Down But Not Out!

-          Tunde Mabinuori

I want you to imagine yourself in a boxing ring, facing a burly opponent. Both of you practice around the ring, keeping up your guard while at the same time aiming deadly blows at each other’s perceived weak point.

All of a sudden, your opponent penetrates your guard and with a flurry of left and right punches, he knocks you down on the canvas.

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 …” goes the count from the referee. Your opponent’s supporters taunt and boo you while your coach encourages you to rise up and finish the fight.

You are faced with two options. Either to stay down and let the count go, thus allowing your enemy to win, or to spring up with a determination to continue and win the fight.

Yes, you may have succumbed to the temptation and fallen into the sin. I want to encourage you that “down is not out”. The devil may have knocked you down but you can still rise again. The Holy Spirit your coach will lift you up and give you the desired strength to finish and win the fight. The devil gave you a “knock down”, but through the grace of God, you can rise up and give the devil a “knockout”. Micah 7:8 says “do not gloat over me my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness the Lord will be my light”.

Has the devil knocked you down through your weakness? God is ready to pull you up again. Being knocked down is not a shame, but staying down is. God will restore you and lift you up. You will overcome that weakness, your destiny will not be truncated, and you will make it in Jesus name.

The mere fact that the devil used your weakness to knock you down does not mean that God can never use you again. God will not use a perfect being to achieve His purpose. That weakness with which men taunt you, God will turn it around and use it for His divine purpose to shame your critics.

In 1^st Corinthians 1:27-29, the Bible says “But Good has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are: that no flesh should glory in His presence”.

Most times, the people that God uses are those without any known pedigree, people whom men have given up on.

“There is a popular evangelist in Nigeria today who Good is using mightily for His work, especially in the area of prison evangelism. The man was once a notorious armed robber who had carried out several daring robbery escapades.

After the police apprehended him, he was sentenced to a long prison term. It was while in prison that he gave his life to Christ and began the task of winning souls to Christ.

Expectedly, people were reluctant to listen to him and started castigating him, calling him all manners of names all in a bid to ruin him and his God-given mandate.

The grace of God upon his life however overcame their criticisms and to the glory of God today, he is doing a wonderful work in the Lord’s vineyard.

In the book of Joshua Chapter 2, Rahab the harlot earned herself recognition when she hid the Israelite spies from their enemies. Nobody expected anything good from her, not until she submitted herself to God.

The intention of the devil is to mess up your life so that you will not be able to fulfill God’s purpose. I want to assure you that no matter the blemish, slur or stigma the devil has cast on you, the blood of Jesus is strong enough to cleanse you and present you in a new light to the whole world.

What is that blot that the devil has put on your life that makes you think you are no longer qualified to tell others about Christ? Is it on your marriage, your academics, or your job?

I have good news for you. The blood of Jesus is strong enough to cleanse you. God will work on your weakness and turn it around so that you will become a witness to the world of His goodness and mercy. The devil’s business is to as much as possible; frustrate you out of the will of God for your life by focusing on your weakness and using it against you.

There is however no need for you to worry. God will turn every arrow of frustration fired at you by the devil into a demonstration of His power and love.

Just as a wise man will sharpen his area of strength to perfection while he avoids areas that will fuel his weakness, it will be foolishness for a man who gets easily aroused when with the opposite sex, to put himself in awkward positions like staying in lonely places with women.

Most Christians deceive themselves by flirting around their areas of weakness and still expect God to deliver them.

It is not a sin for a man to have weaknesses, but it becomes a sin if the man puts himself in situations that will increase the weakness. The devil will not attack you in your area of strength, but in the area where you are most vulnerable.

A good Christian keeps his guard up all the time and will not allow the devil to deliver bthe killer blow to him. Most of the knockouts that the devil delivers to people of God are because Christians usually let down their guards and allow the devil to penetrate.

Pastor Mabinuori is the Minister-in-Charge, Rhema Chapel Intternational Chirches, Oluyole Estate, Ibadan

e-mail: tundemabinuori@gmail.com