THERE IS VICTORY!!!

As we go through our everyday life, it may seem that we are stuck in a rut. Or that we are forever fighting a battle that never seems to end. We are at war with self, [the old fleshly nature], the world and the devil. Sometimes it seems like we will never reach our goal. Make Heaven our home for eternity.

Or maybe we get so caught up in the day to day living that we tend to forget that we have a greater goal than just getting through this day to rest and start again tomorrow. Because we have an adversary that wants us to lose, he will continually bring to our minds the thoughts of the daily grind and struggles. It is his goal to keep our minds off of God the creator of all that is. The great almighty God who has given us great and precious promises to encourage us to keep on going. Promises that assure us that there is a great day coming when we will receive our rewards and enter in to the rest that He has promised to all who love Him.

Let us think for a moment, how things looked to the disciples. Jesus had been arrested. He had been hung on a cross. His body had been put into a tomb. It all must have seemed hopeless. What would happen now? What would happen next? But wait, had He not said all these things would come to pass? Didn’t He say something else also? What was that? Oh, yes, He would rise again on the third day. Darkness had covered the earth. It looked like the enemy had won. But wait, morning had come on the third day, There was a great earthquake. The earth shook with tremendous force. An angel came down and rolled away the stone. What was found inside? Jesus was not there. He was alive again. Just like He had promised them!!! Next over and over He is seen alive by a myriad of different people. There is VICTORY!!!

I want us to lay aside the struggles and things we are dealing with in our lives for a while today and refocus our minds on the Promises of God.

1 There is Victory in Faith
1Jn 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.
1John 5:5 Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Mat_6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

What is it that has had you so burdened? How many cares of this life have caught you in their snare? Who and what are you depending on?
Are you listening to the world around you? Do you hear it whispering; “these things are too great. You can’t possibly get through all this. The bills are too high. The illness is too advanced. Relationships are too far gone. It is hopeless”.

But what does the Word of God say?
Heb. 11:1 Now faith is. What did that say? Now FAITH IS. What does that mean to me? It means that right now in this moment Faith is. If you have faith in God, that faith that you possess IS what follows.
The substance of things hoped for. The faith you possess is the hoop-os’-tas-is, the essence, the assurance of, the confidence of absolutely what is hoped for though it is yet unseen.

Abraham believed God and that was counted to him as righteousness. When God said leave all you know and go somewhere that I will tell you when you get there. He didn’t say, “ now wait a minute I need more information than that.” Nope, he simply gathered up what he had, and his family and started waking in the direction God had pointed. He was not immediately in the promised land. He did not immediately have a son when promised. It took many years. Yet he walked in his faith and believed that he would see what God had promised.
All too often we put God in a box that we design. Then we say do everything my way on my schedule. But if it doesn’t happen immediately. We set aside our faith that God is God. That He can and He will do all that He has promised. Then we wonder why we are not seeing Victory in our lives.

There is Victory in Faith. In holding on to God’s promises. Standing on the promises of God to see a Victory in our lives. What God has promised He will do!!!

2 There is Victory in Prayer
There is an old hymn that says, “Prayer is the key to Heaven, but faith unlocks the door”. Prayer is essential in all of life’s situations. We bring all our needs, desires, fears, wants, hopes to God through prayer.

Never stop praying for your friends and family. God answers prayers. When it seems that someone is too far gone for even God to reach. Pray!! When Israel had sinned against God. God had given them the promised land. All they had to do was go in a take possession of the land. But they rebelled against God and Moses. While Moses was up on the mountain with God, the children of Israel were building an idol god to worship. They were saying this was the god that delivered them from Egypt. God was so angry with them that He could have destroyed them. But Moses Prayed to God and God restrained His anger and did not destroy them. Deut. 9:13-29 There is Victory in Prayer

When Hannah was childless and picked on because she could not have children. She went to the temple and prayed to God. He gave her a son, Samuel. God heard her prayer and honored her. 1Samuel chapter One. There is Victory in Prayer.

We are not to fear or fret or worry over our daily needs. Jesus has promised to meet those needs. We are to take them to the Lord in Prayer. Yes, He knows already what you need, but He desires us to ask Him in prayer for Him to supply our needs.

Jesus, Himself, taught us how to Pray in Matthew chapter 6. He also taught us to ask, seek and knock in Luke 11:9. Prayer is a means of asking, seeking and knocking.

Prayers are valuable to God. So valuable in fact that He keeps them stored up in Heaven. Prayers are like vials of fragrances to the Lord. Not only does He listen for our prayers, He keeps them as sweet perfume to be poured out at the end of time. Rev. 5:8; 8:3-4.

