WE WIN or WE WIN
INSTEAD OF PRAYING FOR THE VICTORY, PRAISE GOD FROM THE VICTORY
Pastor Jim Sanderbeck
Nov. 16, 2020
In the midst of all the post-election flurry, I’ve been meditating on the word and on the prophetic utterance coming from so many voices. And now, even in the midst of getting a Covid 19 diagnosis, we remain unmoved in the Word and in the common threads of the prophetic words coming forth.
How am I handling all of this that we are experiencing?
I’m a warrior and I realize not all are motivated that way. Not everyone is designed to embrace the cultural collisions that happen when the Kingdom confronts the world systems. But if you want, I mean really want, to achieve victory, you need to put on (in this season) the gear of a soldier. If you don’t, you become potentially subject to the destiny of a prisoner of war and all the hardships that go with it.
We are in a war. A war for our nation and a war for liberty and a war for our right to worship God and live by His truths.
A warrior fights aggressively and even in the face of overwhelming odds doesn’t quit the battle. He endures, picks himself up and goes on. I plan on getting up one more time than I get knocked down.
As an athlete competing at high levels of performance, I had to work hard and learn that principle of warfare. In this hour we cannot have a recreational approach to the battle. This isn’t a time for lukewarmness or finding the easy way. We must be in it to win it! If you haven’t noticed, this stuff is not recreational.
Look to the Word and to the examples of faith modeled by our believing forefathers.
Psalm of David – the warrior king
Psa 20:6 Now I know that the LORD saves (defends, delivers, helps, preserves, rescues,) His anointed (those consecrated persons who are purposed and set apart to walk in the power of God); He [God] will answer him [God’s anointed ones] from His holy heaven With the saving strength (force, mastery, mighty acts or power), of His right hand (infers the position of rank and authority that cannot be overthrown).
Psa 20:7 Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God.
Psa 20:8 They [referring to all who have stood in opposition to the will of God] have bowed down and fallen, But we [referring to those who are purposed to walk in the power of God] have risen (been made to stand up, are stirred up, strengthen, and made to succeed by God),and stood upright.
Joshua – who took the people into the Promised Land
WHOSE REPORT WILL YOU BELIEVE? THE 10 FEARFUL SPIES OR THE 2 WHO WERE FAITHFUL (JOSHUA & CALEB)? AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL BELIEVE THE REPORT OF THE LORD
Joshua’s challenge for Israel to stay faithful to God in all things
Jos 24:15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
After the people made covenant to stay faithful to God, then Joshua erected a memorial that served as a witness before the people for all time. NOW, THERE WAS NO TURNING BACK. TURNING AWAY FROM THEIR COMMITMENT TO GOD WAS NOT AN OPTION.
I believe that what the Word and the prophets have said is going happen, is going to happen. I don’t know the time frame but, we will see our nation preserved, our liberty ensured and our freedom to follow our God’s principles of Kingdom living confidently re-established BUT…
We Can’t Quit
Php 3:12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
Php 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;
Php 3:16 however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.
1Co 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
Heb 6:1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3 And this we will do, if God permits.
Heb 6:9 But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.
Heb 6:10 For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.
Heb 6:11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,
Heb 6:12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
A Poem to Encourage
Don’t Quit
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won if he’d stuck it out.
Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow –
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out –
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are –
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.
– by Author Unknown
We love you all with the love of Jesus and…
WE’RE GONNA WIN THIS THING!