Expectations of Victory

^{Romans 8
37}In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us. ³⁸I am sure that nothing can separate us from God's love--not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, ³⁹and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God's love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord! (CEV)

We all have sinned. We all fall into temptation. Our struggles are daily and never once do they relent. It's never one specific temptation either; it varies from person to person, in frequency, duration, and strength. Without God, there is no way any person in this world can stand up to sin.

There's the key phrase: "Without God". We trust in Him and give our problems to Him, and in Him our battles become victories. Look at verse 37: "we have won more than a victory". The connotation of that phrase goes beyond simply winning a battle against sin; it implies that we know that we will win the fight. We expect the victory.

Too many times have Christians around us (and many times, even ourselves) have fallen to the false belief that sin has power over them. This Scripture screams "NO!!"; we not only can win against sin, but if we simply believe in Christ's death on the cross, we WILL win every time, no questions asked.

Different translations use the phrase "more than conquerors"; name some people who were conquerors in your mind. Alexander the Great? Atilla the Hun? King Leonidas? (for all my fellow 300 fans) How about Christ? He conquered the grave, set all us sinners free, and made it "easy" to live good lives. But at what price?

^{Mt. 5:48}-" Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (NIV)

Perfection is impossible, but its a goal nevertheless. It's what shapes our stories. As a screenwriter, it is encouraged for a good story to have a character to have an external goal to reach to satisfy some sort of internal need, the goal is of course blocked by opposition and the need is blocked by some sort of character flaw.

Christians
Goal- Do good in life; avoid temptation
Opposition- Satan, who brings temptation
Need- To be perfect as God is
Flaw- Sin

We go through the entire story of our lives attempting to find this goal, though many times we have other flaws in our character such as pessimism, passiveness, apathy, etc. We find ourselves in the crisis of no hope for ourselves, but then there is the realization:

Christ died for us because He loved us and He doesn't want us to have to fight battle after battle! His Love set us free! And we are free indeed! Free to expect that whenever sin comes even a fraction of an inch closer to our hearts, that we can say "No!" and know that God's Love makes it so that, if we believe and expect the victory, there's no way for us to lose the battle.

So go with the knowledge that God is for us, and sin has nothing that can stand up to His Love for us. As a final thought, here is an excerpt from John Mark McMillan's powerful song "How He Loves":

We are his portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean we're all sinking
So Heaven meets Earth like a [passionate]* kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way
He loves us

* original- sloppy wet

Claiming Your Destiny

Joshua 1-7

When I sat down to work on this, I tried to avoid the topic of destiny. I mean, we spent the first session talking about destiny, and I didn’t want to seem like I was stuck on one topic. But, I guess God’s not done with this one.

Last time we talked about making the choice of destiny, this time we’re going into the process of moving into your destiny, and to do so, we’re going to follow Joshua as he lead the Israelites into the promised land.

Removing Hindrances 

There’s always something that tries to hold us back from entering into the fullness of God’s plans. For the Israelites, like I mentioned last time, it was the older generation, that had seen the miracles in Egypt but still doubted God. But it was also Moses and Aaron. In Numbers 20, God tells Moses that he will not lead the people into Canaan because he did not honor Him. So then we get to Joshua 1:2, where God tells Joshua, “My servant Moses is dead. Now you must lead Israel across the Jordan River into the land I'm giving to all of you.” Find whatever is holding you back, and get rid of it!

The Promise

Once we get our eyes off of the hindrance, then it’s time to focus on the promise that we’ve been given. Joshua 1:3-9, God tells Joshua about the land, and reminds him that He will be with them. He even says ‘do not be afraid or discouraged.’ (v9) God wants us to succeed! We just have to trust in Him!

