Tag Archives: war

July 15, 2013 · 8:39 AM

Your Victory Has Been Won

We sang a song at church yesterday by Planetshakers. The words are still ringing in my mind this morning. It says, “Hallelujah! You have won the victory. Hallelujah! You have won it all for me.” As we sang it yesterday, I began to wonder, “How many Christians out there need a victory that has already been won for them?” Think about that for a minute. The victory many of us are looking for has already been won. Why do we still walk around defeated?

I see so many Christians who walk around with a defeated attitude. They aren’t walking in the victory that they are supposed to. Everything is doom and gloom. Nothing is going their way. They hang their head down and drudge along. They’ve allowed a culture of defeat to come reign in their life. That is not the life God intended Christians to live. That is not how someone who has had the war won for them should act.

Yes, we go through battles, trials and struggles. We aren’t going to be victorious in every one of them. We may even lose a lot in a row. Don’t confuse losing battles with losing the war. Battles are what we fight through to get to the end of the war. If you knew you were going to win the war in the end, wouldn’t you keep on fighting no matter how bad things looked now?

The person who has never lost a battle has not learned as much as those who have. It’s in our losses and failures that we find better ways to strategize and to grow. It’s in our losses that we get the determination to get back up. Proverbs 24:16 says, “The godly may fall seven times, but they will get up again.” It doesn’t say the godly won’t fall. We will. It’s part of life. It’s part of growth. Its part of what makes us who we are.

When I’m going through a time of multiple defeats, I hang on to Romans 8:37: Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours (mine) through Christ who loves us (me). I change it a little to personalize it. I make it my own promise from God. You should too. If you’re feeling defeated today, read that scripture again. Out loud. Proclaim it. Louder! Overwhelming victory is yours through Christ who loves you. You are not defeated. You are victorious in Jesus’ name.

You don’t have to walk around with your head down. You don’t have to keep your head down just because you’ve failed or lost a few battles. The war has already been won by Jesus. No matter how bad things get, keep that in mind. You can and will survive this and will be victorious in the end. Walk in victory today through Christ because He has won the victory for you. Hold your head up, child of God. You are victorious.

Click here to listen to that Planetshakers’ song on YouTube.

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March 7, 2013 · 7:06 AM

Jehovah Nissi

Most of us are familiar with the story in Exodus 17 where the Israelites went out to fight the Amalekites. Moses went up on a hill to watch the battle. When he raised his arms, Israel prevailed. When his arms grew weak from being raised and they fell, Israel began to lose. Aaron and Hur went up the hill, had Moses sit on a rock and propped his hands up. The Bible says that Israel mowed down the Amalekites that day. Moses then built an altar and called it Jehovah Nissi, The Lord my banner.

Banners aren’t something we use much anymore. But all through history they have been used. If you think about the national anthem for the United States. It was written during a battle. If you listen to the words of it, when night fell, our flag was raised up which meant we were winning the battle. The writer was a prisoner in a ship and he was trying to see if it was still flying. The dawn’s early light was not bright enough to see it. He relied on the rockets red glare to light it up and give proof that it was still there.

The flag, or banner, represented hope in the battle. It let you know in all the confusion of war with the bombs bursting, the lights flashing and smoke rising that we were being victorious. Hope in a battle is huge. People need it to keep fighting when they can’t see the end result. When the banner went down in a battle, people lost hope and the will to fight. What Moses did was create a banner that represented victory and that The Lord was helping them. It gave hope.

You may be fighting a battle right now. It could be personal, spiritual, financial, relational or any type. In it your vision is limited. Your focus has become short sighted. You may even feel like a prisoner in that battle like Francis Scott Key was who wrote the U.S. national anthem. Even as a prisoner of war, he saw our banner and had hope. So much hope that he penned a moving song that is known world wide.

If you’re lacking hope today, raise your hands and praise God. Surrender the battle to Him. He is your victory. He is your strength. Don’t get caught up in the smoke and confusion of the battle. Look for the banner that represents your victory today. It’s still there, you just need to see it. The dawn will break soon and the light of the Son will shine again. Don’t give up. The Lord is your banner of victory. He is Jehovah Nissi.

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January 11, 2013 · 8:18 AM

From Defeat to Victory

I used to worry a lot. There were things going on in my life that I couldn’t control. Things were happening faster than I could react to them. That worry lead to stress. That stress then lead to high blood pressure. My doctor put me on blood pressure meds, but they didn’t work. I’m thinking she probably should have put me on anxiety meds. I’m glad she didn’t because medicine wasn’t the answer I needed. My answer came through a friend who wasn’t scared to say something.

She asked me some questions that got me to thinking. She asked, “Are the things that are happening to you a surprise to God? Is God worried about them? Or is He still on His throne and in control?” Well I knew the answers to those questions, but didn’t want to say it. They did make me think about how I was looking at things. I had gotten so caught up in the problems and things popping up in my life that I allowed God to be taken out of the equation.

I don’t think I’m alone in this. I think many of us get caught up in our daily life and the problems that catch us unaware. We allow them to consume us to the point that it dominates how and what we think. When that happens to us, it’s easy to make our problems bigger than the God we serve. It doesn’t happen over night either. It comes from a constant bombardment of things that attack us. It’s a war technique that is happening to you.

Think back to Desert Storm. Our initial operations there had a code name of “Shock and Awe”. Most war plans, game plans and plans of attack begin with some type of shock and awe. They do it because if you aren’t expecting it, it will throw you off course, force you to make poor decisions and it gives the attacker the upper hand. It is designed to break your will and to keep you from fighting back. Submission is its goal.

I had submitted to the things that were coming at me faster than I could handle. I left the fundamentals that I had been taught. Once I did that, I began to be defeated. Defeat is the ultimate goal of our attacker. Once we are defeated, we are no longer a threat. Defeat breeds worry and depression which are cyclical and keep you from fighting. They take our mind out of the war that is going on and eventually remove the thought that God still cares and is our path to victory.

My friends questions caused me to put God back in the equation. When God is added in to the battles in your life, victories are multiplied. God cares deeply about where you are. He is not unaware of the things that are plaguing your mind right now. He is silently waiting for you to remember Him and to get back to the fundamentals which are praying and reading His Word. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God. If you need a faith boost this morning, get into God’s Word. Read it out loud. Speak the promises of God and reclaim your mind. Victory is at stake.

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