Ode to the Complete Victory!
Didn't you know? It's in the news - the Good News, that is!
Check out the NET Bible's telling of it in Romans 8:37:
"In all these things we have complete victory through Him who loved us!"
But we don't always act like it, do we?
Do we not believe it?
Yesterday, Good Morning Girls led a study on Psalm 139, focusing on vs. 7-10 (my blog for that amazing study is here).
During that study, God really brought my attention (again) to the fact that we are terribly inclined to have it all backwards in our thinking (We need that 'renewing of the mind' thing happening way more than we think, huh?). So often, we try to run and hide from God when He is seeking our good. We forget at such times that God is love..... That we are loved! What a thing to forget! But we do....., well, I do anyway.....
Now, here today, the next Good Morning Girls in this series, "You Are Loved," is pointing out another thing we often lose track of: We have complete victory....... through Him who loved us!
Now, have we forgotten just the victory, or have we also forgotten that:
We are loved!?
From my own experience, I'd have to admit that when I've forgotten that We Have Complete Victory, it is because I don't feel one bit loved.
At such times, MacLaren's commentary on Romans 8:19 seems to explain and/or describe my life so well:
"There is always a difference between appearance and reality, between the ideal and its embodiments. For all men it is true that the full expression of oneself is impossible. Each man's deeds fall short of disclosing the essential self in the man. Every will is hampered by the fleshly screen of the body. "I would that my tongue could utter the thoughts that arise in me,' is the yearning of every heart that is deeply moved. Contending principles successively sway every personality and thwart each other's expression. For these, and many other reasons, the sum-total of every life is but a shrouded representation of the man who lives it; and we, all of us, after all efforts at self-revelation, remain mysteries to our fellows and to ourselves. All this is eminently true of the sons of God. They have a life-germ hidden in their souls, which in its very nature is destined to fill and expand their whole being, and to permeate with its triumphant energy every corner of their nature. But it is weak and often overborne by its opposite. The seed sown is to grow in spite of bad weather and a poor soil and many weeds, and though it is destined to overcome all these, it may to-day only be able to show on the surface a little patch of pale and struggling growth. When we think of the cost at which the life of Christ was imparted to men, and of the divine source from which it comes, and of the sedulous and protracted discipline through which it is being trained, we cannot but conclude that nothing short of its universal dominion over all the faculties of its imperfect possessors can be the goal of its working. Hercules in his cradle is still Hercules, and strangles snakes. Frost and sun may struggle in midwinter, and the cold may seem to predominate, but the sun is steadily enlarging its course in the sky, and increasing the fervour of its beams, and midsummer day is as sure to dawn as the shortest day was."
On the coldest of nights, the sun doesn't convince me that it will be warm soon, if at all. Really, I'm rather inclined to overcome most of my natural fears, but I am inordinantly fearful of the cold. When I am warm, I shake my head at the thought, but when I have occasionally found myself so cold that I couldn't warm myself up, and I had no immediate hope of help in becoming warm, I trembled from more than the cold.
Where is my faith at such moments?
Where is my faith when the chaos of life threatens the peace of not only my life, but the peace of those whom I love dearly? At such times, I do find my *confidence* anchored on the rock - *sometimes*, but not always.
Ode to the next question:
When not - - - - why not?
Does the rock change between times of faith and times of doubt! No!
Does His love change? Never!
Does the fact of His victory change? Absolutely not!
But sometimes I do forget that He Is Love, and that I Am Loved - simply because I am His......., and all because I am not busy *seeing the unseen victory*.
......... *sigh*.............
So what is lacking?
Well, let's read on: Romans 8:38 says... what?
"For I am convinced!"........
Ah....... there it is then....... I am not as convinced as I ought to be.
Convinced of what?
Convinced of His invincible love!
May I rest in His love. May I rest in the convincing testimony of His love. May I rest in the victory which His love affords.
And then will I perhaps better remember that we have:
Complete Victory - ........ because of that deep, deep, eternal, boundless love of God!
.........
Sure enough, in his commentary on Romans 8:37, MacLaren calls all of the challenges which we face not only the 'heterogenous mass (which) the Apostle brigades here together,' but more importantly, he also calls them 'the impotent enemies of love.'
It is important to note that it is not our love that makes our enemies' efforts 'impotent'. Our love is not steady enough for any such victory.
It is only the unchangeable, immutable, eternal, infinite love of God in Christ Jesus that can vanquish all of our foes. But vanquish them all it will, and Paul's confidence should be our goal.
Such is the calling of the love of God. And yes....... beloved:
You are so loved!
.........
So, if we have complete victory, might we merely scoff at our enemies and foes?
Certainly not! We must oppose them with soberness of spirit, filled with God's love.
With that kind of love, we can hold out hope for the lost and dying, for the suffering and afflicted, for those who do not yet realize that there is any such thing as real hope in the midst of even the most horrid suffering.
