Little by Little

Deuteronomy 7:22)  And the Lord your God will clear out those nations before you, little by little;  you may not consume them quickly, lest the beasts of the field increase among you.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could battle Satan once and be done?  The theme of my devotional book is taking part in the battle of the mind.  It is a fact that with Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection Satan was defeated.  Satan knows he is ultimately beaten but his goal is to take as many down with him as he can.  Because I have the Holy Spirit in me I have a spot in heaven, but that does not mean Satan won't try to make me miserable.  So even though I have the ultimate victory I still have to take on each one of Satan's attacks.  Thanks to God I don't have to do it alone!

The secret of living a victorious Christian life is to move ahead little by little.  My friend Kristin often reminds me to take one day at a time.  The same proves to be true for our battles.  We must take them one at a time relishing in each and every victory.  It is crucial to relish in each victory and thank God.  God's grace is always available to us when we aren't so victorious.  Either way we have much to be thankful for.

Let's visit the Israelites again.  The Promised Land was a beautiful and fertile land.  To top that off it was theirs, their inheritance.  It was promised to them.  It had fallen into the wrong hands for, oh say 400 years!  Even though the Promised Land was theirs they had to fight for it.  The same goes for us now.  My inheritance is spiritual freedom yet I have to battle for each victory.  Little by little I attain freedom from mental strongholds.  Just like the Israelites it is up to us to take what is rightfully ours.  It will never be easy.  He never said it would be, but He did say He will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5).

I think the principle that God establishes with the Israelites is a very important one to hold on to.  They had to fight for every inch.  Their land was full of foreigners and beasts yet God was always there to assist them.  They didn't go in and in one fell swoop have victory.  Deuteronomy 7:22 says it came little by little.

Life with the Lord is much more exciting when we take each day one at a time, each battle one at a time, and every victory one at a time.  We are able to see his constant sustenance.  I encourage you to inch forward little by little basking in the Light as He holds your hand in each step and gives you a high five with each victory.