"The Battle's OVER, Victory's WON!" ~ VICTORY

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  Philippians 1:20-21
     As I worked on this devotional on the armor of God, I have learned even more,  the importance of putting on the whole armor of God. We cannot imagine a soldier going into battle without their armor, so why do we go throughout our day without putting on God’s armor. One of the first things we should do when we get up each morning is start our day in prayer, asking the LORD to help us put on His armor. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:10-11, “ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” I cannot imagine facing the enemy daily without God’s armor. Unfortunately, there have been many times that I have done that and struggled in the battle throughout the day.
      Each day, we see the spiritual battle heating up more. Evil is around every corner, and those challenges are becoming greater. We need to wear that armor to face those challenges, but we also know who is fighting beside us…our LORD Jesus Christ!!!  He gives us that hope that is steadfast and secure which the enemy cannot touch. Our hope in Christ is eternal, and nothing can separate us from Him as Romans 8:35-39, says “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
    As a child of God, we are running a race of endurance and fighting a battle that is not of flesh and blood. Philippians 3:14 says, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”. The goal here on earth is to strive for Christ-likeness and the prize in Heaven IS Christ-likeness. The time will come when God calls each of His children up to Heaven and into His presence where we will receive the prize that was so unreachable on earth.
     Here on earth, we need to wear God’s armor DAILY. When we get to Heaven, we will not need that armor. As you look at the painting, you will see Jesus Christ welcoming His child with open arms as she runs towards Him on the streets of gold. The River of Life is to the left with the Tree of Life behind Christ. I don’t know what color the fruit on that tree is, so I decided to paint them teal as that color represents culturally TRUTH and FAITH. If you notice to the right there are three butterflies representing NEW LIFE along with the TRINITY (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit). In the far background, you see the LIGHT representing the very presence of God the Father. I painted Jesus’s sash red to represent His blood that was shed for all our sins, paying the debt that we could never pay. The girl running to Jesus, I wanted her sash to be the color of purple which represents forgiveness. None of us can get to Heaven by our own merit because of sin and that’s why Jesus paid the debt. Finally, you will see that the believer has placed her armor at Heaven’s gate. She no longer needs it, because “The Battle’s Over, Victory’s Won”. She is safe with Christ! What about you? Where will you spend eternity? I hope it’s with Christ.