September 1

“Sin is for us an already conquered foe.  The Lord Jesus Christ has met and conquered it, and we are, if we only knew it, more than conquerors in him.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 8/31

I watched the second film of the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings:  Two Towers, last night.  It was very disturbing and is perhaps why I woke up two hours earlier than I normally do.  In these early morning hours, though, God often shows me things that I can only see that time of day.  In this second film the main characters have survived an intense battle that almost overwhelmed them.  The movie ends with a victory of that battle but also with the declaration that the war was just beginning.  For me, I often experience a victory over a sin, only to be re-engaged in battle.  Like the king in the film I become discouraged and want to just give up and let the enemy overtake me.  But then the word of the Lord encourages me and I ride into battle again.  This morning the Lord has shown me that the war hasn’t even begun for me.  Victory over sin has already been won, but I must go to war over it before it will quit attacking me and engaging me in battle.  The battles I’ve been experiencing have merely been the effects of my sin, but now, the Lord has shown me my sin itself.   I need not fear, however, because the war has already been won.  It is in riding into war--that is to say, facing my sin--that it shall be put to death for me.  Christ has already won the war, but now I must experience the victory of the battle for myself.

“Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Fear not, and be not dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s.”  2 Chronicles 20:15b