This is Wonderful!

 I have decided it is Wonderful that God is my Shepherd and I am grateful to be a sheep of His flock.

Listen to these scriptures:

John 10:14"

I am the Good Shepherd. And I know my sheep and my sheep know me,

Psalm 100:3

Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

John 10:4

After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

Luke 15:4

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever.

Psalm 95:7

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.

So put that all together... 

He is my shepherd.

I am his sheep. 

He knows me,  yet He still Love me

He leads me....He walks in front of me to lead me, not pushing me from behind. If I feel pushed or pressured, I know it is not God "Leading' me.

I follow Him. 

I know His voice.

If I get lost He will find me and bring me back under His Protection.

 He is God - not me!

He made me.

He provides all I need.

He leads me to green, healthy peaceful places of rest and refreshing. If it is dry and chaotic it is not God.

He restores me.

He renews my strength.

He guides me in the right path.

Regardless of the situation, I have confidence that I will come through because God is with me.

I have no fear, because God is with me.

God prepares a feast for me while my enemies look on.

God satisfies me by anointing my head with oil which means that my whole life is full to the overflowing with blessedness.

God's goodness and love never fail me - it pursues me all the days of my life. PURSUES me!

After that I will live in God's house with Him forever.

So, I will worship and bow down and kneel before God. 

He is my Lord.

He is my Maker.

He is my God. 

He is my Shepherd.

I am the sheep of His hand.

This is good, very, very Good.

I am glad that He is my Shepherd and I am His sheep. I rejoice and give thanks to Him because this is the way He wants it to be and so do I!

Yes, this is Wonderful!

What is going on?

 I have realized, over the past few days, that my thoughts have been plaguing me. I hadn't realized what I was really thinking until yesterday.

The thoughts all had to do with myself.

"What do I need to do to heal myself?"

"Why don't I know what to do?"

"What am I doing wrong?"

"Why is this happening?"

"Why do I feel insufficient?

"Why can't I figure this all out? What is going on?"

"I feel like a failure, I feel like I am naughty, but I do not know why."

"Why am I inadequate?"

Somehow, in my mind I was thinking, "I need to get my act together. I can't expect God to help me as long as I am so ... Defective and incapable of helping myself. What is wrong with me already? I have to prove that I am able to handle my life before I bring myself to God. I must first approve of my own success so I have something to bring to God for Him to be pleased with me about.

Ok, ok, ok....don't shake your head at me saying "no! No!! NO!!! so quickly!

I would like to say that I am a breed like no other. Some would say, "Yep, you sure are!". Unfortunately, I know I am not. I have heard "Christians" say similar things. Working our lives out according to our own smarts seems fine until our own smarts do not work so well and our lives are going to pot. Then we start wondering, "What is going in here?"

I was so confused and feeling like such a failure.

I went for a  walk with this scripture on my mind:

1 Corinthians 14:33
For God is not the author of confusion but of peace,

Confusion definition:

disturbance, upheaval, can not stand (remain steady); unsettled, unstable (in tumult); (figuratively) instability bringing on disorder (disturbance), ("commotion") generates confusion (things being "out of control"), i.e. when "up for grabs." This uncertainty and tumult inevitably generates more instability.

I have had all the internal disturbance I am willing to take.

I must have the peace of God.

Where does this confusion come from. Not from God, of that I am certain.

There are only two Kingdoms. The Kingdom of God (Heaven) where God reigns and the Kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of this world where satan rules.

So, the answer to where does confusion come from is, Satan, of course! He is so sly, making me think it is all my fault, that these are all my own thoughts. He was successfully getting me to live in a state of disruption, upheaval within my soul, and disturbances so strong it was keeping me awake all night in turmoil. You know that lack of sleep causes even more trouble!

He was successfully stealing, killing and destroying me. I was struggling to find peace! I must have the peace of God back!!!

Then, I evaluated my thoughts further. I began to think....

"Why should I strive in attempt to heal myself? My God is my Healer! He sent His Word and Healed me and delivered me from all my troubles.

Why do I have to struggle with the question "Why don't know what to do?" When my God says in

James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

Why should I stew about "What am I doing wrong?" When I honestly have no idea what I am doing wrong. If I am messed up God will correct me and show me the way to go. Otherwise, this is simply condemnation from the enemy.

"Why is this happening?" That became obvious, at this point. This is an enemy attack constructed to draw me away from God, His Word and from trusting God. A satanic attempt to defeat me.

