Overcome...1 John 5:4

I am so thankful that God orchestrated events in my life to draw me to Him in order that He and I may have a deep and intimate love relationship together causing growth in me that only He can cause and allowing me to find hope and meaning as I apply His truths throughout my daily life. God's word had to break me before it could heal me but praise God, He did heal me. As I look back on my Ephesians 2:1 life or lack there of, I can now see that even then God was at work in my life. It is only by His love, grace, mercy, and His Son Jesus Christ that I am here before you today in His honor and for His glory. Before I knew my identification in Christ's--Death, Burial, and Resurrection, I was dead in my trespasses and sins, as Ephesians 2:1 states. After looking back, I now recall and was able to save some songs that I had written during my downward spiral before the power of His resurrection stepped in and saved the day. One of the songs I had written is called "Cancers". It goes something like this: I still don't know where I went wrong. I only know it cuts me to the bone. I'm at the point of no return. No need to hide, I'll never learn. Amongst the shadows I will come with my heart beating like a drum. The fighting of theses cancers is not my answer. Stick the knife in, I am done. Searching for the cure, because this has to be a disease killing me for sure. And I don't know if I can beat this, I've already fought this fight too many times before. Shut the door to knew things cause I can't see them anyway. Don't feel pity. It's never been pretty for me.(end of song).
As you may be able to see, I was attempting to fight a battle that I could not win. I did not know where I went wrong because I was looking in the wrong places. My downward spiral of a life hurt, hence my saying 'it cuts me to the bone'. But that lifestyle was serving its purpose because God had in mind a much greater plan than I could ever imagine or even see while I was in the midst of the storm. The line, "I'm at the point of no return", signified my hopelessness. 'No need to hide--I'll never learn' meant that God had given me the knowledge of knowing that some things, including myself, needed to be exposed to His marvelous light. Certainly, I could not expose myself or bring myself to repentance but God could and He did. The next line, 'Amongst the shadows I will come with my heart beating like a drum', also suggests and points to the fact that something was going on, on the outside and on the inside, and that something was God working in and about the unique circumstances of my life. 'The fighting of these cancers is not my answer...stick the knife in, I am done'. This particular line in my song, as I can see clearly now, is pointing directly to the enemies that I was attempting to battle on my own, to no avail. The World, the Flesh, and Satan, all three represent the 'cancers', and clearly this battle can not be fought by flesh, blood, and bones. But thank God for His Son Jesus Christ who stepped in and said 'It is finished, on Calvary's cross.' Just as Christ had said then, It is finished, I found it to be interesting that I had said similarly in my song 'stick the knife in, I am done.' Through all God's orchestrated events in my life, He had also said through me 'It is finished'; meaning that God had finally prepared me to be able to receive His truth. Just as Christ had finished the work He came to do via the cross, God used all my circumstances to bring me to my end so that He could draw me to the cross to show me that what He did to His Son on the cross, He had also did to me. I must reckon myself dead indeed to sin, the lustful passions and desires of the flesh. When He died, I died. When He was buried, I was buried. When He arose, I arose. When He ascended, I ascended. When He sat down, I sat down. Ahhh!!! Rest and peace at last, only in the finished work of Christ on the cross. Praise God for His Son Jesus Christ!!!