What do you believe about the finished work of the cross, and the effect it has on your everyday life today?
When Laura and I moved to France back in September 1984, we were told that what God had put on our hearts was completely impossible. Both the French nationals and all the French mission organisations told us that it would never work. Some went so far as to say it was impossible to even see a French person saved. We knew, however, that if God had called us to do it, it was indeed possible, even if no-one had done it before.
During our first few months in Nice, we met several believers who told us of three different missionary couples who had come with basically the same vision we had in our hearts. They had all left after three to six months. And yet, this month we are celebrating our 38th year of ministry, both here in this wonderful country and across the French-speaking world.
To God be the glory for all He has done! It is so much more than we'd ever dreamed! We’ve been living in this victory by believing that what God said we could do, we could do, because He would be doing it through us.
So what has God told you to do? Whether it’s to pioneer a work, leave for a foreign land, start a business, or to help someone else with what God has put on their heart, you must take your position in faith, just as we did.
Are you living today in the victory that's already been won for you in the past, or are you waiting for a future victory? So often we see Christians fighting against almost everything. They even believe they have to fight the devil!
The bottom line here is this: God has called you to live in victory. Jesus already overcame death and the grave. The only real fight we have on our hands is the “fight of faith” — to believe in what Jesus has already accomplished for us. What He has told us to do, we will indeed be able to do. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).
Believing this way changes us from having a “victim mentality” to a “more-than-conquerors mentality”, for “whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:4-5, NKJV). This kind of faith will influence everything we think, speak, or do. If we truly believe that Jesus has already won the victory, then we know our future is secure. “We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2.Corinthians 4:18).
Believer, it’s time for you to shout the victory over what Jesus has already done for you, and to let that victory touch every area of your life, in both the present and in the future. Yes, you can do what He's called you to do, even if no one has ever done it before, because “His victory is your victory."
Say it with me now: “His victory is my victory!”
*All Scripture quotations are taken from the NKJV.