"What do I feel insufficient?" That is a lie! I am in Christ. He is in me. He makes me strong when I am weak. He makes me more than a conquerors. I am not alone. I am not without help. Therefore, I am not insufficient because my life is hidden with Him. He is my All-Sufficient One. I am not evaluating myself against myself. I reckon myself dead and alive to God. I will depend on His sufficiency in me and for me.

"Why can't I figure this all out? What is going on?". I actually do not need to know all the details. I lean not on my own understanding. I will trust in my God. He has a good plan for me that He, Himself, has prepared for me to walk in. He is working everything out for my good. He is not going to leave me without help!

"I feel like a failure, I feel like I am naughty, but I do not know why." I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

"Why am I inadequate?" I am not inadequate. In Him I live and move and have my being. He is more than enough. So, He makes me adequate by His power that works within me.

I realized that all of my negative "Me" thoughts were all designed to get me to be defeated, confused and prideful.

Proverbs 3:7
Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

For me to think I should be able to handle it all myself, heal myself, know how to proceed in my own smarts and be wise enough to figure everything out in my own strength and THEN present myself to God all in order is Prideful, arrogant, the works of the flesh and quite frankly Impossible!!!!

God wants to be my Shepherd. It is ok, even desirable, to be His sheep, hear His voice and follow Him. He will take me to those green pastures. He will cause me to lie down in peace. He wants me to call upon Him. He wants to show Himself mighty on my behalf. He wants to strengthen me with His mighty power. He wants to restore me to vigorous life and health. He want to fulfill all of His promises to me. He wants me to call upon Him. He wants me to cast all my cares upon Him. He wants to show me that He is Faithful.

The enemy is very skilled at trying to deceive us and derail us from God's purpose for our lives. He would not be so worried and work so hard to steal from us if we had nothing worthy of stealing. If we were no threat to him there would be no reason to try to kill or destroy us. He can see the headway we are making. He is fully aware of the fruit we are bearing. He knows we are a threat to his purposes. He knows God is who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.

It is necessary to evaluate our situation. Are we confused? Then we know the devil is exercising his tactics on us. We must scope out our thoughts. Do they agree with God? If not, refuse those thoughts and purposely replace them with what God's Word says. Be on alert. Resist the enemy and he will flee. Do not be lifted up in pride thinking either "look what I have achieved" in good times or "look what I should be doing but am failing at" in hard times. Consider yourself dead to all that self effort and completely run to Jesus in humility, totally yielded and dependant on Him and walk in the peace that He provides for us.

God is Guiding Me

Have you ever been lost? Or at least you didn't know where you were or which way to go? These situations can cause anxiety, fear and stress.

When Duane and I were in Israel, we (our entire group) were given a few hours to shop. Shopping in Israel is nothing like shopping here. It was worse than crowded racks squished full of clothes so tight that you can't pull out the item you'd like to see. Shopping in Israel was like the people were the clothes on the crowded racks in the hallways. It was Worse than Menards at the opening of doors on Black Friday (I hate Black Friday shopping!!!) Inside the shops are all extremely packed in. There is barely enough isle space for one person. The items to purchase are crowded. It is chaos in and out of the shops. It was Crazy!

We were given instructions of when and where to meet up with our group. Our instructions were to go to the end and turn right at the barber shop. End? We could find no end. End to us meant out of the shops, like to the END! Outside! We could find no end or outside. We could not find a barber shop! We were lost. We absolutely did not know which way to turn. We were in an unfamiliar place. I began to feel the anxiety rise up within me. I was uptight. Fear was creeping in. It was crowded and chaotic. I held tightly to Duane thinking how much worse it would be if I got separated from him in this sea of heads bobbing and bodies cramming together. There was absolutely NO social distancing going on there!!!

I suddenly remembered, (how could I have forgotten?) I've got a God! The Most High God is MY God! He says He would guide me in the best way to go with His eyes on me! He knows where I am and He knows where I need to go!!! I began to calm down in the midst of the same problem by just remembering that. We were not lost in His view. Before long, what seemed as an accident, but I know it was because God intervened, we found our people! We were no longer lost!!!! Whew!!!!

In my life, there have been times that I am not knowing which way to go. I feel the anxiety rising up. Fear begins to creep in. Thoughts of confusion and uncertainty plague my mind....thoughts whirl in my head...Which way do I go? What if I made a mistake and I should have never been here in the first place? What if I make the wrong turn now? What is the right turn? Where is the end! Where is the Barber Shop? Help!!!!! I am lost? Maybe I should stay where I am, but this is a desert. I am shriveling up here. This can't be where I should stay. Many counselors tell me I must leave this place. But, perhaps if I stay, it will improve. But God????? Where do I go? What do I do? Help me!!!!!

