Judges 11

'Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the LORD our God takes possession of before us, we will possess. (Judges 11:24)

I quite like this verse in the chapter. Jephthah was using reasoning to make his stand firm. And what he said was indeed very reasonable, and very right.

But it made me think a little further.. Do I actually possess whatever the LORD has taken possession of before me? Do I actually proceed with courage and faith to take over what the LORD has given into my hands? Thinking back, perhaps there were many times we had not proceed with such faith to conquer something that God has already given into our hands. I'm thinking about the power to overcome sins.

Didn't God promise that being new man, reborn of the water and the spirit, we would be able to overcome our sinful nature? The old man may have been enchained in sin, but the new man in Christ is free, no longer under the bondage of sins. Jesus had went on before us, to shed His precious blood on the cross, the sinless dying for the sinful. As a result, our sins can be washed away and we are made free.

Jesus was there, before us, and today, through the Holy Spirit, He hands over to us this power to overcome sins. What have we done to this power, this authority? Have we cast it aside? Have we lost it?

We must believe that we have the power to overcome sins. We might be struggling with sin now, but remember that "he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin" (1 Peter 4:1). Many times, when we meet with these struggles, we give up, thinking that it is too hard. If only we endure a little more! If we had persevere a little longer, I believe we can break the chains that sin had put on us.

Can we look beyond the pain and the suffering, and look towards that glorious crown? It really depends on whether we believe that we have been given this power to do away with sin. He has already first went into the land and chased out the inhabitants, we need only to have faith to enter the land and take possession of it. Are we able to say with confidence and faith, "Whatever the LORD our God takes possession of before us, we will possess"?