Victory!

An old hymn has been playing in my head all afternoon.  I have no idea how I thought of it...it just came to me.  As I was thinking through the turmoil that is going on in Mexico right now, the Lord used this song to speak to me.  Sometimes the circumstances can be ugly...and not just in 3rd world countries.  People all over the globe are living nightmares, experiencing loss and devastation, and suffering in very unique and personal ways.  There is always someone else whose suffering is greater...yet whatever we are going through is real and painful.  In the midst of these thoughts, this is the chorus of the song that the Holy Spirit reminded me of:

Oh victory in Jesus
My Savior forever
He sought me and He bought me
with His redeeming blood
He loved me 'ere I knew Him
and all my love is due Him
He plunged me to victory
beneath the cleansing flood
(words by Eugene M. Bartlett Sr., 1939.)

We have the victory in Jesus!  It's easy to say, but I would venture that there are many times in our lives when it's hard to believe it and even harder to feel it.  We live in a fallen, imperfect world.  We lose loved ones, experience disasters, and are no strangers to heartache and heartbreak.  According to the Word of God, Christ's victory is NOT a condition, it's a fact.  Therefore if Christ is in us, the fact is that we have the victory...whether we feel like it or not.

When we face difficult times, we need to believe that the victory that we have in Christ is FACT.  If we don't feel victorious, that's okay.  God can handle our pain, our questions, our fears, and our doubts.  When we take all our anxieties before Him, He helps us to to see the truth.  The victory that we have isn't necessarily for the here and now.  The here and now won't last...it will all pass away.  The greater victory is for the eternal...for the things we can't see but believe by faith that they exist.  God is fulfilling His purpose in us, an ultimately victorious purpose.  We may stumble and fall along the way, but He continues writing our life stories.  We can't see the whole picture, not right now, but He does.  He is weaving a tapestry, and our lives affect others, and the events that we experience touch the experiences of others.  We may not understand how it all will play out in the end, but one thing is certain: victory does not depend on the circumstances...and it does not depend on us.

It depends on CHRIST.  It depends on the work He did on the cross for each one of us.  It depends on His mercy, grace, love and compassion for each one of us.  He HAS the victory, and those that stand with Him will be victorious in the end!