"The Victor!" -2

"He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth." (Psalms 76:12) Not that I know who is going to do anything, because I don't; but you would think there might be a little humility involved in the process, seeing how it is ultimately up to God! I still believe that God to running things; even though the devil micro-manages and manipulates things all around the world, ultimately, God still is the one on the Throne. Back to the thought about God giving us the victory over our sins, it's already happened; we already have the victory, we just need to walk it out in our lives! You can assimilate the children of Israel taking the promise land to your victory over sin; God had already given them the land, they just needed to occupy it. And more importantly, as weird as this might sound, God needed to leave those current dwellers to be dealt with, so that His children could prosper in that land. In other words, God could not just take out all the lands inhabitants, and then let the children of Israel move in; there needed to remain the presence of balance in the land for the land to still remain fruitful and inhabitable. Even after they completely occupied the land, there were still remnants of those that dwelt there, there were still outside influences upon there lives; God did not have them living in a bubble! Nor do we! But, here is the thing that I see that happened, they took their eyes off of God; they took their eyes off of the One who delivered them, and instead put them on the things that bring bondage. Why do we let those things ruin our lives? Because we let them into our lives! Just like what happen to the children of Israel, they let those things of the pagans, those whom God had instructed them to remove, become part of their lives. Here's a thought: Instead of beating your head against a wall, how about picking up your Bible and reading the instruction manual! If you spent as much time reading the Bible as you did thinking about how not to sin, you would have already won the battle, (I am talking to myself here, so don't take this personal). Seriously, we just need to keep our eyes on the Lord, and quit trying to fight something that God has already made us the Victor over; now it's just a race. Do you get that assimilation? Well, in a race, your not fighting those around you, you are disciplining and training yourself to win; which requires doing those things that prepare you to win, and not doing those things that hinder your ability to win; one foot in front of the other, you become better and better...
"I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and achieve the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made." (Philippians 3:12-16) NLT