See A Victory
I honestly don’t feel like writing right now. I am definitely not in the mood to write and that is exactly why I am writing. It seems that when you don’t feel like doing something this is when it is absolutely necessary for you to do it. This is dedicated to anyone who doesn’t see the results of what they are doing right now but refuse to quit.
One of my favorite Bible passages of all time is Isaiah 43:14-28, and coincidentally, the subtitle for this passage in the New Living Translation is “The Lord’s Promise of Victory.” In this passage, God reminds His people of the wondrous miracles He performed for them in the past: parting the Red Sea, bringing Pharaoh and his army to the sea so the Israelites could see their enemies perish. Then He tells them to forget about the past and look ahead to the new thing that He is “going to do”, a new thing that He has already begun. The most exciting part of this scripture is that God asks the Israelites if they don’t see the new thing He had already started. For a long time whenever I saw this passage, I glanced over the question, I categorized the question as a theoretical question. The same way my mom would always ask me rhetorical questions, she did not want me to answer like, “are you listening to me?” But rather, God poses this question very plainly and literally, “can’t you see it? It’s right there!” The plain truth in this passage is that when God is involved in any situation, victory is already won, but the question is, do you not see it?
Psalms 9:3 says, “My enemies retreated; they staggered and died when you appeared,” the mere appearance of God in your situation guarantees your victory, so act like it. Walk in your victory and keep fighting. One of my words for this year is “fight” (it’s a little strange I know) people that know me can testify that I can, and I will argue/fight for what I want so, interestingly, I didn’t notice when I started to lose my will to fight. Maybe it was because I thought I had lost my recent battles, so I lost my desire to fight because I didn’t believe I would be victorious. Then God started to remind me of moments in my life where He won the victory for me, and because of His immutable nature, it is impossible for Him to lose. Bishop Gary McIntosh said that you can have truth and revelation, but truth without revelation cannot change you. The truth is if God be for you, who can be against you, but you have to receive the revelation that if God be for me, who can be against me in my finances, in my health, in my academics et cetera. You have to receive that personal revelation that God is your champion for you to walk from a place of victory.
A shift in perspective is necessary. You have to start looking at your opposition like it has already been defeated. You can’t see a wall as defeat, you have to see that wall as an opportunity for God to show His glory in your life. You have to see the wall falling down. For example, Joshua and Jericho: God told Joshua, “I have given you Jericho,” then instructed the Israelites to walk around Jericho several times before the wall would fall down. They walked from a place of victory, they were confident in their walk and in their journey because they saw their victory had already taken place because God was on their side.
Elisha, Elijah’s protege, once prayed for God to shift the perspective of his servant so the servant would see victory. 2 Kings 6:8-17: Elisha warns the King of Israel about the plans of the King of Aram, so before an attack could take place, the King of Israel would alert his troops in the area indicated by Elisha. Over and over, Elisha would warn the King of Israel, so the King of Aram sent soldiers to capture Elisha. One morning, Elisha woke up, went outside, and saw that a great army had been sent to seize him, his servant cried out in fear, but Elisha told him their victory was guaranteed because there was a greater army on their side. In verse 17, Elisha prayed that God would “open his eyes and let him see,” God opened his eyes, and the servant saw that they were surrounded by horses and chariots of fire. God can shift your perspective, He can allow you to see the victory around you. Just ask Him.
The promise of victory doesn’t mean you should stop fighting, the promise of victory guarantees the results of your fight. The fact that you are victorious is supposed to motivate you to keep fighting, to keep pressing, and to keep showing up. There is a story of Moses and Joshua, which served as the inspiration for this topic. Exodus 17:8-15 — the Israelites are in a battle with the Amalekites, Joshua is on the battlefield leading the army, Moses is on top of a hill holding up his staff above the battle. Whenever Moses had his staff up, the Israelites were winning the battle, whenever Moses dropped his hand, the Amalekites were winning, so Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands to ensure the victory for the Israelites. This isn’t a famous bible story, and for people who know the story, the miracle is that Moses’ hand being raised equaled victory, but for me, in this season, this story is a revelation that motivates me to keep fighting. As long as Moses’ hands were raised, victory was guaranteed (this is a shadow of God), but my question is, what would have happened if Moses’ hands were up but Joshua stopped fighting? The battle would have been lost. Moses represents God, Joshua represents us. Because God’s hands are raised on our behalf, victory is ours (Proverbs 21:31), but what happens if we don’t fight? What happens if we don’t show up? The victory can never be materialized. No matter what you are going through, no matter how dire your situation seems, because God is your champion because He is your banner, you are victorious. So own it, walk in it, stay on the battlefield and fight.
I wonder if Joshua glanced at Moses whenever he wanted to quit, but when Joshua saw Moses’ hand lifted up, he remembered that victory was his possession and all he needed to do was fight, all he needed to do was remain on the battlefield, so he fought, he remained. So ask yourself, how many times have you quit a battle while you were actually winning?