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blogging, culture, faith, fear, insanitybytes, name it and claim it, opinion
“We aren’t fighting FOR victory, we’re fighting FROM a place of victory.” Somebody smart said those words, words that are so hard for someone like me to internalize and experience. Step into His authority, His power, His victory. It’s that simple, but “simple” can be a deceptive thing indeed. Piece of cake, right?
We walk in victory, victory that was accomplished long ago on the cross. It is finished and Jesus Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father. All of our struggles, all of our battles, begin with that victory. That’s counter intuitive, it’s contrary to the ways of the world. First we fight, than we achieve victory….or defeat, right? The thing is, we’ve already won, or rather, He has won on our behalf. The battle has already been waged and the ransom has been paid in full. All we really have to do is surrender all and step into His victory. Reach out and claim it. Receive it.
I’m laughing here, but receiving can be really hard, even when we are speaking of receiving victory. Somebody else smart once said, “it’s not failure we tend to fear, but success.” Victory! I don’t know why that is, but I have sensed that in my own self. Success can be kind of spooky, disconcerting, unfamiliar. I can’t control it. It speaks to vulnerability and a need for trust.
There’s a bit of churchian culture concerned about “name it and claim it,” about positive thinking, about prosperity gospels, about the dangers that might lurk in believing our words matter, that the words we speak over ourselves have genuine power. I can see a lot of sides to those issues, I can understand some of the concerns, the potential pitfalls. Just the same I have to agree with one part of all that, “name it and claim it” when it comes to His victory and lean into His authority. Or as I like to say, “she who is under Authority, has authority.”
See, there's this thing called biology... 
I’m not sure “name it and claim it” applies to Christ’s victory. It seems to me that what he has done for us has been named by him; moreover, he already has made it a gift, so why would we need to claim it? J.
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Well, I think you still have to claim a gift in order to receive it. So many just see the gift of Jesus Christ and still think, “meh, not interested, don’t need it.” We have to claim it, be willing to receive Him.
Naming is so important too, we have to name what we are claiming. That begins to make a lot more sense if you live in an area where just hearing His name spoken out loud can be challenging. We have some churches who have removed His name entirely so as to be more open,tolerant, less likely to cause offense. Than there are still others who refer to Christ as simply a higher power.
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Maybe it’s both. He’s named me and claimed me. No one comes without also naming him and claiming him.
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That’s an interesting point. I’ve always been fascinated by the way Jesus renames the disciples. So Simon of Bethsaida, you are now Peter. 🙂
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This really is a fine-line kind of difference, but one which ends up making a gigantic about-face, I think. When we put our trust in God, we accept what He says about Himself, and about us. So when Scripture identifies God as the “victorious warrior,” that’s something we understand even though we don’t see Him seated in the White House or in any other earthly seat of power. Same with Him being good. We still see evil in the world, but we trust in God as a good Father.
The other, the name-it-and-claim-it approach, says we are the ones in control. We get to hold God’s feet to the fire, so to speak, and tell Him what He must do in order not to be a liar. You said you are good, God, so you have to give me this better job. You said you love me, so you have to heal my cancer. Anything else means you aren’t good, you aren’t loving.
Becky
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That’s a great point, Becky. I’ve seen the dangers there mostly in terms of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, where people say things like, “if you had more faith you’d be healed” or “you’re just suffering because you don’t have the Lord’s favor.” All sorts of thoughtless human words that mislead people into believing they have control where they do not.
I guess if I encountered people who believed they could hold God’s feet to the fire or try to manipulate Him into answering their prayers, I’d find that uproariously funny. It reflects such a lack of awareness of God’s power and authority, I think I would find that a bit humorous. God won’t be mocked and He certainly won’t be manipulated either.
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See, IB, that’s why I like hanging out at your site. I love the fact that you see the humor in such a thing. I just can’t get over how harmful to others and blasphemous such a thing is. Until you point out what a ridiculous picture it makes. Yeah, God will not be mocked or manipulated!
Becky
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Great post! It is funny how we let our pride get in the way of accepting a gift.
Look at the universe. It is so big, so complex, and so unforgiving. We are going to beat that? We don’t even know where to start.
Death and taxes. We accept these as inevitable. We fail to consider what each costs us. We just go through each day working to pay off the price of each.
Yet God’s Son has paid our bill. We just have to accept His gift, and we can be free from both.
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Excellent point IB – and like many things Godly, they are the opposite of that which is in the physical world. First you win, then you fight. Perfect.
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