Victory does not happen to us while we passively wait …
a victorious Christian is deliberately and personally involved
in a
process that leads to victory.
If you are to achieve your goals, you must be involved to the maximum
extent.
Charles Swindoll
Proverbs 21:31 tells us that "the horse is made ready
for the day of battle, but the victory
belongs to the Lord." And Paul wrote in 1
Corinthians 15:57 in agreement that it is "God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Yet, John wrote in 1 John 5:4 that "everyone who has
been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome
the world—our faith."
So, how does what Charles Swindoll wrote reconcile with these
and other scriptures?
What it all boils down to is this—
If you want victory, you have to surrender.
Because faith—the victory that has overcome—equals surrender.
Thus, it is our active involved choice of surrender in faith—believing, trusting,
and relying upon the Lord, not ourselves—that allows our God, then, to do the
work in and through us that leads to victory.
In that choice of faith, we surrender our own desires and
will to those of our Father God, just as Christ did. (Philippians 2:5-8, Luke
22:42) Jesus, our example, humbly surrendered His will to His Father’s will. He
chose to be His Father’s servant and was involved to the maximum extent in the
process of accomplishing His Father’s goal—even to death. And the result?
Victory!
If victory is really our desire, we, too, must humbly
surrender our will and be involved to the maximum extent. That will mean death
to ourselves.
The reality is, then, praying moms, surrender is what has to
happen if we are to be prayer warriors for our children. Because, honestly,
what keeps us from prayer? Isn’t it ourselves?
We may place the blame on this or that, but the truth is we
choose what we do with our time. Even if the demands of others are involved, we
still choose.
It’s a peculiarity of the Christian life—surrender brings
victory. So, my prayer for us is that we will each make the choice of
surrendered faith to be involved to the maximum extent and be servants of
victory.
How we thank God for all of this! It is he who makes us victorious
through Jesus Christ our Lord!
1 Corinthians 15:57 (TLB
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