Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit. ...
As election time get closer, I hear those on the news talk about "battleground states" -- the places of the greatest battles because they're the most strategic states and battles there won can decide the election. Each side devotes tremendous energy, attention, and resources to overcome the opposition and establish a position for victory. Victory in these battles prepares the way for victory in the war, so that the election is won.
And our human soul is the greatest "battleground state" of all. This is where the strategic battles are fought and the wars are won.
In the words of the Apostle Peter: "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles (where you are passing through this world as strangers in a foreign land which is not your home) to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among (your neighbors), so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when He comes to judge (1 Peter 2:11-12).
And these words of the Apostle Paul: "I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me" (Romans 7:22-23). And this: "Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other" (Galatians 5:16-17).
How do we position ourselves for victory in the battleground state of our soul? As the Apostle found, when he humbly sought the answer to this battle in his own soul: "Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:24-25 )
Come, Lord Jesus. Come by Your Holy Spirit -- "the Spirit of Christ" -- who comes to live and abide in our hearts to rule and to reign as Lord in our souls (Romans 8:9). The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, giving us life and victory in You (Romans 8:11).
In this battleground of my soul, my victory is won not by my might or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord! ( Zechariah 4:6.) Not by my striving but through my completely surrender to You. By the power of Your grace at work within me, "I die daily" to my flesh and surrender daily to Your Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:31). Day by day, battle by battle, my flesh is put to death and Your Spirit arises in new life in me. "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him" (Romans 6:8).
I want to come to the place where I experience and proclaim Your victory in my soul: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me!" (Galatians 2:20) That's the victory I seek and the victory I have in You! "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Corinthians 15:57) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you may be victorious in the daily battleground of your soul, putting death the flesh and surrendering more and more of you to more and more of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ abiding in you, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
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