Victory is for Today (2)

VICTORY IS FOR TODAY

A while back I was preparing a Bible study and came across a scripture that said we won’t need faith in heaven. Faith is something we need on this side of eternity.

So, for me this brought on a whole new way of thinking. I began to think what else, in relation to my faith and God, and my relationship with God, is only for now?

Almost immediately I thought of the overcoming power that God gives us so we can live victorious in Christ is for today! When we get to heaven it will all have been overcome at that point. So God has given us everything we need to live a victorious life while we’re on earth. This is amazing news!

Everything that we know through God’s Word about the overcoming, chain-breaking, soul-saving, life-changing victory of Jesus is for us today!

Everything we know through the testimony of past and present saints, about all that God has done in their lives to enable and empower them to live in the victory of Jesus is meant for us today. God’s soul purpose for giving us the overcoming resurrection power of the one and only Holy Spirit of God is specifically for God’s children today. We are more than conquerors today…we have the power to overcome today… the Holy Spirit dwells in us today…victory in Jesus is for today.

Church, I’m here to encourage you and tell you that Victory is for today! 

 Romans 8:37 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

No matter what our circumstances, none of the sufferings of this present time can separate us from the love of God. This makes us conquerors and more!

We overcome with a greater power, the power of Jesus. We overcome with a greater motive, the glory of Jesus. We overcome with a greater victory, losing nothing even in the battle· We overcome with a greater love, conquering enemies with love and converting persecutors with patience.

The love of Jesus living in us is our victory today. The love of Jesus casts out all fear. The Love of Jesus overcomes hate. The love and goodness of Jesus overcomes evil, and the truth, who is Jesus, has victory over deception. And it’s all for us to live in victory meant for today!

LIVE AND SEEK GOD’S PRESENCE FOR VICTORY TODAY…

7Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you JAMES 4:7-8.

The very first thing we have to do to live in the victory we have access to, and the victory God intends us to live in, is live every day in and with the presence of God.

How can we be empowered by God and live with the overcoming victory of God but not seek and live every day in the presence of God? It’s amazing that God allows us access to His presence on a daily basis.

The first step to this kind of lifestyle is found in verse 7. It says submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee. So, we submit to God daily, purposely seek to live in the presence of God daily, resulting in us having the Holy Spirit power to resist the devil and his attacks daily, making him flee daily because our victory is for today church!

Then chapter 8 tells us to draw near to God and He will draw near us. So, everyone who becomes a Christian is drawn in by God and by His grace until we surrender to God and become a Christian, but then God kinda leaves how much we experience Him up to us.

So we have to be deliberate about living in His presence. Whether or not we have victory in Jesus depends on us drawing near to God daily. The call to draw near to God is both an invitation and a promise. It is no good to submit to God’s authority and to resist the devil’s attack and then fail to draw near to God. We have it as a promise: God will draw near to us as we draw near to Him.

EMBRACE GOD’S PROMISES TODAY!

By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. 2 Peter 1:4

We win the victory over Satan by using the promises of God found in the Word of God. We must read the promises, memorize the promises, write the promises, claim the promises, and interject our name and situation into the promises of God.

Doing this combined with drawing near and resisting will continually set us up for victory in today. When Christ was tempted by the devil, He rebuked Satan with the Word of God and got victory and defeated the devil. The Word of God is a must in the daily life of a believer if that believer expects victory today and every day.

The people of God deliberately seeking to live in the presence of God, drawing near to God daily, living , speaking, believing , breathing and claiming the promises of God, rebuking the enemy with the anointed Holy Word of God, becoming partakers of the mighty divine nature of God, enabling us to escape worldly corruption and evil desire which is what I call the very Victory of God that is meant for today.

Church, VICTORY IS FOR TODAY! The overcoming chain-breaking, bondage-freeing, wonder-working  blood of Jesus gives us victory today!

When you feel depressed, claim the victory of the blood of Jesus in your life…When you get anxious, claim the promises of God…When you feel alone, get intentional on seeking the presence of God…When you are tempted, proclaim the Word of God…When you feel distant, draw near to God knowing He is going to draw near to you…When you feel fear, lean on the perfect love of  God…and doing these things will allow you to enjoy VICTORY FOR TODAY.

VICTORY IN JESUS, The Song

Eugene M. Bartlett Sr. was born in 1885 in Missouri and was a successful singer, music publisher, producer and songwriter. But in 1939 at the age of 53, his world changed drastically.

Mr. Bartlett suffered a paralyzing stroke that left him unable to walk and for the most part, he was bedridden. It was during these dark days that Eugene would write his best-known hymn, Victory In Jesus.

While looking back over his life, he began to think back to the night he was born again and the rich life he had had since that night. He picked up a pen and began what would become his best-known song. He began with the following words:

I heard an old, old story,

How a Savior came from glory,

How He gave his life on Calvary to save a wretch like me

Realizing that the love of God had sustained him and brought him to where he was that day, he is quoted as saying he felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to add another verse. He wrote:

I heard about his healing, of His saving power revealing,

how He made the lame to walk again and caused the blind to see

When he completed the song, he looked back over it and saw it was a story of redeeming power from start to finish. He wanted the song to be joyous. And while written during the darkest period of his life, he chose to make the melody full of happiness and enthusiasm.

Since he was no longer able to travel, his son, Eugene Jr took over his song ministry. One night, Eugene Jr traveled to East Texas for a revival service. A well-known evangelist spoke, but when the invitation was given no one came forward. Eugene, Jr. said he felt the Lord urging him to sing his Father’s new song which he had not sung publicly before.

He did and as he sang many in attendance began to come forward to give their life to the Lord Jesus. At the end of the service over 50 men and women had accepted Christ as their savior.

I’m sure that during his time of suffering there were days where he felt depressed, alone and sad, yet he still found the inspiration to declare, “I cried, Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit and somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory’’.

It’s amazing that in the midst of all that was wrong in his life, he found the courage to proclaim Jesus, and the Victory he had in knowing Jesus was the answer and source of his joy.

So often, when we are going through a dark time in life, we get focused on the problem or our circumstances and lose sight of what really matters. We lose our hope and our joy. But in the midst of Eugene’s troubles, he found he could say There is Victory in Jesus!