Faith Is the Victory

I enjoy thinking about Psalm 119:162: “I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil.” The psalmist is not saying he is rejoicing because the battle is won, but because He believes a promise from God. Great spoil speaks of the wealth taken after the battle. When we believe God’s Word, we have the same joy we would have after our prayer has been answered.

Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. (1 John 5:4) We don’t need to wait to rejoice until we see the victory with our physical eyes; the victory is ours and we rejoice when we believe God’s promise.

After Hannah prayed for a child, Eli said, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” She believed and rejoiced before she felt any signs of life inside her, because she was confident God had granted her request.

“Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast” ( Sam. 1:17-18). Her praying brought her to a point where she could believe God and her victory was as real the moment she first trusted Him as it was months later at Samuel’s birth.

Phoebe Palmer spoke of this assurance that the Holy Spirit gives. “With me, this witness has, I think, invariably been given the moment I have unwaveringly believed God...When we talk to each other, we are aware whether we believe what the other says. Is it unreasonable then to believe that we can receive the communication of the Holy Spirit and not have an internal consciousness that we do believe?”

Andrew Murray said, “Let your prayer be so definite that you can say as you leave the prayer closet, “I know that I have asked from the Father, and I expect an answer.”

Thank You, Lord, that it is possible to know You’ve heard and will answer our prayer.

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).