"VICTORY!"

1 Corinthians 15:50-58                               (ESV)
"50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of GOD, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
55 "O death, where is your "VICTORY"? O death, where is your sting?"
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to GOD, who gives us the "VICTORY" through our LORD JESUS CHRIST.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the LORD, knowing that in the LORD your labor is not in vain."



November 11, 1918 is the date most recognize as the date "the war to end all war" (World War 1) was ceased.  Of course, on September 01, 1939 those words were proven to be a myth as World War II began.  Since, a seemingly continuous battle, in some part of the world, continues as mankind will incessantly "debate" right and wrong. Yet somehow we don't see a large amount of people submitting themselves to the oppression and rules that the defeated supported and defended before their ways were overcame.

Our real enemy, the devil, has been defeated and we mark his defeat every year on Easter when we celebrate JESUS CHRIST overcoming the grave.  Yet the church is constantly surrendering to a defeated foe, "this world", by allowing death and evil to continually be kept alive by being tolerant and politically correct!  Evil is living among us folks and we have a calling and responsibility to live victorious before our enemy, as he was defeated on the cross of Calvary.

The enemy wants to make the world think he and his demons are not able to be defeated, but he has already been defeated!  Keep in mind, he is the master of deceit and he loves giving false impressions!  Everything that is of "this world " cannot "inherit the kingdom of GOD"!  John 4:24 says "GOD is Spirit", yet the enemy wants us to focus on the physical, the things of "this world", that will all pass away!  If his focus remains on his future, then he must live in defeat!

There is a song titled "IT IS FINISHED" that says "It is finished the battle is over......"!  The war between good and evil has been won, but remnants of the enemy can still be found as he can't accept his defeat!  The war isn't a physical battle, it is a Spiritual battle, a battle where "the enemy" has been defeated by the invisible GOD!  There is another part of this song that says "In my heart the battle was still raging.....I didn't know that the war had been won"!!  Although the battle has been won by the invisible GOD, the great deceiver desires to make us think he still has a chance of "VICTORY"!

Are we so blind of a society that we refuse to live in "VICTORY" in CHRIST?  GOD forbid!  JESUS CHRIST came to earth and paid an unbelievable price for our "VICTORY"!  We cannot, and MUST NOT, live our lives in surrender to a defeated foe and live in a proverbial graveyard.  Being able to identify your enemy is important, but being able to have a personal relationship with the VICTOR of LIFE is really what "VICTORY" in LIFE is all about!!!