Tuesday, January 23, 2018

When Victory Walked out the Door
By Elin Henderson

“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our LORD.”
 1 Corinthians 15:57(NIV, emphasis added)

Can you remember a day when victory walked out the door? The people you were counting on let you down. The money you desperately needed never came in. The armies you had built up were slowly demolished and there you were left standing, alone. “Impossible” just got ramped up to a new level!

Did you find yourself chasing after the defectors, begging them to return? Filling the gaps with whatever resources you could dig up? Barring the door so they couldn’t escape? We find many ways to try and make up the difference between our current difficulty and what we consider “victory.”

Yet, God is always challenging us and finding creative ways to get rid of the human element, in order to show us a better way to victory. This “letting go” of our human resources, our well-made plans, our “victory” stash is never easy, is it? Whether we are the widow with the last bit of oil and Elijah asks for some bread (1 Kings 17:8-16), or Gideon when God pares down his army of tens of thousands to mere hundreds (Judges 7:1-7), God has His ways of bringing us to the end of ourselves and our well-planned resources. It appears that victory is walking out the door, but God is waiting to bring in a better, more incredibly victorious plan!

It is in the faith-filled surrender, which willingly lets go when all of your being is screaming to hang on tighter, that we find true victory. So, keep the doors open. If people desert you, your resources dry up or your plans fall apart, don’t lose heart. Let them go, resting in the fact that God will use that same door to usher in a victory unlike one you have ever seen.
           
GOING DEEPER:                                                       
1. Are you facing any difficulties right now?
2. What can you do to keep reminding yourself to keep the door of your heart open for God’s plans?

FURTHER READING:


Oakwood’s missionaries Elin Henderson (a registered nurse) and her husband Phil serve as church planters with New Tribes in Mozambique, Africa.  Elin is mother to seventeen-year-old Callie and fourteen-year-old Elias.