Victory in the Lord

 

Psalm 45:4 “In your majesty ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness; let your right hand display awesome days.” (NIV)

Psalm 45 has its historical roots in the wedding of the king, who many think to be King Solomon. However, Psalm 45 also has a deeper, more prophetic meaning, in my judgment, focused on Jesus Christ and his church. So I see Psalm 45 characterized as a messianic psalm that Christians today can absorb and learn from, and then apply in the life of the disciple. Do you have confidence when you step through the door and into a new day? The most important factor in victorious living is a positive and faith based attitude. If negativity dominates our attitude, then we can be assured that trouble will follow us throughout the day. However, if we are confident in the power and strength of the Lord, then anything and all things are possible and achievable for us through Christ’s power, presence, and provision for our lives (Philippians 4:13).

The attitude we meet the world with will govern the success of the outcomes we achieve each day. A negative, defensive, and self-absorbed mind will always result in discouragement, despair, and defeat. That, my friends, is as certain as night following day! The antidote to the defeated mind is to adopt the mind of Christ that Paul describes in Philippians 2:5 ff. If we are in Christ, focused on Christ, and guided by Christ, then our attitude will align with his. As we review our devotional text, we see the Psalmist describe the attitude of the majestic Christ, and it is with importance that we detail these critical aspects of his character that we must reflect in our own lives.

1. Christ enters the day assured of victory. Our attitude must be the same because regardless of what we face, we will be victorious because Christ has promised this to his followers (Romans 8:37).
2. Christ’s thinking, speech, and actions are based on the truth of God’s word. If our values and our lives do not use the Holy Word of God as the standard for thinking and living, then we will be thrown about like a rag doll in the heavy winds of the world. The Word of God must be in our heart, mind, and spirit.
3. Christ operates with humility of spirit. To express love to others, you cannot get in the way with yourself. Without a spirit of humility that exposes a deep sense of need and dependency for God, we will never be fully and properly motivated to do the will of the Father in difficult times.
4. Christ defined righteous living, for he never sinned. For those of us who follow the majestic Christ, we must live righteously before men and God, and when we fall, fail, or become frail, then it is our faith in Jesus Christ that will help, heal, and honor us in the storms of life, and enable us to succeed  every time.

The Psalmist states clearly that the right hand of the majestic Christ will display awesome deeds. We, too, will display awesome deeds as people sense, feel, and see Jesus Christ living on the inside of us. Notice what the highest men in Judaism said about the disciples of Christ: “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). The material point for all of us who would follow the victorious Christ is that we must be fed on the word of God, and depend on his help in all humility while claiming his righteousness through his great grace. If we have this same attitude as Christ, then Christ will assure the victories for us in our lives.

THANK YOU, JESUS, FOR GIVING ME THE VICTORIOUS ATTITUDE BY OBEYING YOUR WORD, DEPENDING ON YOU, AND LIVING RIGHTEOUSLY BEFORE MEN AND GOD.

Victory in the Lord    Mike White @ Summit church of Christ