{"id":27931,"date":"2015-10-02T00:15:19","date_gmt":"2015-10-02T04:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=27931"},"modified":"2015-10-01T23:45:22","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T03:45:22","slug":"we-have-already-won","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/10\/02\/we-have-already-won\/","title":{"rendered":"We Have Already Won"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20533\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg\" alt=\"encouragementbloggraphicromans15\" width=\"425\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg 425w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;\">So the people shouted, and the trumpets sounded. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;\">When they heard the blast of the trumpet, <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;\">the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;\">The people advanced into the city, each man straight ahead, <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;\">and they captured the city.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;\">Joshua 6:20 <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I am in awe of our God and His never-ending blessings. \u00a0He loves His children so much and He wants to bless each one of us&#8230;and He does. \u00a0As children, we are taught to tell the truth at all costs. \u00a0And if you have been around little children, you know that this is true. They tell the truth&#8212;even if it hurts! \u00a0But as we get older, we somehow lose bits and pieces of our honesty. One white lie leads to another and then we get used to our new way of telling the &#8216;truth.&#8217; \u00a0<em>But God&#8212;<\/em>He <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">always<\/span> tells the truth and He <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">always<\/span> keeps His promises.<\/p>\n<p>Some of His promises are conditional, like &#8220;If you will ______ &#8230; then I will_____.&#8221; \u00a0This was the case in the Battle of Jericho\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=joshua+6&amp;version=ESV;AMP;NASB;NIV\" target=\"_blank\">read the account here<\/a>). \u00a0The Lord said, &#8220;See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, and its king and its fighting men.&#8221; \u00a0Can you imagine what Joshua thought? Maybe something like&#8230;&#8221;It doesn&#8217;t look like mine to me!&#8221; as he looked at the wall that he couldn&#8217;t get through! \u00a0But the Lord&#8217;s message was that the victory was already his <em><strong>but<\/strong><\/em> He wanted him to do a few things first.<\/p>\n<p>Even today, God directs us in ways like this. \u00a0In the battles we face day to day, victory is already ours because of our position in Him. \u00a0But it may not be in our possession if He doesn&#8217;t get our full cooperation. See, God has already defeated the enemy by sending Jesus to die in our place&#8230;in sin&#8217;s place. \u00a0But some of the victories that we have are ours only if we take them. \u00a0We have to take that first step sometimes to show that we want it! \u00a0Here&#8217;s how:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Stay armed for battle &#8212; Joshua 6:3-9<br \/>\nGod&#8217;s Word is a Sword. Our victories will never happen without it!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.<br \/>\nEphesians 6:17<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Always stay on course &#8212; Joshua 6:3,14<br \/>\nNever get tired of doing the right thing. Pray every day that God will give you direction and lead you on the right path and that you will never grow tired of trying.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses<br \/>\nsurrounding us, let us lay aside every weight<br \/>\nand the sin that so easily ensnares us.<br \/>\nLet us run with endurance the race that lies before us&#8230;.<br \/>\nHebrews 12:1<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Always stay together with your army &#8212; Joshua 6:13<br \/>\nSurround yourselves with Jesus followers that will help you be the best you. The people that will lift you up out of the trenches and speak truth loudly over the enemy&#8217;s lies. Stay in the Church and serve with the body of believers so that the enemy cannot even get a toehold!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Always stay awake and alert &#8212; Joshua 6:18<br \/>\nAlways avoid the temptations that the enemy sends your way and keep your eyes on Him.\u00a0\u00a0It is so easy to let your guard down and let our foot slip. \u00a0We start looking at our problems and we take the focus off of the Problem Solver. We lose hope. \u00a0Stay in the Word! \u00a0It&#8217;s the only way to keep your eyes always on the prize.<\/p>\n<p>The things of this world look and smell and taste so good that sometimes we may slip into the enemies trap. \u00a0But God is bigger and He is mighty to save! \u00a0Psalm 13:8 says &#8220;Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I am praying for each one of you to stay victorious! \u00a0We need to step out as His children and tell all who will listen that He<strong><em> is<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0The Way! \u00a0And remember&#8230; you have already won!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Let us pray<\/span><\/em><\/span>: Dear God, thank You for loving us so much that You give us a endless supply of grace. \u00a0We confess that we don&#8217;t always stay close and we do take our eyes off of You and we need forgiveness. \u00a0Help us to stay in Your Word and really press into You so that the enemy cannot get through to us at all. \u00a0We love You and we praise You. \u00a0In Jesus; name, amen.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So the people shouted, and the trumpets sounded. When they heard the blast of the trumpet, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. The people advanced into the city, each man straight ahead, and they captured the city. Joshua 6:20 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 * I am [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":20533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6228],"tags":[6998,9469,1287,425,7454,493,9468,589,5490],"class_list":["post-27931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encouragement-2","tag-encouragement-blog","tag-epehsians-617-18","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god-keeps-his-promises","tag-hebrews-121","tag-joshua-6","tag-kim-spring","tag-psalm-138","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-7gv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27931"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27956,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27931\/revisions\/27956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}