This year I will be thirty-one years old. Thirty-one years is not a long time, especially now that I am turning thirty-one. I remember a time when it seemed a lot older than what it is today. But of the thirty-one years, my heart and mind are drawn mostly to the last three. The last three years have been the most challenging and rewarding years of my life. The past three years seem like ten, yet have flown by. I have seen more growth in my life in three years than the other twenty-eight combined. I have also experienced more defeat than in the other twenty-eight years combined, although the defeat was of a different nature. Let me explain.
Three years ago, I was a completely different person. I was the type of person that motivational speeches warn you about becoming. I was the guy that everyone looked at and shook their head and said things like “What a wasted life.” I had gotten to a place where years of bad decisions and selfish motivations had culminated into an explosion of self destruction and abuse. I was everything I swore I would never be. Everyone I knew had cut me off. They were tired of my lies and manipulations. I had broken the heart of everyone I ever cared about and everyone that ever cared about me. I had no credibility and no one could trust me. I couldn’t even believe myself. If defeat had ever invaded someone, it had invaded me. I was as low as I could possibly be. For years this was my anthem. I was defeated. But then three years ago all of that changed. God began to work in my heart in a way I had never allowed Him to before. He began a process of breaking me and all of those things that had defined me for so long. Then over time He began to heal relationships by teaching me about true repentance and restoration. He was doing what I could not do and what no one else could do for me. He was changing me.
Since then, things have never been the same. My life and testimony are constantly being restored through the gracious working of the Hand of God and I am in a better place than I have ever been. I am changed, forever!
There is just one problem. Defeat.
Before, defeat meant that I had tried to quit something, or tried to start something and failed. But when I quit trying to do anything and let God do the work that was no longer the issue. The defeat now came in a different form. Although the battlefield was the same and the enemy was the same, the approach to my defeat was new. It was as if the devil went back to the drawing board and had concocted the most sinister and impenetrable plan he had ever devised, and I was his target. I was completely different than before. Although daily I had to deal with failing God or not being the man I should be, I made a conscious effort to not let sin kill me, but I would kill my sin and deal with it before a Holy God. My plan was to take the ammunition from the enemy. If he didn’t have fiery darts, he couldn’t throw them right?
While we tend to give the devil more credit than he deserves, I also believe that we forget what a dangerous enemy he really is. His plan to defeat me was so subtle, so brilliant that it would land a blow that would be like nothing I had ever experienced before. This plan has been used by the enemy since the beginning of time. Greater men than me have fallen subject to this attack and there is no way that I would be able to battle back from its sting. His plan was simply to defeat me by defeating me.
He knew I wouldn’t turn back to the bottle or to pills, so he reminded me of when I did…
He knew I would never leave my wife or kids again, so he reminded me of when I did…
He knew I would never treat the ministry lightly again, so he reminded me of when I did…
He knew that I would never entertain the thought of turning my back on God, so he reminded me of when I did…
Day in and day out, he reminded me. Every step forward was bombarded with memories of all the steps I took backward. Every time I walked in church, he reminded me of when I walked out. Every time I would tell someone of what God had done, he would remind me of every time I denied knowing Him. Every time I laughed with my wife, he reminded me of when I screamed at her and all the things I said. Every time I attended one of my kid’s ballgames or programs, he would remind me of all the things I missed. Every time I sung a hymn, he would remind me of singing in the bars. Every time I read my Bible, he would remind me of the dust that had gathered on it before. Every time I prayed, he would invade my thoughts with memories of the times I cursed God in my blindness.
Day after day. Hour after hour. Minute by minute he stayed as close to me as he could, always whispering, always reminding. Every sign I saw, every commercial, every one I talked to he would bring something to mind. I would lie in bed and the thoughts of my mind become like screaming voices and images that took me back to those dark rooms, drunken nights and shameful acts. Before these things didn’t bother me but now they were like wild dogs tearing at my soul. Sleep wouldn’t come. Peace seemed fleeting. Every step of victory was soon followed by a stumble of defeat. I knew that my past was erased in the mind of God. I knew that my sins were covered and I was delivered from my chains. It seemed that everyone had gotten past it but me.
