Celebrating Victory in Christ

When you think of victory in Christ, what comes to mind?

For many of us, we think of victory over death. Eternal life with God. New bodies. No sin or even the presence of temptation. But did you know your eternal life has already started if you are a child of God? That it began here on earth the moment you trusted in Jesus Christ for full payment of your sin against God? What kind of victories can we expect—what kind of victories do we have the right to expect as children of God, here . . . today? David wrote in Psalm 27:13, “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” That means today. We can enjoy God’s goodness every day of our lives here and now.

Victory in Christ does not mean freedom from problems and difficulties, whether health, financial, relational, or anything else. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:35-37, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” You see, we are conquerors, not because we get to be taken out of the trials. We are conquerors while we’re still in the trials.

Have you ever felt like life was leading you like a sheep to the slaughter? That you were afraid to answer the phone or the door or open your mail because you just couldn’t take one more piece of bad news? It’s really nice that the Bible tells us we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loves us. The question is how? How does this happen?

How do we get these things to work for us so that we can claim victory in every instance? For one thing, we need to ask ourselves how God is working through the circumstance to transform us into the image of His Son. Remember Joseph? He told his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Our spiritual enemy intends all sorts of evil against us, but God causes “all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). And I can’t think of any greater good—any greater victory—than the Father using my life’s circumstances to create a family resemblance between me and His Son, or between you and His Son!

Not only does God turn around these things that were intended for our defeat and bring us victory, but He uses these experiences to enable us to minister to others. We’re told in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 that “the Father of mercies…comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” I know that’s a tongue twister, but it’s straight from II Corinthians!  We’re comforted, not so that we can keep it to ourselves, but so that we can encourage others!

It all boils down to knowing Who you belong to. Who is God, really?

I love searching out the ways God chooses to name Himself in His word—the names by which He uses to reveal Himself a little bit more with each page, each chapter.

Three Names

From Genesis 14 through 17, God reveals something about Himself through the use of three different names.

In Genesis 14, we are introduced to the name, “God Most High.” God is higher than anyone or anything. Higher than the clouds above us or the earth below us. Higher than any experience, trial, or difficulty. Higher than physical limitations or spiritual boundaries. He created it all, and He is above it all. He is God Most High.

Just two chapters later, God is also named as “The One Who Sees Me.” The smallest detail, the tiniest problem. Because the God who created the universe also created all of the countless molecules that make up our physical world and the cells that make up your body. He knows about the tiniest cancer cell and He counts the number of tears that wet your pillow at night. Nothing is so small that it escapes His notice.\

But it all comes together in the next chapter. In Genesis 17, God identifies Himself as “God Almighty,” otherwise translated as “The All-Sufficient One.” Think of it: God Most High is the God who sees you, and He is sufficient and mighty enough to take care of it all: big things and small ones, and everything in between!  He has everything and anything you and I will ever need to be victorious in Christ—everything we need to celebrate victory!