THE LIFE IN BRACKET

We are not going to be struggling to defeat the devil; he has been defeated already. Imagine the already completed football match between Chelsea and Arsenal which Chelsea won, and then when you are watching the replay you start praying that Arsenal should win. The truth is that Chelsea had won!

Now, consider someone who did not watch the match or neither knew the score line. That man would watch and should Chelsea be leading into injury time, the man will still be afraid of Arsenal overturning the result. But it won’t happen, not in that game. Consider yourself being beside that man and you knew the score already...you certainly will not panic because the match had been played and what you have before you is a replay.

This is how we are in this world. God has made us victorious in Christ. People who do not know what Christ did on the cross panic and think the devil will kill them through their storms. But, we know that the devil can cause a storm, but no storm can swallow us up.

No matter how much of fear the devil tries to generate, the truth we need to know is that the devil lost! He is a loser. So, we only talk about living in our victory. And how do we live in this victory?

1.      Our faith

2.      Our testimony

We know much about faith, but what is our testimony?

This is our life that is enclosed in bracket. It is that part of our life that may not be visible to the world, but between us and God. It is our secret life; our life in “bracket”.

-          Look at Moses, Numbers 12:3, “(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)”. It was Moses’ testimony; it was enclosed in bracket, not obvious to every eye.

-          Look at Obadiah, 1Ki 18:3-4, “And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly 1Ki 18:4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)”.

Did you notice the portion of Obadiah’s life in bracket? It was his testimony; his secret personality which is known to 3 personalities; God, Obadiah, and the devil.

There is a portion of our life in bracket; not known to everybody, but known to God, ourselves, and the devil. This is what defines our living a victorious life. When God comes to promote you, He looks at you testimony – your life in bracket. When the devil comes to attack, he looks at the life in bracket, once it is compromised, you cannot stop him from stopping you. And above all, when we get to Heaven, one thing will count most; it is not all we did in the open or in the church...it is our life in bracket; our testimony. This is our secret life.

May God straighten our lives in bracket...may He correct our testimony. With a sure testimony, we live in victory over the devil and his supporters. And then, we look forward to eternity with God.

Good night.