We Can’t Do This Alone

Independence is such an important theme with the American people. We celebrate the day that we move out of our parents’ house; we want to be able to accomplish things on our own. But that’s not the way God wired us. He even said in the garden, "It isn't good for the man to live alone.” (Gen 2:18)

The tribes of Rueben, Gad, and half of Manasseh had started to set up their towns on the east side of the Jordan. But before he allowed it, Moses made sure they would help in conquering the rest of the land. So when Israel was ready to move out, Joshua went to them, reminding them of their word. And the eastern tribes, of course, held up their end of the bargain. (Joshua 1:10-18)

Joshua sent two spies into Jericho to find out about its defenses. They come upon Rahab, who hid them and let them escape when the guards came looking for them. (Joshua 2)

Sanctify Yourself

During the 40 years in the desert, none of the boys born were circumcised, the symbolic gesture representing Israel’s covenant with God. So, before moving into Jericho, Israel renews its covenant with God by circumcising the men, followed by celebrating Passover. After these things, God said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." (Joshua 5:9) The Bible then goes on to say that the next day, the people ate the food of Canaan, and God did not send any more manna. Granted, God not sending something sounds like a bad thing, but considering they’d been eating manna every meal, every day, for forty years…well, they were probably beyond sick of it, so being ‘promoted’ to the crops of the land was the bigger blessing. When we turn our eyes back to God, that’s when His favor and blessings are poured out on us.

Follow the Plan

Israel had a sizeable army by the time they crossed into Canaan. They could’ve easily marched in under their own might. And, just as easily, could’ve had their posteriors handed to them. Instead, Joshua meets with the captain of the Lord’s army, and he gets strategy for the day. We’ve all heard the story, but think about how absolutely ridiculous the idea sounds. And the people follow, to the letter, and the city falls, just like God promised. When we try to do things our way, they often fall flat. But God’s plan always gives results.

Give God the Glory

First, a brief word about the first fruits. The idea of first fruits is connected to the idea of the tithe, it’s a portion of…well, anything provided, given to God, in order to redeem the rest. And, as the name implies, it’s the first portion. So if you had a ewe (that’s a female sheep, fyi) that gave birth to her first lamb, that lamb would be sacrificed. Unclean animals (and, obviously, people) were redeemed by another sacrifice, the first harvest of a crop was offered, etc.

In the case of Canaan, Jericho was the first city conquered, so the spoils, in the spirit of first fruits, were all given to God. Every man, woman, child, and animal (save for Rahab and her family) were wiped out. The city itself burned to the ground, and Joshua cursed anyone who would ever return and rebuild the city. But, one of the Israelites, Achan, got a little greedy and kept a few things, thinking it wouldn’t hurt. But, once Joshua found out, Achan and all his family were stoned, and their bodies and all of his possessions were burned. So let me say very clearly…do not try to deny God what is His.

Destiny Is A Choice - Not Chance

It feels somewhat fitting to take this first post talking about the idea of destiny. The Bible speaks more than a few times on destiny. It should be very clear to anyone who’s done a fair amount of Bible study that God has big plans for us, each of us. (Jer 1.5, Jer 29:11, Rom 8:29-30, Eph 1:4-5) In fact, in Acts, we’re told that “when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep.” (Acts 13:36) As long as we’re still breathing, God has a destiny for us.

Of course, there’s the free will factor. God makes it clear that He’s not going to impose himself on us. (Rev 3:20) So the choice is left completely up to us, to follow His will, or to go our own way.

Rest assured, no matter what we do, the will of God will come to pass, it’s just a matter of how long it takes.

We all know the story of Abraham. He starts off in Genesis 12 living with his family in a place called Haran, and God calls him to pack up and leave and move to Canaan. And so he does. But look back a few verses, to the end of Gen. 11. Abraham’s father, Terah, packs up and moves from Ur. He starts out going to Canaan, but he gets to Haran and decides he’s gone far enough. Terah lives in Haran for a few years, and dies. The very next verse is Abraham’s call to move, to finish what his father started. Terah had a destiny, but he didn’t work hard enough to fulfill it.

Think of the twelve spies sent into Canaan by Moses. They go into the land that God has promised them, to survey and scout out. Ten spies come back terrified by what they’ve seen. Only two, Joshua and Caleb, believed God’s promise for them. So, God kills the ten by plague, and promises Moses that no one who saw His miracles in Egypt or in the desert would set foot in Canaan. (Numbers 14:22-23) They missed out on their destiny because of their doubt.

But when we embrace our destiny, that’s when things start to take off.  David heard Goliath taunting the Israelite army and, in the process, God Himself. David’s brother’s wanted him to go home and tend the sheep, Saul wanted him wearing full armor. David did neither, and started himself on the path to his destiny as king. (1 Sam 17) So much so, that God says of David, 'I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.' (Acts 13:22)