Processed For Victory : Pastor Tony Samuels

but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:57

As Christians, our direction should always be forward in life. All the Lord has for you is ahead of you. In 1 Corinthians 4:13-16, the Apostle Paul says, “I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus. So let all who are fully mature have this same passion.” Notice, he said he forgets the past and is reaching for the heavenly goal and gaining the Victory prize; and to have this, we must have passion. Passion means any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate. I know many times we talk about not being controlled by our emotions, but there is a place in God that your emotions can actually propel you in the direction that the Lord has for your life…and that’s when His passions take control of those emotions.

We are advancing to Victory! Victory means a success or triumph over an enemy in battle or war. You don’t obtain victory in your life without an enemy. Your reaction to an enemy will determine whether you experience victory. Many times in life, when we hit a rough spot, the tendency is to run.  But in 2020 we are not running; we are going to deal with it and get past it. It’s all a part of our maturity process. Muscles are built and developed through resistance. The Lord allows things to come into our lives, not to destroy us, but to develop us and mature us into who He has called us to be. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 says, “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 so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.” It’s amazing that in the fire of afflictions Paul was able to see the divine purpose, pressure on the outside to release something greater on the inside.

Sometimes we go through things that seem to make no sense, but you must trust your Father that there is a divine purpose to the madness. A person who is not willing to go through the process of God will never experience true Victory. In the process is our development. You cannot mature into the person God has called you to be outside of His process. It’s like being a fish out of water; you have a lot of motion but no progress.

You are a mighty man and woman of God. Sometimes the Lord sees greatness in us that we don’t see in ourselves. Your weakness and struggle cannot cancel out the greatness He has placed on the inside of you. So when enemies rise up, when anything tries to stop you from going forward…when you’re facing a wrong mindset…whatever it is, it’s time to deal with it and get past it so we can experience true victory in Jesus. I declare that even now you are being set free from everything that is trying to stop your progress! So stay in the process, because your process is bringing you into VICTORY!!!!

February 23rd, 2020