Guaranteed Victory

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
– 1 Corinthians 15:57 –
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In the game of life we are heavy favorites with a guaranteed victory. However, the opposition (enemy) will still try every trick and scheme to gain the advantage and rip imminent victory from within or grasps. He will do everything within his power to establish a foothold and strip us of the victory we were promised in Christ Jesus.
Although we are highly favored we and all but assured victory we rest on our laurels and forget that we still must play the game of life. In order to win we must have a game plan, a strategy if you will of how to achieve victory. This is what God has provided us through His Word. (The Playbook for Life)
He instructs us to suit up with His whole armor and grind it out day by day fighting the good fight of faith. As my pastor would say, “We’ve got to walk our Faith out, left foot, right foot under any and conditions in hostile territory as we are not of this world, but in it.
We must execute His game plan to achieve our desired goal which is to spend eternity in His presence. Although it is not by works alone that we are saved we are still required to do our part and walk in obedience to that which God desires of us. Just like a football team doesn’t succeed unless every person does their job, as followers of Christ we all have a part to play and faith without works is dead being alone.
The enemy has a playbook as well and he walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He studies us to determine our weaknesses and tendencies in an effort to defeat us. He lurks and waits for the opportune time to exploit us and expose our flaws to the world. In the end leaving us confused and befuddled on just how we let an inferior opponent get the best of us and strip us of a victory that was guaranteed.
And the answer to this all probing question is really quite simple. If you let a defeated foe stick around long enough it build the confidence and belief that you can be defeated. The Bible says to lay aside every weight that so easily besets to avoid falling into the snares of sin. However, we pick and choose those habits and actions we want to hand over to God. We flirt with sin and let it hang around the periphery knowing all too well that it doesn’t just want to hang around outside of the gate. It wants to come into center city (our hearts) and take control.
By not yielding total control to the Father we suffer many self-inflicted wounds that ultimately cause us to spiral downward and fumble that which He guaranteed us into the hands of a weaker yet opportunistic opponent. Failure to guard our hearts and execute God’s game plan as we’ve been instructed in His Word will leave us confused and full of regret in the end wondering how we let something that was so certain slip away.
“If the devil is in your ear he is too high. God has placed all things under your feet.”
-26 Beautiful One liners-