God Promises Victory to the Faithful

Psalms 81:13-16 “If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, 14 how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes! 15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. 16 But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
 
VICTORY is defeating the devil. The only way that is possible is to activate God’s Word into your heart. This is not news. God’s people have heard this and written it for generation upon generation. The Christian church has heard it for 2,000 years. Why, then, do so many live in defeat under sin’s control?  
    Perhaps it is too difficult for us to know the depth and breadth of God’s goodness. The human mind is naturally centered on what we can see around us. For example, when God brought Israel from Egypt, he had to teach them to look beyond a life in bondage to a life under his blessings. Even though God demonstrated his power to free them, Israel could not see beyond the desert into the land God promised them. They focused on immediate satisfaction, demanding of God instead of trusting, worshiping and following God.
   Jesus came to help us understand the power of God’s Word to give us victory over evil’s great burden on mankind. He is the Living Word who spoke redemptive healing into broken bodies and resurrection into the dead. He came from heaven under the Spirit’s direction to preach good news to the poor in spirit, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners of sin and recovery of sight for the world blind to the truth. He is Living Word, who spoke to release the oppressed, so we will know the Lord’s victory is available for our souls. (from Luke 4:18-19)
   God created mankind to bless us. He has never ceased with his plan to restore the entire earth into his original blessing.
   But our response is to generally minimize God’s Word. We compromise his truth to fit our desires. Inactive faith deactivates God’s blessings. He holds them, awaiting our response to his promises.
   One day when Jesus approached Jerusalem, he mourned his people’s unfaithfulness to all God had offered them. Luke 13:34-35 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” Jesus, God in the flesh, had offered himself with tenderness and kindness to his people. But they continued to reject him. They will only truly see him when he comes in his final victory over evil.
   The Bible tells us of God’s loving desire to bless his people. Learn of God. Love God. Activate  your faith. Believe his promises. Declare victory over sin.