I remember several nights when the shame and guilt of my past was magnified by allowing the enemy to creep in because of some silly distraction, and I would feel as if there was no way of escape from the weight of these feelings. Prayer didn’t seem to help because I couldn’t clear my heart and mind from the voices. Scripture was no comfort because I had abused the power of the Gospel so much before. I would lie in bed trying to figure out how I could end my life in such a way that Ashleigh could convince the kids it was natural so they wouldn’t have to deal with the reality of suicide at their age. Several times I planned it out and had decided when and where I would take my life. These were darker moments than anything I had experienced in the past. I wanted to quit, again. It wasn’t my current sin or current environment that was causing the problem. It was all of the things that God had forgiven and had clearly and powerfully brought me through. But in those moments all I could see was failure. All I could see was defeat.
As I write this today, things are obviously different. Before, talking about my past or bringing up the guilt and shame on my own would have sent me on a tailspin of self pity and bottomed me out for an extended period of time. I’ve now come to the point of the story when there is a rescue. A clear cut “event” when things were immediately and drastically made well. To be honest, when I started writing this I had not thought that far in advance. Although I know where I am on this journey and am living on the other side of all this, I am not sure how to put into words how I got here.
There was no one thing. No one time at one church service after listening to one sermon when I knelt down and settled this thing once and for all. Understand, I am in no way suggesting that something like that can’t happen. It happens all of the time. But I am a slow learner. Always have been and unfortunately always will be. It was over a period of time, through several sermons, many experiences, and even more battles and by the grace of God that I learned some things that have enabled me to get past the defeat. As any good preacher should do, I would have to outline them this way:
My Identity Has Been Changed:
The big issue for me was not forgiveness. I knew in my heart that God had forgiven me. When true repentance meets His forgiveness, it changes us. It wasn’t an issue of forgiving myself because I knew that all I had done was covered by the blood and once again, God’s forgiveness of me took care of my forgiveness of myself. For me, the issue was the fact that I was identified by all of those things. I was the drunk, pill-head, abusive, selfish, lying, destructive husband and father who had been changed miraculously by the grace of God.
UNDERSTAND: That is my testimony. I am not ashamed of it and I will continue to tell what God has done for me and what He can do for others. Our testimony and the blood of the Lamb is the key to our overcoming. But for me there was still a distinction for myself that had to be made. I was still defined by all of these sinful things. The only difference was the tag “but for the grace of God.” That tag separated me from all of those things in my testimony but in my heart it was just words at the end of a sentence. I had to believe and receive that by the same grace of God that freed me from those things; my identity was freed from those things. The only way that I could believe that and truly be free was by purposely hiding my identity, past, present and future in JESUS CHRIST. I had to destroy the old identity by having it consumed in the person of Jesus. All of those names: drunk, addict, abuser, liar, adulterer, ect, were no longer identities of me but were now testimonies to me of what God had done through His son. My identity was not determined by what I had done, but what HE had done. I am called a Child of God. I am known as Forgiven and Free. I am recognized by the Spirit of God that indwells me. When He calls me, He calls me His own. That is my identity now.
2. My Involvement Has Been Changed.
The enemy would attack me by reminding me of my involvement in the shameful things of my past. This involvement had become my identity. But when I disappear in Jesus, He becomes my identity. But there is still an issue that has to be dealt with if this defeat will ever be stopped in my life. I thank God that I am not involved in the dark and sinful things I was involved in before. Not a day goes by that I don’t rejoice in being free from all the things I use to be a part of. I am also grateful for what I am involved in. It does my heart good to attend church, teach Sunday School, lead worship, sing praises to God and tell of His wonderful works. It makes me feel like such a good person and want to do more for my church and its people.
But then the enemy started working that angle. First someone said something about my methods. Then they questioned our motives. Before you knew it, drama had reared its ugly head and I was in the middle of another battle and the battle had no other end but defeat. I began to see all that was wrong with the Body of Christ and began to put myself on some pedestal for not causing any of the drama and only “serving the Master”. I was such a good person for all the things I was doing. The devil loves those “good people” and “busy church members” who so easily believe the lie that they are special because of what they do.
The Holy Spirit began to speak to me and through a process of Divine Providence and breaking me through experience, I realized I didn’t only have to repent for all the wrong I had done but I also had to repent for the reasons I had done any good things. It was not enough to be “involved” in the church or in “good” things. The problem with my involvement before was the fact that it was self motivated and it separated me from God. I was learning that all of my good things still smelt like rotting, filthy rags in the nose of God if my involvement had not been changed. It was not about serving the church. It was not about serving the members. The Scripture tells us that we are to work while there is day. It tells us that the true marks of a believer is that we love and serve others. But the key to all of it is this: We work for the master while there is day. Because we love and serve God above all else, we will naturally love and serve others.
My involvement is not for the Christ’s Church it’s for the Christ of the Church. My involvement is not for God’s People it’s for the God of His People. My motivation is not for any earthly measure but for the furthering of His Kingdom because of who He is! If my involvement is based on anything else then it is for the wrong reason. I have been brought out of a clearly sinful life of “wrong reasons.” It was that life that the enemy reminded me of to defeat me. But just as quickly, he can take my involvement and motivation for doing the “right” thing and defeat me just as much. My Identity and Involvement have been changed.
3. My Interaction Has Been Changed.
My Identity is hid in Christ. My Involvement is based on Christ. Some would say that this is enough to ensure that all of the battles I faced before would never rise up against me again. With that kind of surrender and focus the enemy surely wouldn’t dare come against us in the same way again. Right? Short answer is wrong. The truth is the devil is still in the business of destroying lives and business is still very good for him. For the Child of God we have the words of Christ that promise us there will be battles and struggles against the enemy and the powers of darkness. We know that the world will come against us and all matter of evil is going to be said about us and done to us. Battlefields are part of the Christian existence.
The difference is made, not in the absence of battle but in who fights the battle. Throughout Scripture we are warned about how the enemy attacks. His battle plans are as old as battle itself but he is cunning and will come in many forms and ways that we don’t always see. With every warning of the enemy and his attacks there is a call to battle. But our call to battle as Christians is different than the world’s call to battle. We fight a different fight. The fight we have been called to is the Good Fight. We have been called to fight for the Righteousness of God to rule and reign. We have been called to fight for justice and mercy. We have been called to fight against division and distraction. We have been called to fight to ensure that the Gospel goes forth and is heard.
But how do we fight? How do we war against our enemy? The Scripture says to “resist the devil”. In Ephesians 6 Paul tells us how we dress for battle. We put on the “whole armor of God.” We fight with defense. We guard ourselves. We resist evil and protect our hearts and minds. We put up hedges of separation between us and the evils of this world as we are in the world to win the world to Christ. We take measures of defense to protect ourselves and each other from sin and self. This is what we have been called to do. If you are like me, you notice that there is a lot of defense but not as much offense. As I studied out Spiritual Warfare and the believer’s job in the war I noticed this pattern. We have been given all we need to defend when necessary. But the only fight we have been called to is the Good Fight.
We’ve been called to fight for the Gospel and for living out the Gospel in our lives. We have been called to nail ourselves to the cross and die to sin and self, and hide our identities in Christ Jesus. But the fight, the real battle against the enemy is not ours. When I have tried to face the enemy I have failed. I can’t win a battle against him. I dare not even try in my strength or abilities to even approach the enemy. I have never defeated him and I never will in this life. But I have not been called to. I have not been called to fight him. I have been called to resist him. I have been called to guard myself against his attacks. That is all God has asked me to do.
When I interact with the enemy, even with my best intentions, in my strongest moments I will fail. What I have to realize is there is only one who can interact with the forces of evil and win. He’s the only one who has ever won. As a matter of fact, He tells me the battle is already won. I am promised in God’s Word that the battle doesn’t have to be mine because it never was mine. God has always been the Victor. I am not on the winning side because of my efforts or my ninja like interaction with the enemy. I am on the winning side because of my interaction with God. It has never been what I can do. I will never be what I have done. It has always been and will always be a work of God.
Because of my interaction with God through Jesus Christ, I don’t need to fight. Understanding this applying it are two different things. What I have learned is a truth that is so clear yet complex that it is something I embrace and still find myself forgetting at times.
The Key is this: It is not that I fight to keep from being defeated. I don’t fight because I am unable to defeat anything. I submit to God and He has already done the fighting. He has already won the battle. Therefore, my battle of being defeated is no longer a battle at all – DEFEAT HAS BEEN DEFEATED.
When the Holy Spirit said those words to me, I felt as if I was free for the first time all over again. This principle is true for whatever “battle” we face. I guard my heart and mind by walking in the Word and by the Spirit. Part of that means being careful never to use my sword in offense but when a fight arises I let God have it. He steps in and with just a word reminds me that the battle is His. I am more than a conqueror. I am His. The enemy is still creeping around the smoky battlefields of my life. When he finds me, he will defeat me. But the Good Fight is fought by striving to put God on the front lines of offense. That comes by a consistent walk of defense. That leads to a life filled with victory and a familiarity of overcoming by God’s grace.
