It’s Already Defeated

And so I was on the way to church Sunday.

Well, let me say this.

So yesterday we, um, did communion, and on the way to church yesterday morning, I was just preparing my heart and my mind to partake in communion because, you know, when you're younger and you're taking communion, like you're just going through the motions, right? You don't really understand the-- you, you know what you're doing it for, but you don't really understand or value the significance of communion.

And so as I've gotten older, older, I've began to really understand and appreciate and value the opportunities where I'm able to partake in communion.

And so anyway, I was preparing my mind and my heart as I rode to church, or as I drove to church on yesterday, and I began to pray.

And as I always say, I pray, one, that God would speak through my pastor, that he would use my pastor to speak a word that convicts me, that corrects me, that heals me, that loves on me, that, um, restores hope in the areas that I need hope restored, right? But then I began to start praising God for communion and just blessing him for his son, Jesus Christ, and really thanking him for the significance of the cross.

And I began to thank him that everything that was on that cross, Jesus handled it.

Like anything that I would face, Jesus already dealt with it at the cross.

And so today's episode is really about that, like, that anything that is trying to defeat you, whatever it is, has already been defeated by Jesus.

And I need you to really think about that, that whatever your it is, and maybe it's anxiety, maybe it's fear, maybe it's low self-esteem, maybe it's an addiction or a temptation you keep struggling with.

Maybe it's depression, stress, doubt, insecurity, um, self-sabotage, or trauma for something you've experienced years ago that still seems to have a hold on you today.

Whatever it is, I want you to know that Jesus already defeated it.

When he got up on that cross, he thought about what-- He thought about you.

Like, he had you in mind.

He had me in mind.

And I'm so grateful that when he got up on that cross, and not only when he got up on the cross, but when he rose on that third day, that he had me in mind, he had you in mind.

And so I want you to know that whatever your it is, that Jesus has already defeated it.

And sometimes I think that we forget that.

We spend so much time, and maybe I'm just talking about myself, we spend so much time fighting things as though the outcome is still undecided.

We allow our thoughts to convince us that this thing is bigger than us or stronger than us and somehow capable of stopping what God has planned for our lives.

But your battle did not catch God by surprise.

Whatever it is that you may be facing in this moment, on this day, in this season, did not catch God by surprise.

And before you were formed in your mother's womb, womb, God knew you.

Before your parents knew about you, God knew you.

He knew the woman you would become.