Living In The Win Zone : Pastor Tony Samuels
We must understand we were created to win in this life. There is nobody in life that desires to lose. You see, our Lord is the ultimate winner, and we have been created in His image and His likeness. To win means: to finish; to finish first in a race, contest, or the like.
When a runner in the natural wins a race, it’s one of the greatest feelings. The Lord wants us to experience that victory in this life. 2 Corinthians 2:14 says, Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. According to this Scripture, somehow, some way, God is always going to cause us to win. To cause to triumph means to cause to celebrate with a loud noise. When you win in life, it is usually displayed in your expression. After a race, by observation, you can look without knowing anything and you can tell who won and who lost by their expression. The winner is smiling, jumping, and leaping for joy; the loser is usually holding his head down in despair, wondering what happened. ABC used to call it the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
What is God saying? He is saying that you are a winner, and you should maintain your celebration! Victory has a sound, and it is a loud celebration! To live in the win zone, you have to maintain your praise; you have to maintain your celebration, even in the face of what may look like defeat.
It’s amazing how your reaction to life changes when you have the right perspective. Sometimes the Lord is laughing at what is concerning us. Look at Psalms 2:1-4: Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. God’s view is awesome, and we must realize that the script has already been written. One of the things about a sports game is it consists of many plays…plays that are played out before you arrive at victory. Any coach will tell you, don’t judge the whole game by a seemingly bad play. The game is not over! Jesus manifested His greatest victory in the face of seemingly defeated circumstances.
1 Corinthians 2:8 says, None of the rulers of this age recognized and understood this wisdom; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. This is amazing, that God let the enemy crucify Jesus, and out of that He conquered death and redeemed the human race! Church, we have to understand that the ways of God are much higher than our ways. Jesus is able to bring victory out of defeat. His followers didn’t understand what was happening at the cross; it looked like it was all over. They didn’t realize it was all part of the plan.
Even in prison, Paul knew he was winning! Look at what Philippians 1:12 says: Now I want you to know, believers, that what has happened to me [this imprisonment that was meant to stop me] has actually served to advance the spread of the good news regarding salvation. As he sat in prison, Paul realized he was still winning; the Gospel was still going forward. Christian, there is no way you can lose. Our God has already written the script, and you will not find losing in His script for your life. It’s just not there…so maintain your praise, maintain your celebration, and live in the win zone!
November 8, 2020