1 Corinthians 9:24 says “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.”  Paul asked a rhetorical question, because every citizen of Corinth would be very familiar with the Grecian Olympic games.  The famous footraces and the gladiator style fighting.  This style of introduction would have secured the reader’s attention to pay heed to his important point about the Christian’s spiritual race.

​

I like winning.  Who wants to play a game so you can lose?  Let’s face it, we like to win.  Am I going to watch my favorite team, because I like seeing them lose? No, we are pulling for them to win.

​

When we become a Christian, we also become a winner.  The victory was ours before we played the game.  We are winners in Jesus Christ.  This life is an abundant life.  Why?  Because He has won the victory for us.  John 10:10 says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

​

E. M. Bartlett (1883-1941) was considered one of the founding fathers of Southern Gospel music.  Bartlett had a stroke in 1939, and he became paralyzed and unable to perform or travel.  He spent the last two years of his life bedridden.  During this time, he wrote Victory in Jesus.  Throughout his 58 years of life, he composed more than 800 songs.  Victory in Jesus was the most popular.  Bartlett died on January 25, 1941.  He was inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 1973.

​

Praise be to God Who giveth us the victory.  1 Corinthians 15:55-57 says, “O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

​

Living in the victory of Jesus, Pastor Don