You’re not running your race to obtain the victory. The victory has already been won. It was delivered to you at the starting block. You’re coming from the victory. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to not become distracted by things that try to tell you that you’re without the victory, that you’re in lack. Don’t be deceived. You’re not operating from a deficit. You have what it takes. Keep running!
The Lord surprised me one evening when He spoke those words to my heart, seemingly out of the blue. Always a big Mission Impossible fan, I didn’t miss the challenge He issued. He challenged me to not be distracted. I had no idea at the time just how lack-minded I was. Lies I’d believed about myself were so well-rooted and familiar that I didn’t realize how much they stole my focus and robbed me of victory in so many areas.
Somewhere along the way, I had adopted a mentality of being without. Without identity, without authority, without value, without enough. Without.Living in fear became a way of life because, at the basement level of my being, I was convinced I didn’t have what it took to succeed—whatever “it” was. Like Eve, I’d been deceived into thinking I was missing something.
In his book You’ve Already Got It!, Andrew relates Adam and Eve’s experience to us today.
“If you could convince perfect people living in paradise with no physical problems whatsoever to think they didn’t have it all, to doubt God’s Word, and to question His goodness, then I guarantee you can convince people living in a fallen world, who can look in any direction and see pain, tragedy, lack, and need, that they don’t have it all.” (p. 119)
But not having it all wasn’t true for Adam and Eve before the Fall, and it isn’t true for born-again believers now.
“The truth is, if you’ve been born again, you do have everything. You are complete in Christ. (Col. 2:10.) Everything you’ll ever need has already been given to you… All you’re doing is combating [Satan’s] lies and deceptions.” (p. 119, emphasis mine)
My oldest son, always friendly and outgoing, came home one day in tears. Eleven years old at the time, he had a black eye and scrapes on his face. When I asked him what had happened, he told me that two older boys lured him into the woods, beat him up, and stole his bike. They were obviously bullies.
Recently, in a flash of revelation, the Lord showed me that I was being bullied too. Satan had intimidated me into accepting symptoms in my body that weren’t mine and that I didn’t want. When God opened my eyes to what was happening, I could actually see how the Enemy was trying to steal my health.
Like I did when my son got bullied, I got angry. Really angry. I wanted to fight. But a believer’s battle is not with flesh and blood and isn’t waged with fists. So, where is the battle? Andrew explains:
“The battle against the devil is waged in your thoughts. That’s why God’s Word is so essential! Satan’s only power is deception. He lies and represents himself as more powerful than he is. But truth is the antidote to deception. . . . Apart from the power you give him through believing his lies, Satan can’t steal anything from you.” (pp. 119-120, italics mine)
Since the Lord gave me that revelation, I’ve decided that my days of being bullied are over. I may not know every adjustment that needs to be made in my thinking, but I know one thing for sure: it’s too late for defeat, because the victory has already been won.
Find out more about your victory and Satan’s defeat by watching You’ve Already Got It! on Andrew’s Gospel Truth broadcast. You can also listen to the You’ve Already Got It! series through our website or order the book. Don’t be bullied by the Enemy. Learn what’s already yours through Jesus.
