"Game On!" -2

"And hide not Thy face from Thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily." (Psalms 69:17) It might not seem like it's all going to work out sometimes, but God has the winning hand. That's the glory of the Gospel Message! "Loss it, and you get to keep it; keep it, and you will lose it." Does that sound like any game that you know of? It's not, because the only thing that makes this a game is our "little faith", and the fact that we really don't know how to believe like we should. Interesting enough, the "promised land" that Israel took over after wondering around in the wilderness does not represent Heaven, as many might want to make it out to represent. We do not need to destroy the enemies of God to get into Heaven; that job was completed on the cross of Christ. No, the "promised land" on the other side of the Jordan represents a life in Christ that lives by faith; it has no resemblance of Heaven, because Heaven is a place where there is no more war or killing, or anything else that is evil or sinful. But, in this life, this land, we need to fight off the temptations to settle in with the enemies of God; we need to purge the land, if you will, of the pagan lifestyles that will do nothing but make us stumble and eventually bring us into a compromise with our commitment to the Lord. I know that might sound like it does not line up with some of what we might have assumed it was meant to look like, but it has never really looked like God intended it to look like. God intended His people to listen and obey His word, and then He would make them a light for the whole world to look upon for an example of what it looks like to be "Governed By God." But that never really happened, instead they became a sore spot in the eyes of everyone else; as they still are today. Does that not seem familiar? It should, because if you are really going to be different, then that's what you become to the world; you become something that the world wants to get rid of, and something of a thorn in their side. If you really think about it, walking by faith is total dependence upon God, something that was only displayed by one person, Jesus Christ. Everyone else, throughout the Bible, lacked the faith to make that claim; sometime in their life, or many times in their life, they all fell short of being there. But what did they all have in common? That's right, they all had a sinful nature; a sinful nature that causes doubt in us to be accepted by a Holy God. Add to that, the devil's way of manipulation and trying to convince us that we are unworthy of God's love, and you have the perfect challenge to walking by faith. But God, the God that loves us unconditionally, He has things under control...
"Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this new way, we never give up. We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don't try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this. If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. You see, we don't go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shinning in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, and not from ourselves." (2 Corinthians 4:1-7) NLT