When Will I Live In Victory?

It is quite funny to me that when I decided to write on this topic how quickly satan jumped in to make me live in defeat, and I tell you, being new at this whole thing, I've come close to jumping off into the great cavarn of defeat, there to fill my lungs with must, lick my wounds, and whimper. However, in the very same breath Christ has flooded me with encouragement from the songs I have listened to today and the blogs I have read...some people have got a fire going on in their hearts, and it is burning strong, and oh how it illumines the narrow path and helps me to keep walking straight.

So, before I continue, I will share a little background history, I grew up in church, I was going to church 9 months before I was born, church became a habit, a knowledge a knowing. It also became one of my greatest torments. Growing up in church is not always easy, I had to struggle with my faith, I had to prove to myself that this is what I believed, which in the end it wouldn't have mattered it I proved it our not...God was, is, and always will be. It placed a lot of doubt in my soul and allowed me to live so utterly defeated. I realize now that most of my life was lived in defeat. The big mean scary devil was going to come out and get me if I wasn't good, and even worse I had to somehow prove my loyalty to Christ. He was some audacious, pompas, fearful thing to me as a child...I lived in fear of displeasing Him, and falling out of grace with Him (somewhere still in the deep recesses of my soul that melody haunts me!)

However, with maturity, and by the grace of God I have realized that there is absolutely nothing that can tear me away from the hand of my Lord. When the Cheyenne greet one another they will shake arms in a fashion, they each grab the arm of the other close to the elbow in a greeting. This a symbol of more than friendship and greeting, but a symbol of commitment, for if only one of them loses their grip and the other does not they still cannot be parted for the other still has hold of the his arm. So it is with Christ, once we accept Him into our heart it is like a Cheyenne handshake...it doesn't matter if we let go, He still has us by the arm, that is the covenant He has made with us. Glory be to God on high.

I have come to realize that Christ is not the God of Sunday School, that He cannot be placed in a box, that He is wild, unfettered, and His soul purpose is the pursuit of our heart. I've grown I've developed, I've learned to trust Him for my life, I've realized where He has brought me, I've gained self-worth, I've learned this life is a journey full of adventure and that I must have LIFE above all else.

So, I ask myself...When will I live in victory? Why do I still conceive life to be as it is, and there is nothing that I can do about it? I've learned to accept life as being hard, which it is, but Christ has promised us hope. We may suffer, be we do not have to be defeated. Christ, as I've mentioned in a previous blog has been so gracious in allowing me to heal from the battle and grow in His love, He is tenderely whispering to me in my dreams, in the quite moments, and I must know His voice...just the other day He whispered...when will you live in victory if not now? I was like how profound...

Then the truth of this statement came flooding in. I feel many Christians, I take that back, I know many Christians have lived in the same boat I have. Feeling defeated and not claiming victory over our lives. For if we are heirs with Christ, then we are victorious in Christ. We know the end result...

When I was thinking of writing this I had all these profound, or so I thought profound, things to say, but now in the stillness of this evening I realize that I don't have to be elequent, I don't have to articulate everything perfectly, God is working through the words, He is working a new truth in me.

I am FREE...I live in VICTORY!

Everyday of our lives we should strive to take up that victory, no matter how hard life gets, not matter how down in the dumps, or what horrific sorrows cross our path...WE DO NOT LIVE APART FROM CHRIST...we have Him, the Savior loves us, He desires to walk along the streams of life with us...Yes! there is sifting, Yes! satan is real!, Yes! life is hard!, ...in the end though there is only on prize to win. I live in victory for I know this is not my home.

Do you ache for Heaven like you ache for a husband or a wife or children or that great job or whatever other accomplishment you are looking for? Do you dream about it? Hope for it? Feel its presence envelope you? Death comes to all of us...we can't get out of it. In the end is Heaven your passion? Is communing with the Saviour your ultimite desire? ...I have asked all these questions and more...

This world tells us to live for the now, don't worry about the eternal. I say once we have our minds clearly focused on the prize, and actually look at it as a prize, not some place we will go some day that I don't need to worry about, then our passion changes, our purpose changes, what drives us changes, we live in victory...we become more determined to reach that finish line with a whole troup behind us. We are clearer in thought, purer in heart, and more sensitive to the supernatural...

Living in victory, can you taste it, that sweet nector is only beginning to cross my lips...praise be to our great warrior who indured it all...we live in victory with HIM!

Check out the entry I put on the Writer's Corner, it isn't my work, but a newsletter I receive from my favorite author John Eldridge...it is pretty profound!

Quote:
Running to hide our faces in God is not like seeking the comfort and familiarity of a childhood blanket that allows us to tune out the realities of our lives. God is a mighty lion, whose roar is heard in every corner of the world. Still, when you are in trouble, you can hide your face from him or run to him and let him hide you in his mane. There you will find strength to live your life. - Sheila Walsh

Scripture:
The ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. - Isaiah 35:10

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. - Psalm 143:8

Be still and know that I am God. - Psalm 46:10

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