Hail to the Victors (Day 5 - Freedom Week)

For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”...Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

2 Chronicles 20:12b, 15b

 

I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for the overtime game of the NCAA game to end. My team had been the underdog. They'd been down for the count and simply not as much on their game as their competitor. With virtually no time left on the clock, they tied the game and the competitor missed a shot--sending the game into overtime. My team came out fighting and never gave up. It seemed as if the call for OT was almost a refreshing for them and a defeating call for the competition. They stepped up their game. The five minutes of overtime where equally as tense as with 23 seconds left on the clock and no time outs left, the officials stopped the game for a time clock adjustment. But alas, my team pulled it out in the end.

The team couldn't hear me and I was alone in the room, but I along with so many others celebrated with bursts of school/alumni pride, singing along with the marching band as it played "Hail to the victors valiant. Hail to the conquering heros...Hail! Hail to Michigan..." And as the excitement subsided about the game, my excitement about that song began to bubble over. You see, these days, I've been feeling a lot like the underdog in the game. There have been some points where I feel as though the enemy has simply out-played me--moments where I could practically hear the commentators of my life shaking their heads and asserting what move they felt that I should have made.

But, at the end of the day, Good Friday...my relationship with Christ...my walk of faith all remind me that the victory is already mine. The victory is already yours! I am reminded that there was a "trick play" made thousands of years ago on my (and your) behalf on the cross at Calvary. A play that takes our game into overtime where we are renewed and look like whole new competitors. When Jesus died on the cross, he brought a refreshing to the game that is destined for VICTORY. So even when you feel like everything is against you, when you feel like you've been down on your game, when you feel like the commentators of your life have doomed you with their tongues, the Bible reminds us that "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment (God) shall condemn." (Isaiah 54:17) You simply cannot give up and need to step up your game. The enemy would have you believe that the game is his, but inevitably, he always misses a shot and underestimates the renewing power of Christ in our lives.

Plain and simple: The competition has already been won. He has delivered the competitor into our hands. And for as many people who are "commenting" against you, there are others silently watching on, ready and waiting to burst out and celebrate with you when the True Victor is revealed--when God's Greatness shines through. Because of this, we can shout now. Because of this, you can strike up the band and play your own victor song. "Hail to the victors valiant. Hail! Hail to <<Insert Your Name>>..." You may be in overtime, but not to worry: It's already done. It's already won.

Be encouraged,
MinD