All tagged victory
This morning we look at the spiritual battleground before us and wonder about our place on it. There should be no doubt but that there is a battle raging for our souls... and we are active combatants in it. But, are we prepared to march onto the field and proclaim the mystery of the gospel?
This morning I would like for us to concentrate on praying against Temptation. My morning reading touched on this topic today when Pastor E.M. Bounds said: "Temptation is really evil arising from the Devil or born in the human nature.", and as I thought on it I realized that Jesus spoke specifically to temptation when he gave us the Lord's Prayer. He didn't talk about Trouble or Trials, yet He certainly dealt with Evil and Temptation specifically.
I found great value in the devotional message I read this morning. It contained a prescription for healing the doubt and fear in my life. Of course, the solution came from scripture and was simply expounded upon further by E.M. Bounds. The scripture reference I am referring to came from Philippians where Paul wrote of the power in praying in everything... Prayer is the medicine that heals all our woes, sorrows, and illnesses. Prayer give us the peace of God and will keep our minds fixed on Him through Jesus.
Are you concerned because you are constantly at war within yourself? Does it bother you that there is a struggle going on inside you between good and evil, holy and unholy, or salvation and damnation? Well, take heart because although this conflict is the natural state of man, we have a champion who not only helps us realize the good within ourselves, but helps us to achieve victory over the evil by having already defeated sin for us.
Do you lay awake at night and plot the course you will take tomorrow? Do you make battle plans against the forces of darkness, or arrange your spiritual strategy for holiness? If so, then woe to you, because the seas we sail, and the battles we fight, are not ours. We are just sailors aboard the vessel of God, and soldiers in the army of the King. We sail for him and do battle in His war. When we triumph it is in Jesus Christ alone... follow His lead.
In what way do we find ourselves rejoicing? Are we taking personal satisfaction in the number of souls WE bring to God? Are we celebrating God's victories as if they were our own? Or, do we find ourselves claiming victory for the power He has given us? Would it surprise you to learn that Jesus said don't do these things?
Many Christians today have a defeatist mentality; they look at how the dark forces of the world have turned against God, Jesus, and the Church , and in their despair they proceed to wring their hands. So what are we to do when faced with such seemingly overwhelming odds? God’s Word tells us that we are to pray, and lean faithfully on Him. What we see today is not the first time that Satan has mustered his forces and marched against the Church. The history of Christianity is filled with such moments as these, and has always emerged triumphant. Are we praying as we should, or leaning sadly on our own misunderstanding of today’s events?
Born in a stable, wrapped in swaddling cloth, and then laid in a manger. How unlikely was it that this child would be a King, and conquer sin and death in the world? What makes His victory especially sweet? It isn’t that He won because that is true of every victory. What makes this victory triumphant, exceptionally joyous, and timeless, is that Jesus, the victor, was incredibly unlikely, and the chance of His victory seemed impossible by any measure. Yet despite all appearances He snatched victory from what seemed to be the jaws of certain defeat. This humble man, who rode astride a donkey’s colt, proved to be God incarnate, and He is more than our savior, He transforms us.
No matter what troubles we face as Christians, we not only find that God leads us through them, but that during the most immense, intense, and frightening of them, the love of God gives us not only victory, but leads us triumphant through Heaven’s streets in celebration of our complete victory over them. We not only survive life’s ordeals, but thrive in the midst of them. How exhilarating it is to feel the wind in our face during a storm, or how alive we are when we experience the intense fear of standing too close to a precipice. So God is with us in our storms, and in every danger, but not to simply watch over us, but to lead us through them victorious, and then in triumphant procession as we reflect His glory.
The apostle Paul is a reminder to us that Christians suffer in this world, that bad things can happen to good people, and that there are those who will hate us because of our faith, just as Jesus said they would. But, he also demonstrates for us how to endure these hardships, and to use them to advance the gospel of Jesus, and the Word of God.
In this age of COVID-19, that appears to us to be a never ending string of variants and new sickness, are we despondent? In this world that is filled with hatred, and an all out attack on the Word of God, are we afraid? As men turn against one another, and people die of COVID, it is easy to fall victim to depression, but if we continue to call out to the Lord He will answer us… He will protect us, and He will set us free. When we feel boxed in by events, and accosted by discord from every angle, our God will open the doors of this earthly prison and lead us into green pastures. He will turn us out into wide open spaces of endless and eternal joy, not by removing us, by the death of our bodies, but through the unshackling of our souls from the spirit of this world.
In this time of pandemic we have had our eyes fixed dramatically on dying, and many of us have watched as our loved ones have wasted away until death finally claimed them, and they were committed to the ground. Some of us are mortally struggling for our own lives right now, but although the prospect of recovering our health might often seem bleak, take heart, because as Christians, we have already won victory over death in Christ... not bodily, but eternally in our inner spiritual selves. Each day as our health dwindles away, the eyes of our soul are opened wider to our faith, and the peace of God draws nearer.
After becoming Christians do we still feel threatened by the world? Do we allow what is in the world to have any remnant of undefeated rule over us? As victors in Christ, what more can the world do to us that we mustn’t grant it the power to do? On the cross Jesus overcame the world, and as He did, we overcame it as well. So now we must ask ourselves... are we living out the victorious life that has already been won for us? Do we realize that death has no dominion over us, and that fear is banished from us by the love of God?
What does it mean for us to have overcome the world? Does it mean that we have succeeded in gathering to ourselves all of its riches? Does it mean that we command its inhabitants to serve us? Does it mean that our will is imposed upon it? Or, does it mean that our faith allows us to conquer every negative influence that the world attempts to infect us with, and that in our spiritual health we will not be drawn away from loving God, Jesus, the Spirit, and one another?