Daily Thought for Friday, June 10th

June 10, 2011

The Art of Winning

Today’s Thought:

“Where you go or what you do is not nearly as important as whom you serve.” – (from the cover of a church bulletin)

Today’s Quote:

“Victory begins with the name of Jesus on your lips, but it will not be consummated until the nature of Jesus is in your heart.” – Jeremy Camp

Today’s Question

If as Christians, we truly believe, “The battle belongs to the Lord:’ why would we ever have a reason to feel defeated or consider ourselves to be losers?

Today’s Bible Verses:                   Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

Vincent Lombardi aid, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”  While he was referring to football; if we take this same thought and apply it to our spiritual lives there is a modicum of truth to be found in it.  Because as blood bought, born again, believers it is all about winning out over death, hell and sin and knowing that in Christ victory over these things and even Satan himself is guaranteed.  There is no doubt or uncertainty that if we are in Christ, we win.  But we need to keep in mind that the battle we are fighting and the victory we attain to win is not of earthly conquest or gain but rather it is spiritual and eternal in scope.

Spiritually speaking we need to take stock in these words from Winston Churchill, “Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”   Jesus paid the price with His life and the cost of our victory has been paid and secured; it’s up to you and me to continue to be faithful to fight the battle by serving the Lord with all that we are and doing the work of our Heavenly Father, as long as we are here on this earth.

Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers: so with thanksgiving we need to be mindful of the victory that is ours: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” – The Bible (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)   Living victorious for us is simply this: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.– The Bible (Matthew 4:10) 

Today’s Prayer:

Father, my I fight the fight of faith, as a winner, not by my strength or by my power or ability but by your spirit, knowing I am victorious only because of your love for me.