1 John 5:2-4
“This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep His commands. And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
When I was in high school I played football. For those of you in parts of the world where soccer is called football, that is not what I played. It is the American game of football. We were a very small Christian School and we could not field an eleven man team, so we played eight man football. I think there were seven or eight teams in our league.
It was a wonderful feeling to be victorious in one of our games. It was even a better feeling to have a winning season. The ultimate was achieved in my last year of high school when we were undefeated. VICTORY was ours!
The reason for our victory had started much earlier than that final game. In early fall we began practice that seemed so harsh we wondered if we would survive. We did and by the time of our first game we were in shape and were able to play with stamina and determination, but we still had to practice day after day before the next game. In order to win we had to pay the price of practicing day by day.
In our spirit life we find a parallel. In order to be effective in our ministry for the Lord we must exercise our spiritual muscles until we become competent to serve the Lord as He commands. Are you preparing for the work of God?
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil