Encouragement for 2019 – Victory

Encouragement for 2019

Victory

Good morning and Happy New Year!

As the New Year starts, I’ve decided to change the title of my writings from “Morning Encouragement” to “Encouragement for 2019” with the emphasis on “Victory”. I believe it is God’s cry on my heart to speak to this term and how it applies to all of mankind. Of all of the things we need, the one most needed is “Victory”. Many live defeated lives simply because, “that’s the way we’ve always done it”; which, is an act of surrender or the pathway of least resistance. At issue is the fact that the way we live today is passed down to the next generation and gradually declines over time. In the papers, news, and online access, we hear nothing but of the bad things that are going on across the land like, daily shootings, drug battles, and opposing opinions leading to riots and ultimately to incite fear. There is a word for this problem and that is “defeat”. Anywhere people gather, the Devil will always be right there to incite a listening ear; consider the case of the rebellion in the Israelite camp in the time of Moses (Exodus 32).  The Devil wants us to live defeated because then we can be controlled. Once we are controlled, then the Devil’s desire will become our mode of living and it gets worse as time progresses. Remember this, the Devil has an end game and that is your demise; as long as you live, you are a threat to his rule in this world. If he can get you ensnared by the trappings of this world, it makes him laugh hysterically knowing that you can take none of it with you. My encouragement for you today is that you will take firm hold of the horns of God’s alter and seek his rule over your life. You might say, “I’ve gone too far, my life is near the end, there is no hope for me”. I will tell you, and most assuredly, there is no one on planet earth that is too deep in sin, too old to be healed, nor too destroyed to be of any use to God; because he does not redeem you because of what you have to offer his kingdom, he redeems you because of how much he loves you.

“Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ¹¹ The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together; they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel (Hosea 1:10 NIV).

Father,

If there is anything, we need in our world today, it is a victory not over each other but over the one who creates the problems. Help us today to walk in your love and seek your best for our life. Doubtless, the tragedies of our world will spin all the days we live; yet, in you, there is hope and restoration no matter how far or wide we have gone in sin.  May your Holy Spirit guide us today and every day of our life.

Mike