What do the Scriptures say?

     I. Psalm119:105
Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.

So, I begin to inquire of God in His Word.

This is what I found that settled my soul.

     II. Psalm 100:3
Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

#1. The Lord is God! What does that mean to me????

#2. I am His people.

#3. I am a sheep of His pasture

     III. John 10:3-4
The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

#4. I, as His sheep, recognize His voice

#5. I come to Him

#6. He calls me by my name. What does that mean to me?

#7. He leads me out. He walks ahead of me.

#8. I am His sheep. I follow Him because I know His voice. What does it mean to me? I know His voice? Myself screams, but what if I really don't know His voice. What if I go the wrong way?

First of all, God says His sheep know His voice. So, that means I really DO know His voice. I do???? Yes, His voice is gentle and peaceful. His voice is not one of condemnation, accusation chaos or confusion. His voice is a still small voice, steady and strong. It speaks in ways that make me stronger and fills me with hope.

     IV. Luke 15:4
“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?

9. Worst case scenario....if I get lost He will leave the flock and He will come searching for me until He finds me. Whew!!!!

     V. Psalm 31:3
For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me;

10. It is part of who He is: my God who leads and guides me.

Here is a great comment from the Pulpit Commentary:

"Faith establishes a claim to have its anticipations made good."


     VI. Isaiah 49:10
"They will not hunger or thirst, Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who has compassion on them will lead them And will guide them to springs of water.

#11. He has compassion on me. No more hunger or thirst or troubles that wear me down....

12. He will lead me and guide me to springs of water. What does that mean to me? Remember: I have a guarantee because God says so!!!! He WILL lead me. He is not leaving me without help. He is not giving me random instructions that tell me to go to the end and turn right at the barber shop! No!!!!He walks before me and I follow His lead!!!

13. He is guiding me to springs of water. What does that mean to me? He is not taking me to another place where I will hunger and thirst. He is taking me where there is plenty. A continuous supply of life-giving water (Water can represent the Word of God). Springs: cool water, refreshing, fountain, bubbling up, whose waters never fail.

     VII. Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.

14. God is up to something good!!! He is making a way where there seems to be no way. Rivers in this dry place!!!!

     VIII  Jeremiah 31:12
They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish.

15. I will be joyful

16. There will be bounty from the Lord.

17. My life and me will be like a well-watered garden.

18. I will no longer be faint, sorrowful or langushing.

     IX. Psalm 23:1-3
The LORD is my shepherd;
I have all that I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.
He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.

19. What promises they are! My God cannot lie! It has to be the way He says!!!

     X. Psalm 5:3
In the morning, O LORD, You hear my voice; at daybreak I lay my plea before You and wait in expectation.

20. I will wait expectantly!

21. God will fulfill his Word to me!

It would seem.....

It would seem as though.....

     then you fill in the rest of the statement.

Evaluate your thoughts, "It would seem as though....." against the truth. The way it seems may seem to be the truth. It feels like the truth, it looks like it's true, it sounds like it is true, after all everything I am experiencing is very clearly happening to me. Look at the pain I am in, can you feel it? It is most certainly real. I am not hallucinating. It keeps me awake at night. I am not pretending. I am not in a Dreamland.....it is all very true!!!!!

Yes, it is real! No doubt about it. Yes, you are experiencing it, but weigh your experience against the truth and see what the truth says.

Let's practice, these two thoughts are common.

It would seem God is not listening to me.

It would seem God is not going to help me out of this problem.

Let's put these two "it would seem....." thoughts up to the Word of God and see how they measure up.

Read the following verses:

Jeremiah 29:12
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

Psalm 50:15
Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”

Isaiah 65:24
I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!

Psalm 91:14-16T
The LORD says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. 
I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

Isaiah 41:10
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Psalm 34:17 -19

The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.

The LORD is near unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

So, my "it would seem as though God does not hear me" and "it would seem as though it must not be God's will to help me" thoughts measure up terribly against God's Word.

Clearly, God hears me when I call to Him and He delivers me and rescues me from ALL of my troubles!

Why. then, am I still in this predicament?

I must go back to the basics!

#1 God cannot lie

#2 God's Word is True.

#3 God is Faithful. He will do what He says He will do.

