Continuing Victory

CONTINUING VICTORY – PJM

MESSAGE BY DR. SOPHIA DEVASAHAYAM

      Psalm 24:6, “Such is the company of those who seek him. Who seek the face of the God of Jacob”.  In the old testament, God tells Moses in many places, “And the Levite is mine”. He prescribes the ‘Duties’ of the Levite in service, and mentions the colours ‘purple’, ‘blue’, ‘crimson’ to be used in service. Each one of these colour’s represent something. Purple stands for royalty. Blue spiritually stands for prophetic ministries. Crimson stands of passion. These three qualities together constitute service for royalty, in royalty. “And thou art a royal diadem in the hands of the Lord a royal priesthood forever”. “The scepter shall never depart from Judah”. “And the Levite is mine”. Service in the Kingdom, Service in the Lord’s Ministry. The two are two different arms of the Lord. What are the Lord’s characteristics?

 Humility:  Men or Women who are his arm, allows the flood of life-flow to flow within them. And so, what are his traits. Let me begin with what he taught for a over a decade starting from age 12, when I started reading his word. “Humility”, “Do not boast about yourself, let other’s boast about you”, “He that wants to be great in God’s kingdom learns to be the servant of all”. These two verses, he taught me, broke open to me, everyday for years. In the 8^th grade I learnt this spiritual secret, ‘he who takes victory over the depths of temptation! Catapults himself to great heights”. Praying and opening the doors of temptation, for VICTORY! To overcome! How do you overcome? Hours of prayer, bible reading and spending time in God’s presence. The Lord himself will reveal yourself to you. Setting yourself up, through struggle and fight. Not by choosing to cross the road of influence through  powerful men or women.  Waiting for God’s time to plunge you to victory. Till then “Be still and know that Iam God”.

Denying yourself:  Not seeking places of importance or self-strategising higher roads, which is seemingly victorious! My humble opinion only God can give real victory.  I don’t believe in not eating well, not dressing well, those are matters to do with self-esteem. Self respect and self-esteem, must not be confused with self-denial. Self-denial could also mean, waiting on the Lord for his time to move in every area of your life. /Going deep, going strong, being prepared for victory. This also could be the connotation for the word ‘passion’. Without it, an individual could become servile! What is servility? Waiting more on the arms of man to move in the direction of your need. Whereas God is unfailing, ‘But the shepherd only knows HIS SHEEP’. His sheep, follows  him anywhere he leads, trusting in him. Trust and Obey for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

 Joy:  “Peace, my peace I leave with you, not as the world gives do I give unto you”. This peace creates fountains of joy. It doesn’t promise lack of tears, but it ensures lack of sorrow. “The sting of words, shall never touch a righteous man” (quote from catholic bible). Peace ruleth over you. Without this aspect of faith and trust, sojourney with the Lord could be impossible.

Heights:

Moses and other saints, met Jesus in the heights of the mountain. A mountain top experience is always symbolic with prayer. We are now coming to the focal point of today’s message, ‘continuing victory’. Both Jesus and Moses, took the first lap of victory, when they completed their pass in the 40 days of  fasting and overcoming temptation, and 40 years of crossing  the wilderness. David too took his first lap of victory, after running from cave to cave in the outskirts of his land. Hunted down for his life by Saul. His victory came with the death of Saul and Jonathan at the battle. Saul’s head was chopped off. He wrote the famous Psalms during his journey within.  But he fell in the middle of his journey. Victory was not sustained. Not continued. Whereas Moses and Jesus, the two saints, finished their race starting from the beginning to the end. How did they do it?  Moses waited on the Lord, heard his word, and later approached the pharaoh. When denied, he went back and told the Lord, and found another way to take his victory for the children of Israel. Redeem them from the stronghold of the enemy! And lead them to Canaan. Jesus prayed all night, and did ministry all day. (To those who think, you don’t have that grace. All I want to tell you is this, working in various colleges in Chennai, I use to set time apart from night 10p.m to morning 2a.m, rarely 3a.m. Sometimes going to bed at 9p.m and waking up at 3a.m. for prayer. God gave me grace to work without taking a single casual leave at the Anna Adarsh College of women where I worked. He took full charge of everything that concerned me. Securing peace in my borders.  However watching me in secret for so many years, in 2009 April he said, greater victories leave the job. I obeyed. It is possible. I was able to do this with cooking, cleaning, lacking maid or any sort of help. You can do this too, one just has to ask him).

“Duties of a Levite” Today:

Jesus asked Peter to pray for him. Find some good friends and people, who will continually hold you in their prayers. Warriors who have been through much afflictions. The bible says, “the prayer of the righteous man availeth much”, “the prayer of the righteous man pierces the cloud and will not come back without an answer”. “The Lord does not forget the afflictions of the righteous”. Keep yourself in the good company of men and women like this. Support them, if not by money, atleast with your love. Do not take them for granted. An intercessor is the spine of God’s kingdom, not even those who can raise the Dead! This is what God taught me. Further discussing the ‘duties of a Levite’, Jesus preached! Jesus performed miracles!  Jesus wept - true burden,  Not working for fame or popularity. Jesus called his disciples – preparing future generation to carry on the Lord’s work. Jesus watched over Peter while walking on the sea, while fishing – watching over the needs, affairs and attitudes of those subjected to be within our reach. Real sincereity, not artifice. Not just for the sake of the call and the work. Truth in heart.

Prayer for Today: Holy Lord Jesus give us thy grace. Go before us prepare the way. Prepare our hearts. May thy grace be sufficient for us. Amen.