Unstoppable: We Are at War

We are in a spiritual battle. The enemy does not want us to fulfill our destiny.

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When you say yes to God and join His cause, overnight you may go from running with the wind to running against the wind and not even know how or when the wind changed.

Knowing that we have an enemy is one thing. Finding yourself face-to-face with that enemy’s work is another. I won’t sugarcoat it.

Trials and storms will come to you. Obstacles will rise up. Challenges will multiply.

There is always a fight in the exchange zone. The enemy comes at us hard. His goal is to stop us!

Why? Because he has so much to lose. If he can persuade us to drop our batons, to stop running, imagine all the future handoffs and releases he would prevent. If he can tempt us to walk out of the race, not only will our spiritual lives grow stagnant but our influence in this world will diminish as well. If he can make us regret receiving one baton, he hopes we may not accept the next. If he can weaken one part of the body of Christ, he knows the whole body will suffer.

God’s divine relay threatens the enemy’s territory, and he will not go down without a fight. If you have any doubt of that, just read of his insidious attempts to tempt Jesus at the onset of His ministry (Matthew 4:1-11) and of his work in Judas (Matthew 26). If he is bold enough to try to take on the Son of God, he won’t hesitate to do his best to thwart us, the followers of Christ.

But here is the spectacular truth:

Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. — 1 John 4:4 NASB

Jesus overcame the Evil One. The enemy is already defeated. And what’s more, God uses the enemy’s tactics against him. What the enemy intends for evil, God uses for good. Yes, Satan used Judas to betray the Lord, but God intended for Jesus to stand trial and be condemned to death. Yes, Satan used the scheming of Jesus’ enemies to have Him crucified but, in so doing, Satan fulfilled God’s plan for securing eternal life for all who believe in Jesus. Satan loses! God wins!

I see this at work in my own life. The enemy sought to destroy me through abandonment and abuse, but God rescued me to make me a rescuer. What the enemy intended for evil, God used for good.

So what happens when the enemy attacks a runner in the divine relay? What happens when the fiery darts come at us, when trials beset us, when storms come, when opposition hits? Do we allow these attacks, trials, and storms to stop us? No! God uses every single trial to our benefit, for our good.

Do you see how God uses obstacles, trials, and the enemy’s attacks to make us stronger when we refuse to stop running our race?… God is building champions.

With greater strength, we can handle increased responsibility — greater batons. As we do, as our impact increases, the opposition grows fiercer, which in turn, if we persevere, increases our endurance. All the time God is building us and strengthening us. As we trust Him and see His faithfulness, we can run harder and faster on the next leg and the next.

From my vantage point, one of the most beautiful realities is that more often than not, a champion never self-identifies as one. The greatest champions I know are ordinary people who trust the true champion, Jesus, to come through and do what He said He would do. They run. They obey. They follow Jesus anywhere and everywhere, and no matter what challenges they hit, they keep on running.

Watch the Video with Christine Caine:

Excerpted with permission from Unstoppable by Christine Caine, copyright Christine Caine.

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Your Turn

We are at war. But, God is greater than any threat the enemy can toss at you. Are you still running hard after Jesus? Pick up your baton like the champion you are! Come join the conversation on our blog. We want to hear from you!