I am Identified by Christ.
I am Involved because of Christ.
I am Interacting with Christ.
Defeat Is Defeated
Three years ago, I was a completely different person. I was the type of person that motivational speeches warn you about becoming. I was the guy that everyone looked at and shook their head and said things like “What a wasted life.” I had gotten to a place where years of bad decisions and selfish motivations had culminated into an explosion of self destruction and abuse. I was everything I swore I would never be. Everyone I knew had cut me off. They were tired of my lies and manipulations. I had broken the heart of everyone I ever cared about and everyone that ever cared about me. I had no credibility and no one could trust me. I couldn’t even believe myself. If defeat had ever invaded someone, it had invaded me. I was as low as I could possibly be. For years this was my anthem. I was defeated. But then three years ago all of that changed. God began to work in my heart in a way I had never allowed Him to before. He began a process of breaking me and all of those things that had defined me for so long. Then over time He began to heal relationships by teaching me about true repentance and restoration. He was doing what I could not do and what no one else could do for me. He was changing me.
Since then, things have never been the same. My life and testimony are constantly being restored through the gracious working of the Hand of God and I am in a better place than I have ever been. I am changed, forever!
There is just one problem. Defeat.
Before, defeat meant that I had tried to quit something, or tried to start something and failed. But when I quit trying to do anything and let God do the work that was no longer the issue. The defeat now came in a different form. Although the battlefield was the same and the enemy was the same, the approach to my defeat was new. It was as if the devil went back to the drawing board and had concocted the most sinister and impenetrable plan he had ever devised, and I was his target. I was completely different than before. Although daily I had to deal with failing God or not being the man I should be, I made a conscious effort to not let sin kill me, but I would kill my sin and deal with it before a Holy God. My plan was to take the ammunition from the enemy. If he didn’t have fiery darts, he couldn’t throw them right?
While we tend to give the devil more credit than he deserves, I also believe that we forget what a dangerous enemy he really is. His plan to defeat me was so subtle, so brilliant that it would land a blow that would be like nothing I had ever experienced before. This plan has been used by the enemy since the beginning of time. Greater men than me have fallen subject to this attack and there is no way that I would be able to battle back from its sting. His plan was simply to defeat me by defeating me.
He knew I wouldn’t turn back to the bottle or to pills, so he reminded me of when I did…
He knew I would never leave my wife or kids again, so he reminded me of when I did…
He knew I would never treat the ministry lightly again, so he reminded me of when I did…
He knew that I would never entertain the thought of turning my back on God, so he reminded me of when I did…
Day in and day out, he reminded me. Every step forward was bombarded with memories of all the steps I took backward. Every time I walked in church, he reminded me of when I walked out. Every time I would tell someone of what God had done, he would remind me of every time I denied knowing Him. Every time I laughed with my wife, he reminded me of when I screamed at her and all the things I said. Every time I attended one of my kid’s ballgames or programs, he would remind me of all the things I missed. Every time I sung a hymn, he would remind me of singing in the bars. Every time I read my Bible, he would remind me of the dust that had gathered on it before. Every time I prayed, he would invade my thoughts with memories of the times I cursed God in my blindness.
Day after day. Hour after hour. Minute by minute he stayed as close to me as he could, always whispering, always reminding. Every sign I saw, every commercial, every one I talked to he would bring something to mind. I would lie in bed and the thoughts of my mind become like screaming voices and images that took me back to those dark rooms, drunken nights and shameful acts. Before these things didn’t bother me but now they were like wild dogs tearing at my soul. Sleep wouldn’t come. Peace seemed fleeting. Every step of victory was soon followed by a stumble of defeat. I knew that my past was erased in the mind of God. I knew that my sins were covered and I was delivered from my chains. It seemed that everyone had gotten past it but me.
I remember several nights when the shame and guilt of my past was magnified by allowing the enemy to creep in because of some silly distraction, and I would feel as if there was no way of escape from the weight of these feelings. Prayer didn’t seem to help because I couldn’t clear my heart and mind from the voices. Scripture was no comfort because I had abused the power of the Gospel so much before. I would lie in bed trying to figure out how I could end my life in such a way that Ashleigh could convince the kids it was natural so they wouldn’t have to deal with the reality of suicide at their age. Several times I planned it out and had decided when and where I would take my life. These were darker moments than anything I had experienced in the past. I wanted to quit, again. It wasn’t my current sin or current environment that was causing the problem. It was all of the things that God had forgiven and had clearly and powerfully brought me through. But in those moments all I could see was failure. All I could see was defeat.
