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' is able to hold one steady when the billows break over the barque of his life. To be able to believe in God whose hand is at the helm, who is the disposer of .destiny, who has an all- embracing will, is to give one stabil ity in trouble. God is not only neces sary to keep us on the course, in this warfare, but to provide the strength to continue it and the promise as to its end. For this reason, the Apostle wrote, “All thirigs- work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” This belief in God gives inner resources which can be obtained in no other way. The confidence that nothing can be fall you without God’s permitting it, is the greatest triumph in your victory or triumph over circumstances. If you are willing to stop fighting mentally, spiritually, and i n w a r d l y against your lot, if you will use this mighty but dissipated energy to get well, to ■conquer obstacles, to do something for others, you may have the victory. Re member that God controls the events of your life. But Paul also ascribed this victory as coming “through Christ.” . The Bible holds out no promise of your victory or your triumph outside of Christ. Without Him you are a p a w n of wicked forces doomed to defeat, bat tered by caprice, apd though you may think your head, being bloody, is un bowed, as Henley did, you are men aced at every step and moment of life by death itself. Who is able to de liver you from-death? Only Christ. Christ has won the great triumph. He is the Victor. Paul declares that on the cross He triumphed over all principalities and powers openly, that He spoiled them as a conqueror spoils the vanquished, that He made a. show *of them openly as Julius Caesar or1 Titus made an open show of those vanquished in their g r e a t battles. Hence, you may be sure that there was something more to Calvary than mere ly a demonstration of God’s love to men, something more than the death of a martyr for the truth which He preached, something more than a po litical offender dying because h^ op posed the powers that be. On Calvary there was a spiritual battle which was won, and following it the Lord Jesus Christ led captivity captive and before the universe deiqpnstrated His su premacy over all spiritual enemies. God Himself once and for all defeated our enemy, the accuser, the angel of death, by submitting to death on Cal vary and emptying it of its sting. Thus Christ is the secret of the be liever’s victory. When we are united with Christ all that He overcame is vanquished for us. We know that He overcame temptation, sorrow, sin and death, and thus we believe He can overcome this for us. It is the living
flict and even'more than a victor he has resources which enable him to say something to us. One who, out of the midst of these disturbing experiences, can say, “thanks be unto God, which a l w a y s causeth us to triumph in Christ,” has a message and a note to sound for our day. This was merely another vindication of God’s present help which was evident in all of Paul’s life unto the very end. This victory is held out by this great Christian as the average believer’s privilege. He said, “We are more than conquerors.” . This victory or tri umph is not something reserved for a choice few such as Bishop Taylor or John Wesley, but is available for all, for every believer. Any man who will enter his Christian heritage may have a daily triumph as a foretaste of the great ultimate triumph that is to come. Many crowns are promised in the Word of God to the overcoming soul. He shall have an incorruptible crown that fadeth/not away, a crown of life, a crown of glory, a crown of righteousness laid up for those who love His appearing, but the d a i l y crown of victorious* living is one.of the best. The Means of Victory Paul in this epistle gives three great ’means o f victory: first, God; second, Christ; and third, the spiritual weap ons of warfare. , The Apostle commences his peon of praise by saying, “Thanks be. unto God.” God was placed as the source and center of all of Paul’s victory. The. belief in God and God’s purpose “THE REDEEMED SHALL WALK THERE” By MARTHA SNELL NICHOLSON Some glad day I shall walk againI Sometime my eager feet. Sensing a blessed Presence near. Shall turn and run to meet The One who, dying on a cross. Redeemed my flesh and soul. Straightened this twisted spine of mine. And made me new and whole! All memory of helplessness. Of crutch, and iron brace Will melt like mist when I be hold The beauty of His face! And so I wait. On swift wing comes That blessed moment when He'll take my hand, and smiling, teach Me how to walk again!
NOTE OF TRIUMPH [ Continued, from Page 325],
underwent as a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ.. Paul had taught Jiirnself to endure hardness as.,a good soldier for he was compelled to under go much. He said, “Even unto this present hour we .both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are .buf feted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the-world, and. are the offscouring of all thipgs unto this day.” On another occasion Paul declared, “Are. they ministers of Christ? I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more - frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save -one. '^Thrice ,was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of rob bers, in perils by mine own country men, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilder ness, in perils in the sea, in perils among f a l s e brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without? that which cometh upon me daily, the care, of all the churches:” | The preaching which describes the C h r i s t i a n life as all smiles, airy, breezy, and full of nothing but pleas ures, was not the kind of preaching Paul g a v e and not the experience which he had. Paul had no plaster Smile upon his face for every one whom he .met. There were times when he was deeply concerned over matters in these churches. There was no ab surd self-deception about all men be ing good, about there being no sin and no sorrow in the world. Paul knew that the world was full of it and he had had plenty of it a? his own share. Yes, if Paul’s life is anything of a standard fbr us, we may conclude that this life is a war, a fight to the death against sickness, sorrow, temptation, loss, failure, need, and evil. It is a ‘ false idea to affirm that one is a Christian because God has blessed him with a family, a home, and happi ness, as some contend. Paul had none of these things and yet Paul was. a victorious Christian and many have followed in his train. Yet Paul declared that the Chris tian way is the way of victory. He, himself, contended that he was more than conqueror in all these things through Christ who loved him. When one can come off .victor in this con
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