Holy Spirit dropped the name into my mind.

The message I was listening to was part of a prayer meeting in Philadelphia, led by noted apostolic leader and intercessor Dutch Sheets. When he shared a dream of a football with the word triumph on it, I felt I should look up the name of Philadelphia’s football team when the message ended. I had a strong impression that whatever the name was, it had some prophetic significance.

A moment later, the name “Philadelphia Eagles” dropped into my mind.

I was startled by the clarity of this thought. I said the name out loud and it sounded right, but I didn’t know if the Philadelphia Eagles play football, basketball, or baseball. A quick search revealed that not only do the Eagles play football, they also won the Super Bowl in 2018!

THE EAGLES VS. THE GIANTS
As I read the Wikipedia entry on the Philadelphia Eagles, a piece of information that caught my attention was their rivalry with the New York Giants. I felt prompted to look up “Eagles vs. Giants,” to find out when the two teams have played against each other. I was imagining the encounter to have taken place decades ago, but to my surprise, the Eagles had met the Giants only the day before!

The Eagles lost in their playoff against the Giants on November 15, but this word is not about that game’s outcome. It is based on the prophetic significance of the teams’ names, and the fact that they met so recently in the current football season.

When I read about the November 15 playoff, the Holy Spirit said this to me: The eagles are facing the giants in this season.

The eagles are the intercessors and prophetic seers, who fly high and see clearly into the spiritual realm as the eagle does in the physical. At a less supernatural level, any believer who wholeheartedly trusts in the Lord can be considered an eagle: as Isaiah 40:31 promises, those who wait upon the Lord “shall mount up with wings like eagles.”

The giants are the demonic forces that try to intimidate the eagles and usurp their territory. They are the angels who fell with Satan and who, in the days of Noah, impregnated women to produce the “men of renown” (Genesis 6:4). Like their master, the devil, these demonic entities have been interfering in God’s plans for humanity to this day.

IN THIS SEASON
On November 16, when the Holy Spirit told me that the eagles are facing the giants in this season, and the fact that the Philadelphia Eagles had met the New York Giants barely 24 hours before, I knew this was a “now” word. The Holy Spirit was referring to the strange turn of events that began when some states stopped counting votes on election night. If the contest was fierce before November 3, it is much more so now.

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Powerful spiritual hosts have been working to thwart God’s plan for the 2020 election because of all that’s at stake — for the US and for many other nations as well. These demonic forces are also causing people to grow afraid, just as history’s most famous giant did.

In 1 Samuel 17:8-11 we read how Goliath taunted the Israelite army, striking terror in the hearts of not only the soldiers but also King Saul himself. It took a shepherd-boy who knew his God to take down the giant. In their epic encounter in the valley of Elah, David tells Goliath, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (v. 45). These are the words of an eagle.

Too many Christians have been unwilling to face the giants in this critical hour of America’s history. If the giants have their way in this election, they will dominate the US and eventually every other nation as well. But instead of standing up to this evil agenda, many Christians are cowering in fear like the Israelite soldiers before Goliath.

In Psalm 9:10 David tells the Lord, “Those who know Your name will put their trust in You.” God’s name represents His character, His power, and His glory. If we will trust in the name of the Lord as David did, we too will be able to face the giants in this season, not hide like the Israelite army. And we too will be victorious, for as Psalm 9:10 goes on to say, the Lord has never forsaken those who trust in Him.

(c) 2020 Sharon Arpana Edwards. All Rights Reserved.