As I write this today, things are obviously different. Before, talking about my past or bringing up the guilt and shame on my own would have sent me on a tailspin of self pity and bottomed me out for an extended period of time. I’ve now come to the point of the story when there is a rescue. A clear cut “event” when things were immediately and drastically made well. To be honest, when I started writing this I had not thought that far in advance. Although I know where I am on this journey and am living on the other side of all this, I am not sure how to put into words how I got here.
There was no one thing. No one time at one church service after listening to one sermon when I knelt down and settled this thing once and for all. Understand, I am in no way suggesting that something like that can’t happen. It happens all of the time. But I am a slow learner. Always have been and unfortunately always will be. It was over a period of time, through several sermons, many experiences, and even more battles and by the grace of God that I learned some things that have enabled me to get past the defeat. As any good preacher should do, I would have to outline them this way:
My Identity Has Been Changed:
The big issue for me was not forgiveness. I knew in my heart that God had forgiven me. When true repentance meets His forgiveness, it changes us. It wasn’t an issue of forgiving myself because I knew that all I had done was covered by the blood and once again, God’s forgiveness of me took care of my forgiveness of myself. For me, the issue was the fact that I was identified by all of those things. I was the drunk, pill-head, abusive, selfish, lying, destructive husband and father who had been changed miraculously by the grace of God.
UNDERSTAND: That is my testimony. I am not ashamed of it and I will continue to tell what God has done for me and what He can do for others. Our testimony and the blood of the Lamb is the key to our overcoming. But for me there was still a distinction for myself that had to be made. I was still defined by all of these sinful things. The only difference was the tag “but for the grace of God.” That tag separated me from all of those things in my testimony but in my heart it was just words at the end of a sentence. I had to believe and receive that by the same grace of God that freed me from those things; my identity was freed from those things. The only way that I could believe that and truly be free was by purposely hiding my identity, past, present and future in JESUS CHRIST. I had to destroy the old identity by having it consumed in the person of Jesus. All of those names: drunk, addict, abuser, liar, adulterer, ect, were no longer identities of me but were now testimonies to me of what God had done through His son. My identity was not determined by what I had done, but what HE had done. I am called a Child of God. I am known as Forgiven and Free. I am recognized by the Spirit of God that indwells me. When He calls me, He calls me His own. That is my identity now.
2. My Involvement Has Been Changed.
The enemy would attack me by reminding me of my involvement in the shameful things of my past. This involvement had become my identity. But when I disappear in Jesus, He becomes my identity. But there is still an issue that has to be dealt with if this defeat will ever be stopped in my life. I thank God that I am not involved in the dark and sinful things I was involved in before. Not a day goes by that I don’t rejoice in being free from all the things I use to be a part of. I am also grateful for what I am involved in. It does my heart good to attend church, teach Sunday School, lead worship, sing praises to God and tell of His wonderful works. It makes me feel like such a good person and want to do more for my church and its people.
But then the enemy started working that angle. First someone said something about my methods. Then they questioned our motives. Before you knew it, drama had reared its ugly head and I was in the middle of another battle and the battle had no other end but defeat. I began to see all that was wrong with the Body of Christ and began to put myself on some pedestal for not causing any of the drama and only “serving the Master”. I was such a good person for all the things I was doing. The devil loves those “good people” and “busy church members” who so easily believe the lie that they are special because of what they do.
The Holy Spirit began to speak to me and through a process of Divine Providence and breaking me through experience, I realized I didn’t only have to repent for all the wrong I had done but I also had to repent for the reasons I had done any good things. It was not enough to be “involved” in the church or in “good” things. The problem with my involvement before was the fact that it was self motivated and it separated me from God. I was learning that all of my good things still smelt like rotting, filthy rags in the nose of God if my involvement had not been changed. It was not about serving the church. It was not about serving the members. The Scripture tells us that we are to work while there is day. It tells us that the true marks of a believer is that we love and serve others. But the key to all of it is this: We work for the master while there is day. Because we love and serve God above all else, we will naturally love and serve others.
