Your Victories Promote You

At the start of every new year, I tend to start reading the Bible from the beginning. It takes me about 3 to four months. I get it in my head that I am going to make it my obsession. Every free moment is spent devouring it.

When I do it, I’m not trying to dig too deep. I just want to get the basic gist of the scripture. But by the time I am done, there are certain themes that are grabbing me throughout the entire thing.

It really helps me know where I am going to spend a lot of my time with God for a while. The other thing it does for me is to keep scriptures fresh so that even the ones I don’t tend to spend a lot of time in will come to my memory when there is a time for them.

Recently, I was reading in the book of Numbers chapter 25 where the Moabites tried to derail the Israelites. They tried bringing in a prophet to curse the Israelites, but he wouldn’t do it. So eventually, they tried to get them off focus by having women seduce the men.

In chapter 25 God confronts the Israelites about this. Phineas, Aaron’s grandson, sees a man going to a tent with a Moabite woman. So he leaves the gathering, grabs a spear, and kills the man and woman. The Lord says that because Phineas was as zealous as He was about the purity of the Israelites, the people would be spared and He would make a special covenant of peace with Phineas. That from Phineas and his descendants would have a permanent part in the priesthood.

Jesus says the same thing to the 7 Churches in Revelation. He gives rewards to those who overcome certain trials and temptations.

Because of Phineas tied his heart so closely to the Lord’s, he received a great reward. AND, when Israel went out to war against Moab, Phineas also got to lead the Israelites out.

In the cage, you get promoted for your victories. Those victories are the result of overcoming a lot of problems and trials during training where nobody else sees. But then you get to carry it out where everyone sees. And eventually, if you desire, you can even have your own camp or training series and lead others to their own victories.

If you will be faithful to win your battles when you are alone, it is really only then that you get to carry it out in public. And only when people do see your public victories, are you given power and authority to lead them, possibly a whole culture, into their own victories.

So how much are you willing to tie your heart to the Lord’s? How much do you desire to see a whole culture of people living at their very peak of greatness as the Lord has intended? It means you have to conquer in your private life, be able to carry that to a public arena, and then lead the charge of the whole culture into battle.