Delivered by the Dayspring

“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has… raised up a horn of salvation for us… to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear… The Dayspring from on high has visited us…” (Luke 1:68a, 69a, 74, 78b, NKJV).

When Zechariah’s tongue was finally loosed again after nine months of non-elective silence, exuberant praise and spontaneous prophecy burst forth from His lips. Holy Spirit rose up in his spirit and God’s own exultant rejoicing spilled forth from within him. Daddy God was exploding with joy, announcing the glorious news of His Son’s birth, along with all of its staggering implications.

One of the extraordinary gifts His coming provided was victory over our enemies. Delivered from their hands, we are now free to serve Him without fear. Before Jesus’ coming, the devil was still wielding usurped authority on the earth. Jesus’ arrival that first Christmas signaled his utter defeat and our absolute triumph.

Are you feeling victorious today? That is actually a trick question, because victory is not necessarily a feeling. You may or may not feel like you have the victory in any given moment, but the truth is that you always do. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ…” (2 Cor. 2:14, NIV) See that always? God cannot lie. Always is always. We as Christians are always victorious, whether we are aware of it, or not.

Jesus subjected all the hosts of darkness to crushing defeat and humiliation on the cross. When He uttered the words, “It is finished,” thundering, devastating terror shot through the very core of every demon in existence. The physical earthquake that transpired reflected the unspeakably powerful reverberations that shook both the heavenly and earthly realms, so utterly magnificent was His triumph.

And then, brimming over with the ecstasy of His passion, He exultantly presented us with His trophy. He gave us His victory. Gave it to us. Made us joint heirs, just like that. His triumph is genuinely, wholly, permanently ours.

“Winning,” then, is not based on how well you do in battle. It’s based on how well He already did. It’s based on the fact that you already have been gifted with the overwhelmingly decisive victory our Savior won that day.

In spite of this, we all have plenty of days when we feel very much the opposite of victorious. Maybe it’s that weakness you’ve been struggling with. Maybe you lost your temper again. Maybe your eyes got the best of you and you watched the whole vile program instead of turning it off immediately. Or maybe you’re struggling to even get out of bed in the morning.

Guess what. If you belong to Jesus, you are still one hundred percent victorious, even in those moments. It’s not your performance that makes it so; it’s His supreme, glorious, uncontestable, eternal triumph that does. His victory is written on your debtor’s bill. It’s already paid for.

Now, we don’t want to make that a reason to get complacent about our weaknesses. His victory also means that there is POWER available for us to overcome every besetting temptation. Every single one. More and more, we lovers of Jesus are increasingly learning to walk out His victory, to live in it. Meanwhile, refuse to be discouraged by your imperfect progress. It does not, for even a split second, mean that you are not winning. Winning is already a done deal!

Beloved one, the Dayspring has come to us from on high. You don’t need to be afraid. No matter how dark of a night you have been struggling through, the morning will come. Take heart, dear child of God. Serve Him without fear. You have already been delivered from the hand of your enemies!

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In what ways have you already seen the deliverance of the Dayspring, in struggles that you used to have?