Victory Is Assured.

IT’S A WALK OF FAITH. Not a paved walk on gold streets, but, at times, an uneven path with stones in your feet and the sun in your eyes. You’ll pass through desert places, but the river of life is within you. So walk by faith. Mental and emotional turmoil comes with the walk. However, faith focuses on the end point, not on our current footsteps, except to see God’s strength holding us up, moving us forward.

The enemy doesn’t get to decide the goal. He doesn’t get to decide when he leaves, nor how, nor where you end up. He doesn’t get to write the future. He doesn’t get to choose how miserable you are. Nor how happy. Nor how successful. That’s already been written. God the Father did that when He sent His Son to earth. His plan was a future filled with hope. He gives us joy and peace in believing.

Your part is to endure, but what are you focused on while enduring? The mess at your feet or the victory in your grasp? The destruction the enemy has made or the goodness of God which stretches out before you? Do you see long life and satisfaction? The mercy of God? God’s great forgiveness?

Are you more aware of the Holy Spirit within you, the Greater One who raised Jesus from the dead?

Don’t allow the enemy to stop you from living. Don’t get lost in a sea of “what ifs” and “maybes.” Don’t drink from the swill of condemnation. But take up the cup of Christ which overflows with His goodness and mercy. And walk by faith. Through the valley. In one side and out the other. On the path of righteousness He has placed you on. With the Shepherd beside you and the glory of God all around you.

Defeat is a mirage. Victory is assured. The oasis is reality. The river of life an actual place, flowing from the throne of God Himself. So wide and open and free, so full of abundance that even the deadest of places becomes a fruit-filled garden with us as beautiful flowers, whose fragrance ascends to the Father.

Shut the door on the enemy’s chatter. The only open doors are the ones we leave open. Jesus gave us the key to lock up tight.

“But it isn’t that easy, Suzanne.” No, it isn’t that hard. There are no uncertainties, no regrets, and no fear in Christ. Jesus died on the cross for complete salvation – body, soul, and spirit. He defeated the enemy for good, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Alpha and the Omega. The beginning, and the end.

Shut the door on how weak you think you are. Stop saying, “I’m not good enough.” You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You were bought with the price of Jesus’ blood, not of any works that you’ve done. It was by grace. The Father sent His Son to earth to save whosoever because He loved mankind so much, and He made no exceptions.

Stop saying, “There’s no way out.” Lock this door up tight. Jesus is the way out. He is the place of escape. He came to earth to do good and heal those oppressed of the devil. He commissioned us to go and do even greater things. Just because sometimes we can’t see the method God’s using to rescue us doesn’t mean there is no rescue. He’s promised us hope and a future. He’s said we’ll have long life and satisfaction.

Stop saying, “But I’ve messed up too badly.” Shut this door permanently. There is no “too badly” with God. Whether you got yourself into this mess or not, just repent and move on. He’s promised you goodness and mercy all the days of your life, and His mercy endureth forever. God can redeem the time you’ve wasted. He will give you back the joy you’ve lost. Press forward toward the prize found in Christ and don’t look back at your torn-up past, except to see how far He’s brought you out.

Let’s do this all even one better. Let’s remove all the doors except for the Door Himself, Jesus Christ. Any work of the enemy comes in because he climbed over the wall. He didn’t use a door. And, so what, if you had any part in allowing him access. Close it. Stand tall and having done all you can to stand tall, continue standing because Jesus clothed you in His armor. He made you strong enough and well-able to endure.

Even greater, He’s promised an ending to this situation. There always comes a point where your faith brings the answer, and you now hold it in your hand. It's like the man digging a tunnel who’s “this close” to breaking through the other side, except he gives up. If he could only see another five minutes of work would walk him right out into the light.

That is why the Father sent Jesus, to make us certain of His love to us and His abundant work in us. Jesus came to build us into the temple of the Spirit of God Himself. The same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead lives in you and me. The one who raised the Savior, the Messiah Himself, from the grave is with us, day in and day out, and nothing that comes against us will prosper.

Nothing. Not doors. Not long, empty hallways. Nor any of the landscapes that come with walking by faith. Instead, we stand before the altar of our hearts and our faces lifted to the God of heaven above, we worship the Lamb slain upon it, and in gratitude, thank God for all He has made us to be.

Beautiful edifices of glorious splendor with the risen Christ as the Chief Cornerstone and every blessing in heavenly places stretching out in front of us.

Image by Unbox Science from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com