Jen’s Gem: Your battle has already been won.
Last night I attended a women’s event at my church. Good food, fellowship, and fun filled the evening along with a rousing game of Pictionary. I thoroughly enjoyed watching everyone sketch out their clue and then hearing the wild guesses. Raucous laughter could be heard miles away!
My clue? Kung Fu. Seriously? I looked at the card and quickly evaluated my drawing capabilities, which didn’t take long. I’m a writer, not an artist! While I attempted to request a do-over, this would’ve resulted in a forfeit. Yeah. No way! I would not let down my team.
With marker in hand, I scratched out two people with big hands and big feet, trying to make the feet look like they were kicking. HA!
My team shouted out a myriad of responses, which of course only motivated me to do what we all do when playing this guessing game. We bang the marker on the board a thousand times as if people can read our minds!
Then somehow above the noise, I hear “Kung Fu!” Whaat??? I was in complete disbelief. How was this possible? Awestruck, I high fived my teammate and took my seat. The next clue for the other team was “lightening.” Really? Really? It was guessed before the marker hit the board.
The game awakened the competitive spirit in me. I like to win. I suspect you do too.
The “weapons” needed to win last night were simplistic. The drawer needed the clue card, a marker, a whiteboard, and of course a hand to form the pictures. The responders needed their minds to formulate the guesses and a mouth to speak (ok, shout!) them out. Each depended on the other to win the game. It could not have been done alone.
The Bible tells us that we have additional weapons as we seek to overcome life’s challenges and we need our body, soul, and a regenerated spirit to win. All must work together to win.
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NKJV)
In case you haven’t noticed, life is starting to feel like a wargame, isn’t it? The “weapons” we used to use to overcome its challenges don’t seem to be working as well. Our bodies have been attacked with illnesses, our minds have been bombarded with news, and our spirits have been crushed with hurts. It’s cray cray to say the least.
One of the definitions of mayhem is “a crime that renders the victim defenseless.” How can we possibly rise above it and win?
The Bible tells us how in Ephesians 6:10-20 (NKJV):
- We renew our minds every day with Truth, God’s Word.
- We put on the whole armor of God for protection.
- We fight the good fight of faith and don’t give up.
- We speak words of victory.
- We rest knowing that the victory is ours.
Thousands of years ago, Jesus already saw the challenges we are facing today as He hung on the Cross. He already fought the battle for us. And guess what? He won!
You see, despite what we may be thinking, our biggest challenge is not a dwindling retirement account. It is not a physical illness or broken relationship. Our biggest challenge is knowing how to fight our common enemy, Satan who wants to take us out and keep us from the victory Jesus died for us to have.
He does this by throwing darts at us day after day in the hopes that he will weaken us and force us to forfeit our chance to win. But you know what? We’ve already won. Not because of anything we did but because of what Jesus did out of His love for us.
Jesus fought and won the battle for us when He died, went to hell, kicked Satan’s butt, and then rose again. In that one action – in those three days – He opened the doors of heaven for everyone. When we choose to believe this in our guts, then we become Kung Fu fighters and snag the victory
“…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10 NKJV)
So, the decision is ours. And it’s a big one. It’s life-changing. Do we forfeit our chance at eternal life? Or do we pick up our marker and get in the game?
This is the single most important choice you will ever make. I pray you choose wisely.