Can we find such love in our hearts?
Absolutely!
Because that love comes from an eternal well of love.
That love comes from an eternal God of love.
And that love of His surrounds us, and fills us more than we know.
We must simply remember it and stand upon it - the love of the living rock which was broken - the love of the living rock which poured forth water for all those called by Him into the wilderness - the love of the living rock which provided more than enough life for everyone when death seemed to be the only result of a wilderness calling.
Wilderness calling or no.......
You are so loved!
Convinced you ought to be! But convinced or not.........
You are so very, very, very, very, very, very much ......... loved!
Now may we share the light & life - yes, the love that He calls on us to share - so that others can become convinced that they are also loved........
So that together with them, we will have Complete Victory......
In Him!
...............
S. - Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principlaities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
O. - O my soul! Look closely! It might only be seen through a glass darkly, but it is there!
Complete Victory! through Him who loved us! There might well be tears in times of tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, death, attacks, concerns about tomorrow, the hate of others....... and whatever else there might be which this does not readily sum up, but which can bring turmoil into life in this world.
But neither smiles, nor dry eyes, nor even tears are the measure of my faith.
So there it is: Tears or no tears, I am loved! And I am *the beloved* of the Victor who will win Complete Victory for His glory, for His Father's glory, ........ and to share ....... yes, to share ...... with us.....
His beloved.
Oh my soul!
You are so loved!
When the distresses of life come, even when the worst of wilderness walking comes, and death is looming for lack of necessities, we only need to look to the Rock of our Salvation! Yes, look! Look to the lover of my soul! He has more than the necessities of life for us! He is the Rock split in the wilderness, pouring forth living water! He is the one who *died* to share glory with *you* - oh my soul!
Oh my soul! Don't you see it yet? Don't you feel it yet?
Oh my soul! Say it over and over again!
You, oh my soul, are so loved!
It's not just the incorruptible spirit He provided for you, oh my soul, that is sooooo loved......
You, - yes, ..... you ...... oh my soul, are so loved!
A. - It's time to grow in soul keeping. It's time to focus less on self, and more on being a keeper of my soul.
And the power to do that well? It's the unstoppable power of the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord!
Do more of that soul talking, o my soul, and remind yourself, o my soul,
That you are so loved!
P. - Our Father, You are so great and so powerful that the fallen angels shudder with fear. Who am I to call you Father? Yet You have said that I have no need to fear, because You have called me daughter. You have said I am Yours, and You love .... me.....
When it comes to the bully down the street, or even the bully in the heart of Satan himself, I have no need to fear, because you have promised to take care of me, and you can do all of that, because you, my Father, - my papa, - are bigger, better, stronger, wiser, and what's more, as if that isn't wonderful enough all by itself - - - you won't get too old for any and/or all of the bullies in the whole universe and beyond! Your love, power, and wisdom are eternal. They all last forever, so my confidence in your protection and love will last forever too. Hallelujah! Thank you for the peace that such confidence provides. Please, dear God, help me to stand in that confidence so that your name, El Shaddai, Almighty God, might be glorified in my life.
Though I don't deserve your love, you have called me to stand confidently in faith, letting your love and light shine through me. Let that life and light shine clearly for others (believers and unbelievers) so they can rejoice with me and stand confidently in the power of your love and grace too - establishing the kingdom of heaven more boldly here on earth. If there is anyone here today who does not know you, Father God, help them to know that as you have been pursuing them, you are seeking Complete Victory for them. Help them hear you say, "You are so loved!"
Thank you for this joyous banquet! Help me to rejoice in each portion of each course which you have prepared for me, and help me to draw all of the nourishment from it that you mean for me to receive - that I may grow more in your wisdom and love and be prepared for every good work.
Lord, you know that in my life, there have been times when I did not put faith in your complete victory, and that without faith, I walked in sin. Thank you for Jesus' forgiveness for those sins. I trust His forgiveness and am grateful for it. But Lord, I just have to say to you that I am so sorry that I grieved your spirit. It breaks my heart to have grieved you. I know I need to press on, forgetting the past, and I need you to help me do that - but on the way by, I just have to say I'm sorry. Nothing I could ever say or do could ever be enough, which is why I so desperately need Jesus, but I just have to say it sometimes anyway...... Help me to both walk in your forgiveness and walk in your truth - in faith. Help me also to forgive others whose lack of faith has brought sin into their lives which brought hard consequences into my/their lives - and help me to have compassion for their slipping, as I need compassion for my own.
And Lord, help me (us) to walk in the paths of righteousness *today* - protecting us in your glorious kingdom through the whole day, for yours is the glory of the Complete Victory of Infinite and Eternal Love. May it establish your kingdom soon....... oh, so very soon........
Amen.
Wk 1: Day 3's study can be found here.
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