April 20, 2019
WINNERS NEVER QUIT & QUITTERS NEVER WIN
The Lord showed me a picture of people who were so warn down, fatigued and almost “out for the count”. I don’t know much about wrestling but the Holy Spirit showed me an analogy of a wrestling match. During a wrestling match the two contestants will try to take the other wrestler down. They have to force their opponent’s shoulders to the mat and they must have them on their back before a count out begins. This is called a “takedown”. The referee then begins a count out from ten to zero. If the opponent doesn’t get up after the count out, then the man who took him down wins the match.
This is what I saw. The enemy has taken some of you down. You are bruised and battered and don’t think that you have the strength to get back up. The Lord says: He has your back and He will give you the strength to endure. The apostle Paul was thrown into prison several times, beaten with rods countless times, stoned, shipwrecked, falsely accused, attacked by the religious leaders, soothsayers and false prophets. Nevertheless, he was used mightily in salvations, miracles, signs and wonders. After Jesus transformed his life on the road to Damascus he said that he would never deny him.
The men and women in the bible were not quitters. In 1 Samuel 17:36 David killed a lion and a bear with his bare hands and then killed Goliath with a sling and a stone. In 1 Chronicles 12:8 David raised up a mighty army who were so extreme that their faces were as the faces of lions and they were swift as gazelles on the mountains. In the book of Judges 15:14-15 Samson was tied up and handed over to the Philistines. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him and the ropes on his hands were burned up. He then killed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.
The Holy Spirit has also been showing me some believers who were once on fire for the Lord but have now lost their zeal. They began in the Spirit but have ended up in the flesh. Just as the apostle Paul asked the Galatian church: “Who has bewitched you”? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Some of you have to stir yourselves up once again.
I want to encourage you this Resurrection week to allow that same power that raised Jesus from the dead to also quicken your mortal bodies. Jesus has given you the victory and you are no longer a victim. You are on the winning team and His plans
can not be thwarted and
no power in hell could defeat you.
2 Corinthians 4:8-11
Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out. We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies
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so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity. We consider living to mean that we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.
Galatians 3:3-4
Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so
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many things in vain—if indeed
it was
in vain?
