Victory Blog

Every time I turn view the news, I see more and more stories of the wicked getting their way. They are getting the money, they are getting the judgeships, they are striking down good laws, they are staying at the fancy places, they are getting the fame… There seems to be no end to it…
Yet, let me turn to God’s Word:

“Fret not thyself because of evildoers, Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb. ”¹
“For evildoers shall be cut off: But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. ”²

The Psalmist pondered the prosperity of the wicked and lamented the unfairness of it all…

“Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then understood I their end. ”³

What was that end? Read on,

“Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: Thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh; So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. ”⁴

What is to be my response?

“Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: But God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, That I may declare all thy works. ”⁵

1. Psalm 37:1–2 [↩]
2. Psalm 37:9–10 [↩]
3. Psalm 73:17 [↩]
4. Psalm 73:18–20 [↩]
5. Psalm 73:25–28 [↩]

“Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.”¹

Is God here? Do I sense His presence? Am I living as if He was walking right beside me?
God is here. I do sense His presence. I know He is walking beside me.
So why be discouraged? lonely? fearful?
Why not bask in the sunshine of His presence? Why not communicate with Him throughout the day? Why not trust His hand of protection and His arm of strength?
Can I say with the Psalmist: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.”²

1. Jeremiah 23:23–24 [↩]
2. Psalm 43:5 [↩]

“Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.”¹

To some, the Bible is a mystery, a book hard to understand. And so should it be, without the illumination of the Spirit of God. It takes a miraculous work of God for someone to start making sense out of the Word of God.
Paul put it this way:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.²

It is the Spirit of God who reveals the truth of the Word of God to a believer. This is a wonderful ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the child of God. He is the anointing that enables us to understand the Bible. So until a person is born again, the Book is locked.

1. Luke 24:45 [↩]
2. 1 Corinthians 2:9–14 [↩]

A preacher was in a church where he felt God had led him. But nothing seemed to be working out, so he wanted to go to another church.
He told a friend, “I know where God put me, and I know God put me here, but I just wonder if He remembers where He put me.”
Yes, God remembers! He has not forgotten. He is never late. Don’t rush God. Don’t think He has abandoned you because your prayers are not answered. He will turn your midnight into a sunrise and your mourning into dancing. – Adrian Rogers

Pastor Lloy Stevens, Victory Baptist Church, Mother’s Day, 05/13/12, AM Service

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Our trials will then seem light and momentary afflictions. Let us go on boldly; if the night be never so dark, the morning cometh, which is more than they can say who are shut up in the darkness of hell. Do you know what it is thus to live on the future-to live on expectation-to antedate heaven? Happy believer, to have so sure, so comforting a hope. It may be all dark now, but it will soon be light; it may be all trial now, but it will soon be all happiness. What matters it though “weeping may endure for a night,” when “joy cometh in the morning?” – Charles Spurgeon

How blessed to feel assured that the Lord is with us in all our ways, and condescends to go down into our humiliations and banishments with us! – Charles Spurgeon

And he is full of grace. Ah! had he not been I should never have been saved. He drew me when I struggled to escape from his grace; and when at last I came all trembling like a condemned culprit to his mercy-seat he said, ‘Thy sins which are many are all forgiven thee: be of good cheer.’ And he is full of truth. True have his promises been, not one has failed. I bear witness that never servant had such a master as I have; never brother such a kinsman as he has been to me; never spouse such a husband as Christ has been to my soul; never sinner a better Saviour; never mourner a better comforter than Christ hath been to my spirit. I want none beside him. In life he is my life, and in death he shall be the death of death; in poverty Christ is my riches; in sickness he makes my bed; in darkness he is my star, and in brightness he is my sun; he is the manna of the camp in the wilderness, and he shall be the new corn of the host when they come to Canaan. Jesus is to me all grace and no wrath, all truth and no falsehood: and of truth and grace he is full, infinitely full. My soul, this night, bless with all thy might ‘the only Begotten.’” – Charles Spurgeon