Claiming Victory

No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn't even match the old garment (Luke 5:36).

One morning this week in prayer I experienced a brief moment of clarity. In a second I became vividly aware of, not one or two, but several strongholds that I have allowed the enemy to occupy in my heart and in my mind.

As if a light switch had been suddenly turned on in my spirit, I saw areas of weakness where spiritual attacks are daily mounted by Satan...and won.

Throughout that day, as I went about my normal routine, my thoughts kept returning to these spiritual strongholds. I kept running them over in my mind. And each time I did, I could see how I had given my victory away day after day after day. I could clearly see how defeat had become a normal part of my everyday life.

By evening I was mad...at Satan....and at myself. And I began to wonder which stronghold I should concentrate on overcoming first. There was no clear answer, so I did what any Christian does when we realize that we can't figure something out on our own....I asked God.

I heard Him whisper, All of them.

I went to bed that night feeling more than a little overwhelmed, but as I read through scripture the next morning, I found something that put my experience in a little different perspective.

Jesus, when asked why His disciples weren't fasting though the Pharisees and John's disciples were, replied that the time would come when His disciples would fast.

Jesus went on to illustrate the difference between the Law and the new age of Grace that He was establishing saying, No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn't even match the old garment (Luke 5:36).

The picture Jesus painted in scripture made me think of my situation. In the brilliant light of truth, I saw the old shining through my life, and my first instinct was to reach for a single new patch.

But Jesus said that a patch would only make the problem worse. He continued by saying And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins (Mark 2:22).

All this time, I've been trying to put new wine into an old, patched up wineskin.I've been doing the same thing that the Pharisees tried to do. They tried to make Jesus fit into their understanding of the Law.

I try to make Him fit into my own understanding of spiritual warfare. I try to make Him fit into my idea of how victory should be accomplished.

But God doesn't fit into my box any more than He fit into the Pharisee's box.

In the next story in my reading this week the lame man did the same thing. He desired healing but he didn't think he could be healed because he knew that he couldn't, in his own power, make it to the bubbling waters of the pool of Bethesda in time for a miracle.

In the very presence of the Master Physician, the lame man was focused on what he knew and understood about his own situation. He didn't see how he could become victorious that day.

Jesus proved that the healing waters were not the only path to victory available to the lame man when he told him to stand up, pick up your mat, and walk.

I wonder how often I close my eyes to the possibilities of what God can do in my life because I can't see past what I know and understand about my own situation. I can't see how I can become victorious.

I can't see how I can overcome several spiritual strongholds together....but scripture says that the victory is already mine (I John 5:4).

I can't see how I can become a new creation overnight...but Paul wrote that I already am. The old has passed away and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

I can't see....but the truth is right in front of my eyes....in the words of God that I claim to believe with all my heart.

The miracle of healing the lame man led to yet another discussion between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders.

Jesus attempted to explain to them that their own unbelief kept them from experiencing not only eternal life, but an abundance of life in their temporal lives. Their unbelief kept them from experiencing victory over death...and in life.

Jesus challenged those who most loudly proclaimed belief with their own lack of belief. He boldly told them that if they really believed what they claimed to believe, they would be able to hear the truth in the words He spoke and see the evidence of that truth in the miracles He performed.

I wonder how much the spiritual strongholds that the enemy occupies in my life have to do with my own belief....or lack thereof.

If I really believed that all things are possible, would I balk at God's instruction to overcome all of the spiritual strongholds He showed me this week?

I believe it's time for a new kind of normal in my life. It's time for a new day to dawn in my journey.

It's time for me quit trying to patch up my old struggles and begin today a new creation.

I cannot allow yesterday's defeats, or tomorrow's worries to shape who I am in Christ today. I can claim victory today over every spiritual stronghold of the enemy. And I can claim victory tomorrow. And the next day. One day at a time. If I will rely on God's ability and simply believe in the victory He's already given me.

I believe that every spiritual stronghold that Satan has occupied in my life is crumbling now under the weight of my belief.

I believe I am a new creation.

I believe I am victorious today.

That is the gift of faith in me.

(Journey: Mark 2:18-22; Matthew 9:14-17; Luke 5:33-39; John 5:1-47)