From Victory Unto ….

“We are not fighting FOR victory, we are fighting FROM victory” — Pete Briscoe

Think about that for just a minute … notice the RADICAL difference??

We are NOT an invading force seeking to defeat a powerful enemy. The enemy is already defeated, he is already lost, what remains are a few isolated pockets of resistance designed to impede the actions of the occupying force of the victorious King. We are that occupying force ….

We are not here to win a battle, the battle is already won … so is the war. We are here to set captives free, set at liberty the oppressed, heal the broken-hearted, preach the Gospel to the poor. We’re not here to destroy and enemy, he is already destroyed. We are here to set free those he has captured, imprisoned, damaged and stripped of life. We are here to show His love to those confused, misguided and blinded by that defeated enemy.

The lost are not the enemy. I’ll say that again; the lost are NOT the enemy, they are the captives we are to set free, they are the oppressed we are to set at liberty, they are the broken-hearted, the damaged that need healing.

Maybe, just maybe, we should stop treating them like the enemy … they are, after all, why He came, why He suffered the shame of the cross. They ARE who we WERE. Instead of demanding they follow a law we have failed follow, maybe we should introduce them to the author of that law (and everything else). Instead of demanding they ACT like they are something else, maybe we should act like who we should be. Maybe we should just fall on our knees and pray for them with all our heart, that He would give sight to the blind and they might see, hearing to the deaf that they might hear and turn.

I dunno, maybe, just maybe, when they ask us to bake them a cake, we should bake them two.

So now what??

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Luke 4:17-19 (NKJV)*1
17And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Matthew 5:40-42 (NKJV)*1
40If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.

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*1 “Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon