Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a Young Adult retreat in the WUM division with special guests Bill Miller (preaching) and Phil Laeger (worship). It was a great time. The highlight was spending some time with my friend Phil. (Phil is an awesome composer and worship leader. You’ve probably heard his stuff with TransMission, he also helped us out greatly with the production of The Red Book Sessions. He is probably best yet known for his haunting song “I Surrender”).
Anyway, during one of the free times we tried to co-write a song together. We threw out ideas and went a few different directions. One of the main ideas that came to light was the fact that because we belong to Christ, we have overwhelming victory. Not a partial victory. Not a wow-that-was-close-and-we-barely-made-it victory but an OVERWHELMING VICTORY. And it’s not only God’s victory, it’s ours, it’s mine.
Nothing really came of the song other than two brothers in Christ sharing a moment of awe in the overwhelming victory offered to us through Christ. And this victory is truly overwhelming.
Romans 8:31-39
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Youth Department