From Defeat to Victory Part III

I assume that if you are reading this, you know that I have no faculty for sugar coating things. We never arrive, as Christians. We are, indeed, travelers; this world is not our home. And yet, it is the "American Dream" to make ourselves as comfortable here as possible, and put as much distance as possible between us and any form of trouble. Loved ones, wake up! That is not God's plan for any of us. The world over, our fellow travelers are being beaten, robbed and murdered for the testimony of Christ. Friendship with the world, James tells us, is hatred toward God. The older translations say "enmity with God" literally something that can never be reconciled to God, because enmity is the quality of being an enemy.

But that doesn't sound very victorious, you say. Oh, but this is exactly the path to victory, I say. It is the root from which every victory in the Christian life stems, Christ alive in us! It is only when we are stripped of everything, that we realize that God is all that really have. No person, no pet and certainly no possession can ever replace what we have with God. Loving things more than God, that is idolatry. There is nothing that can replace what we find in our relationship with God. When you are knocked flat to the ground, and you weep without a single thought for who sees you, and you cry to God, and you don't care who hears you; loved one, it is there that you meet with God on His terms. It is there that you get, maybe for the first time, that God is all that you have ever had. And when you get a hold of that fact and it gets a hold of you: you won't trade it for anything!

This is where Christianity begins in you. You are not only listening for God to speak, you can't wait for Him to speak to you. It is here, dear one, that you begin to understand that you live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This, love ones, is victory, because the Father has won out over the whole world in your heart. The things that were so important to you just days ago, are now encumbrances that slow down your service to God. What becomes important to you is God's purpose and accomplishing something for His glory. This is where we finally stop jabbering about everything that we think we want, and ask the question: Father, what is it that you want?

More soon, loved ones.