I encourage you today to step out and be a challenger and champion, as Jesus came on the scene as a victorious challenger. We have almost come to believe in our day that He was a sentimentalist and always laid back. He was King and the Prince of God-the Glory of Heaven! He was the representative of the Father and was on a mission. He declared the works of the Father and stepped among the people of the earth as the challenger.
He said there was real sin, that there was real sickness and real death. He didn't dodge the issue. He met it head on and said I'm bigger than it all - the Prince of Life. He destroyed sin and obliterated it from the souls of men and blasted sickness and dissolved it from their system. He brought the dead to life. He went into the regions of death and conquered and came forth triumphant. He said after coming forth from the grave, "All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" (Mt. 28:19).
Jesus came to do what man could not do for himself. All the good works that man may perform from now till the end cannot save him, because of being born with a sin nature. Jesus came to provide a new nature - the nature of God. The spirit of a child of God challenges darkness, sin and sickness. The Lord Jesus came to destroy the works of the enemy (I John 3:8).
Christianity always is a challenger. It is a thing of strength and power of the Lord through us as believers. This is why it is important that Christians come to know what it means to have God as Father and Jesus as Lord and Savior. When believers begin to understand who they are in Him, what they have and what they can do, they talk, walk, think and act as sons and daughters of the Most High God! He is everything they need to face challenges encountered today and every day!
The world then can see Jesus in those that are His. It is a lifestyle requiring GRIT - always pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God (Phil. 3:14). Be encouraged and look for verses regarding whatever it is that is challenging you, and know that Jesus already has won the victory - it can be enforced by believers who are joint heirs with Him (Romans 8:17). You can go forth victoriously because of His victory!
"But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Cor. 15:57). "For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God" (I John 5:4-5).
See the victory and act accordingly - facing today's challenges as the champion in Christ you are destined to be!
Balliet is the eastern regional director of John G. Lake Ministries, Williamsport.