My involvement is not for the Christ’s Church it’s for the Christ of the Church. My involvement is not for God’s People it’s for the God of His People. My motivation is not for any earthly measure but for the furthering of His Kingdom because of who He is! If my involvement is based on anything else then it is for the wrong reason. I have been brought out of a clearly sinful life of “wrong reasons.” It was that life that the enemy reminded me of to defeat me. But just as quickly, he can take my involvement and motivation for doing the “right” thing and defeat me just as much. My Identity and Involvement have been changed.
3. My Interaction Has Been Changed.
My Identity is hid in Christ. My Involvement is based on Christ. Some would say that this is enough to ensure that all of the battles I faced before would never rise up against me again. With that kind of surrender and focus the enemy surely wouldn’t dare come against us in the same way again. Right? Short answer is wrong. The truth is the devil is still in the business of destroying lives and business is still very good for him. For the Child of God we have the words of Christ that promise us there will be battles and struggles against the enemy and the powers of darkness. We know that the world will come against us and all matter of evil is going to be said about us and done to us. Battlefields are part of the Christian existence.
The difference is made, not in the absence of battle but in who fights the battle. Throughout Scripture we are warned about how the enemy attacks. His battle plans are as old as battle itself but he is cunning and will come in many forms and ways that we don’t always see. With every warning of the enemy and his attacks there is a call to battle. But our call to battle as Christians is different than the world’s call to battle. We fight a different fight. The fight we have been called to is the Good Fight. We have been called to fight for the Righteousness of God to rule and reign. We have been called to fight for justice and mercy. We have been called to fight against division and distraction. We have been called to fight to ensure that the Gospel goes forth and is heard.
But how do we fight? How do we war against our enemy? The Scripture says to “resist the devil”. In Ephesians 6 Paul tells us how we dress for battle. We put on the “whole armor of God.” We fight with defense. We guard ourselves. We resist evil and protect our hearts and minds. We put up hedges of separation between us and the evils of this world as we are in the world to win the world to Christ. We take measures of defense to protect ourselves and each other from sin and self. This is what we have been called to do. If you are like me, you notice that there is a lot of defense but not as much offense. As I studied out Spiritual Warfare and the believer’s job in the war I noticed this pattern. We have been given all we need to defend when necessary. But the only fight we have been called to is the Good Fight.
We’ve been called to fight for the Gospel and for living out the Gospel in our lives. We have been called to nail ourselves to the cross and die to sin and self, and hide our identities in Christ Jesus. But the fight, the real battle against the enemy is not ours. When I have tried to face the enemy I have failed. I can’t win a battle against him. I dare not even try in my strength or abilities to even approach the enemy. I have never defeated him and I never will in this life. But I have not been called to. I have not been called to fight him. I have been called to resist him. I have been called to guard myself against his attacks. That is all God has asked me to do.
When I interact with the enemy, even with my best intentions, in my strongest moments I will fail. What I have to realize is there is only one who can interact with the forces of evil and win. He’s the only one who has ever won. As a matter of fact, He tells me the battle is already won. I am promised in God’s Word that the battle doesn’t have to be mine because it never was mine. God has always been the Victor. I am not on the winning side because of my efforts or my ninja like interaction with the enemy. I am on the winning side because of my interaction with God. It has never been what I can do. I will never be what I have done. It has always been and will always be a work of God.
Because of my interaction with God through Jesus Christ, I don’t need to fight. Understanding this applying it are two different things. What I have learned is a truth that is so clear yet complex that it is something I embrace and still find myself forgetting at times.
The Key is this: It is not that I fight to keep from being defeated. I don’t fight because I am unable to defeat anything. I submit to God and He has already done the fighting. He has already won the battle. Therefore, my battle of being defeated is no longer a battle at all – DEFEAT HAS BEEN DEFEATED.
When the Holy Spirit said those words to me, I felt as if I was free for the first time all over again. This principle is true for whatever “battle” we face. I guard my heart and mind by walking in the Word and by the Spirit. Part of that means being careful never to use my sword in offense but when a fight arises I let God have it. He steps in and with just a word reminds me that the battle is His. I am more than a conqueror. I am His. The enemy is still creeping around the smoky battlefields of my life. When he finds me, he will defeat me. But the Good Fight is fought by striving to put God on the front lines of offense. That comes by a consistent walk of defense. That leads to a life filled with victory and a familiarity of overcoming by God’s grace.
I am Identified by Christ.
I am Involved because of Christ.
I am Interacting with Christ.
Defeat Is Defeated
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