An older widow woman was in destress. She needed food but she couldn’t afford to go out and buy the food she needed. So she began to pray and tell the Lord what she needed. She had a cranky old neighbor who just happened to be out in his yard and overheard her praying. “That old woman”, he said. “In there praying, I’ll show her that God isn’t there or listening. I’ll go to the store and buy her food and take it to her. That’ll show her”. So this is just what he did. He brought the groceries and set them on the porch and rang the bell then hid around the edge of the house. She opened the door and began to praise the Lord and thank Jesus for hearing and answering her prayer. The cranky old neighbor jumped out from around the corner and said, “God didn’t answer your prayer. I got those groceries”. Again she began to praise the Lord, then she said, “Lord I knew you would answer my prayer, but I didn’t know you would use this cranky old man to do it. Thank you Lord,”. No matter how you look at it, God answered her prayer. Though He used the neighbor to bring the food, He still supplied her need just as He Promised.

There is Victory in Prayer. Another old song says “God answers prayer in the morning, God answers prayer at noon, God answers prayer in the evening. Pray for He is coming soon.”

3 There is Victory in Praise

1Chron_29:11 Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
Psa_22:26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live forever.

If we need encouragement to praise the Lord in our life, we need only look at the life of King David. In him we find someone who is always faithful to praise the Lord in all his circumstances.

He was berated for being young and small, but refused to give in to the taunts of a giant who was debasing the God of Israel. He walked out in faith and God gave a great victory. God anointed him to be king over all Israel when he was still a young man. But king Saul was determined to prevent that and chased him to kill him all over the place through many years of his life.

After he is made king and God is blessing his kingdom, his third son the grandson of the idolatress king of Geshur, decided to kill him so that he could become king.

David spent much of his life in hiding from those who desired to destroy him. Yet throughout his life David devoted himself to praising God and standing on the promises of God. He always recognized that God was the one true and mighty God. He told over and over of God’s creating power. Of how God delivered Israel out of bondage and delivered them from their enemies. So in all that he faced, David praised the Lord and God gave him great victories.

I know that I often say to you when you bring an issue to me, that we should start to praise the Lord. But there is victory in Praise. That is not to say that we don’t pray for God to intervene. But after that we pray we begin to Praise the Lord for the victory.

Another old song says: “Praise the Lord, for the Lord inhabits those who praise Him, Praise the L+O+R+D. And the chains that seem to bind us will fall powerless behind us when we Praise HIM”

4 There is Victory in Hope

2Chron_20:15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
Psa 78:7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
Rom 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

It seems that more and more today we are facing darkness and storms. All those simple truths that we were taught as children are vanishing into the new wokeness norm. Nothing seems to remain. Technology is continuously bringing more conveniences, but it is also wiping away the lines of privacy and individualism. What are the absolutes? Are there any left?

With all this comes a vague sense of doom and dread. Hope seems to be all but lost. We see so many people who feel there is nothing left to live for. They believe that there is no future. They feel alone, empty and sad.

Are there any answers to all this?

YES!!! There is an answer. His name is Jesus. He is the Christ. The savior of the world. In Him we find hope and peace. We find a future worth living for. His truths never change. You can find them all in an old book called the Bible. He remains the same yesterday, today and forever.

If we choose to read and believe the Bible, we will find hope for here and now. We will find hope for eternity. God sent His Son Jesus to live among humanity. To bear our sins and take our punishment for rebelling against God. Jesus died on the cross at Calvary taking all our sins with Him. He suffered death in our place. He rose from the dead on the third day. He lives forevermore.

He is our intercessor. He is our advocate. He is our counselor. He delights to fellowship with us. He loves us. He longs to bless us. He gives us His peace and His joy to overflowing. In Him we find hope for all eternity. All we have to do is believe.

From the very beginning God desired to fellowship with the humanity He created. In the cool of every day. He would come down and walk in the garden and talk with His creation. Still today, He longs to fellowship with us. We are not alone. We have God the Father, Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit as our companion. As our friend. We can walk and talk with Him every day about everything that we desire to discuss with Him.

He is our comfort. He is our Peace. He is our joy. He is our Victory.
1Corin_15:57 But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We must remember that Christ is our Victory over all the battles, storms, trials, fears that come our way. He is the One who fights on our behalf. We must just believe in Him and know that there is nothing too big or too great for Our Savior.

We may face huge mountains and ferocious storms, but the God of Heaven is here with us. He is commanding the mountains to be moved and the storms to cease and be still.

We must remember that we are not alone. We are children of God. We have been washed from our sins by Jesus blood because He took our place. As the blood was applied on the doorpost and the lintel of the door before Israel was freed from Egypt. The destroyer was not able to touch them. Jesus blood has been applied over our life and we have been set free from the guilt and punishment due us for our sins.

Rev_12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

We have the mighty name of Jesus. We can speak Jesus over every situation and circumstance of our life. His name is Power. His name is healing. His name is life.
Eph 1:20 Which He [God] wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under His feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of Him that fills all in all.

THERE IS VICTORY in Jesus. Victory over sin. Victory over death. Victory over pain and suffering. Victory over all trials.

There is VICTORY in Faith. There is Victory in Prayer. There is Victory in Praise. There is Victory in Hope.