...Going from Failure...

April 2

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. Winston Churchill

Churchill certainly had much about which to be discouraged in war-ravaged England. His country was bombarded mercilessly by a foe who had already taken much of Europe and was sure it would have this one last prize to add to its trove of victories over free nations which it intended to fully subjugate to its oppression. Churchill affirmed that he and his people would fight them in the air, fight them in the sea, fight them on the beaches and they would never give up. At an appointed time, another nation came along side and assisted his people. The United States entered the war and together with other nations that cherished freedom, they ultimately defeated the Nazis.

But the freedom they achieved was not without a heavy price. Freedom always requires a price. And the one who is ultimately behind any theft of freedom or peace or virtue of any sort is still afoot. In the land that was instrumental in securing freedom for England and in restoring that precious commodity to the rest of Europe, he is today making inroads that will rob the U.S. of the freedom our founding fathers wrote into our Constitution! The enemy never gives up!

Besides the freedom he would steal from nations and political systems, there is also the personal freedom he would steal from everyone who has ever been born. It is his intention to blind the eyes of the lost so they cannot see the salvation Jesus has provided for them (II Corinthians 4:4), so they can never be free from sin and slavery to a system that will end in their eternal separation from God (II Timothy 2:26). If he can, he will also blind the minds and hearts of believers in Christ to their constant Help and Protection through the Christ who loves them. If he could, the evil one would fight them in small battles and large to endeavor to steal their victory!

When he does, people of faith must be like Churchill who said we must go from "failure to failure with enthusiasm." As the British had an ally that came to assist them in their battle to remain free, so do we have an Ally who is here to help us maintain our freedom! We have the Holy Spirit of the living Christ who will never fail or forsake us! (Hebrews 13:5,6) He is the One who will empower us to fight one more skirmish, to overcome one more assault until the battle is done and the enemy is eternally defeated!