Now, I have the Word of God on the matter....God hears me when I call and He rescues me from ALL of my troubles. In fact, He is so about helping me that while I am still talking, He is already about getting me the answer!

This is the answer that trumps my experience. The truth has the power to change my experience. Jesus told Jairus in the face of a terrible report, "Only Believe". We are of those who Live by Faith!
 I choose to believe that God hears me when I call and He is rescuing me from all my troubles simply because THAT is what He says!!!! Regardless of how it feels, how it looks and other reports to the contrary. I will hold tightly to God's report in the face of the situation. When I get the "it would seem...." thoughts,  I will evaluate those thoughts against God's Word and then I choose to think in agreement with His Word to me. When I talk, I will speak in alignment with His Word.

I refuse to act like I have no God. I refuse to act, speak or think as though my God is a liar. I refuse to think on those things that are not true. I refuse to disagree with God's Word when I talk. I refuse to behave like those that have no help. My God is Not a liar. His Word is True and He will bring it to pass.

Continually Praise God

Hebrews 13:15
Through Him, therefore, let us at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name. 

I looked up several of the words in this scripture in multiple concordances. What I found was very enlightening. This is my enhanced version with the extra explanations...

On account of or because of Jesus, according to what Jesus has done, let us continually, at all times, carry to the goal to reach the needed end point, sustain the sacrifice (offering) of praise, which is a commendation presented to God for some benefit He has provided. Keep Praising Him until you obtain the victory. Praise Him at all times. This is the fruit of the lips of those who thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His Name. His Name represents all of Who He is.

At All Times?????

I am supposed to Praise God at All Times?????

When things are going well....it is easy to praise God. However, when things are difficult we tend to do many other things. Praising God is generally NOT one of those things.

It is easy to praise God on the other side of the Red Sea ...... after we are through the challenge and the enemies are drowned, but what will we do when the next problem looms over our head?

Scripture tells us to Praise Him at ALL times. That means in good times and in bad times. This is what faith does. Faith sees what Jesus has done for us already. Faith sees all that jesus is. Faith praises Him at all times because we know that He has already provided us all things we need, He has already paid the price for our healing, He has already delivered us out of darkness.....whatever is needful, He has done it already. So, we praise Him until the end result of our victory is manifested in our physical situation. Then, we continue to sustain our praise. It is what we do.....it is the fruit of the lips of those acknowledge and confess and glorify All that He is!!!

Psalm 62:8
Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah

We Praise Him at all times because we Trust in Him at all times. Trust or Faith's response is Praise!!!

Psalm 34:1
I will praise the LORD at all times. I will constantly speak his praises.


We Continually, in the sunshine and in the storms.... At All Times.....we praise God.

 We are the Just. He has made us Righteous. Romans 3:22. 

The Just shall live by faith. Habbukuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11. 

Faith sees who Jesus is.  Faith sees the Word of God. Faith sees His Promises. Faith sees the sacrifices He has already made for us and according to that we continually bring our sacrifices of praise to Him all the way to the goal....the victory He has promised.

1Thessalonians 5:24
He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Psalm Chapter 113

1Praise the LORD!

Yes, give praise, O servants of the LORD.

Praise the name of the LORD!

2Blessed be the name of the LORD

now and forever.

3Everywhere—from east to west—

praise the name of the LORD.

4For the LORD is high above the nations;

his glory is higher than the heavens.

5Who can be compared with the LORD our God,

who is enthroned on high?

6He stoops to look down

on heaven and on earth.

7He lifts the poor from the dust

and the needy from the garbage dump.

8He sets them among princes,

even the princes of his own people!

9He gives the childless woman a family,

making her a happy mother.

Praise the LORD!

Guarantee

This morning what I learned was simple and powerful.

Read:

Psalm 57:2

I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me.

Psalm 138:8

The LORD will work out his plans for my life—for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me.

Hebrews 13:5
....He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!”

Philippians 1:6

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

I have a Guarantee from the Most High God Himself that He is working to fulfill His purposes/plans for my life. He is working and will continue to work out all that He has created me to do in this life.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

God's plans are good plans. I have a future and an expectation for the Good God has created me to complete.

Read the rest of Psalm 57 and notice the confidence David has in God, God's unfailing love and how David praised God prior to the rescue!!!

3He will send help from heaven to rescue me,

disgracing those who hound me.

Interlude

My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness.

4I am surrounded by fierce lions

who greedily devour human prey—

whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows,

and whose tongues cut like swords.

5Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens!

May your glory shine over all the earth.

6My enemies have set a trap for me.

I am weary from distress.

They have dug a deep pit in my path,

but they themselves have fallen into it.

Interlude

7My heart is confident in you, O God;

my heart is confident.

No wonder I can sing your praises!

8Wake up, my heart!

Wake up, O lyre and harp!

I will wake the dawn with my song.

9I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.

I will sing your praises among the nations.

10For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.

Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

11Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.

May your glory shine over all the earth.

Don't Throw the Race!

What does it mean to throw the race? It means to lose when you could win. You say, "Why would I do that?"

Well, the sad thing is that Christian's do it all the time. Not intentionally, as would be done in wrestling or racing, nevertheless, we have the capability to win, but we are actually "Throwing the Race!"

Duane and I watched the movie "Seabiscuit" this last weekend. It is a movie loosely based on a true story about a Throughbred racehorse, Seabiscuit, who is smaller than normal race horses and overlooked. His unexpected success has made him a hugely popular sensation in the United States during the Great Depression.

He became the top money winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse special at Pimlico and was voted American Horse of the year for 1938. 

This movie spoke volumes of truth to me.

The first thing that is prevalent in my mind after watching this movie is how the enemy attempts to keep us under..."Throwing the Race", so to speak. First, I will address this issue....

"Throwing the Race"

The enemy is always trying to deceive us into "Throwing the Race". He works hard at trying to keep us from becoming all that God has created us to be and from doing all that He has planned for us to do.

He deceives us by trying to get us to believe that we are still sinners and that it is expected that our norm is still to continue to sin. 1 John 3:9; 1 John 5:18; 1 Timothy 5:20; 1 John 3:8; 1 John 1:9. He wants us to recycle defeat in our lives and keep us from believing that we really are a New Creation in Christ. He doesn't want us to embrace the reality that old things have really passed away and new has come and our old man is dead. 2 Corinthians 5:14 - 17.

The truth is that: We are no longer sinners. Ephesians 1:4. "Sinner" is not our identity. Continuing to sin is not our nature any longer. We have been made the Righteousness of God in Christ.     
2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24.
A Sinner is no longer who we are! We have been made Righteous through Christ!!!! Read Romans chapter 6.

"Throwing the Race" is no longer our mode of operation. Now we are More than Conquerors. Romans 8:37. Now we have the overwhelming victory through Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57; 2 Corinthians 2:14.

We must see ourselves through the eyes of God, not through the deceiving lenses of the enemy whose goal is to hold us down from being all we are called to be in attempt to defeat us. Colossians 2:15; Colossians 1:13-14.

The message that rang in my mind on my way to bed after watching the movie, Seabiscuit, was "Who's your Trainer?" This is the final issue that I will speak to now.

"Who's Your Trainer"

What loving trainer would teach his or her trainee to fail?

A loving trainer would see the gifts, the potential and the value of his student. He would do all he could do to train him, encourage him and support him in the goal to succeed. 

It would be a faulty, selfish, unloving trainer who would expect and set up his trainee to continue to lose or "Throw the Race" - recycling that failure week after week. 

A genuine trainer who is sincere in his desires, motivations and goals would believe in the ability of the one he trains and do all he could do to teach him to overcome the obstacles that hold him back. He would love him as his own. He would train him to Win!!!!

The goal of the trainer would be to help his trainee to be all he can be, to go beyond where he has ever thought he could go.... To  succeed, to excel, to win.....not barely or just by a nose, but rather by lengths (in horse racing language).

We must believe what God tells us about ourselves. We must become convinced that we are the head and not the tail and above and not beneath. Seriously, we ARE redeemed from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13. Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so. Psalm 107:2. I must come eye to eye with my opponent (so to speak) and gain the determined decision that he is not taking my victory from me any longer. I am designed to win! Let that one who tries to defeat me eat my dust. (You have to watch the movie to understand that one!).

God is our Excellent, Loving Trainer. He sees our gifts. He knows our potential for He is the One who formed us and He is the One who created us for a purpose.  He knows if we will get to really know the Truth. That knowledge of the Truth we make us free from all that holds us back. Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 2:12-17; Jeremiah 29:11; Ephesians 3:20; Psalm 139:13-18;
1 John 5:3-5; John 8:31-32.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 

2 Timothy 4:7

But thanks be to God, the One always leading us in triumph in Christ, and through us in every place making manifest the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.

2 Corinthians 2:14