YOU'VE GOT THE VICTORY!--DON'T GIVE IT UP!--Maria 19     DO 1925, 2/85

         1. WE WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT NOT EVERYBODY WHO CONFESSES & GETS PRAYED FOR IS NECESSARILY GOING TO HAVE THE VICTORY, IF THEY DON'T ACCEPT THE VICTORY BY FAITH! The Devil will try everything he can to steal it away from you! So you have to accept it by faith! The Word says that FAITH is the victory, "This is the victory that overcometh the World" & all our PROBLEMS, "even our faith".--1Jn.5:4
         2. IF WE DON'T BELIEVE THE LORD & HIS WORD, IN EFFECT WE ARE CALLING HIM A LIAR! We're saying that He has failed in His Promises to deliver us when we call on Him, & of course if we call the Lord a liar, the Enemy can come in & take our victory away from us.
         3. (PETER: IT'S LIKE YOU GIVE YOUR VICTORY BACK TO THE ENEMY INSTEAD OF GIVING IT TO THE LORD.) Yes, the Lord will always give you the victory by faith, you just have to TAKE it! He offers it to you & if you take it then you've GOT IT!--By faith! At first the Enemy tries to keep you from GETTING it, then after you get it, he tries to get you to SURRENDER it!
         4. YOU'VE GOTTEN THE VICTORY BY FAITH, BY CONFESSION & BY UNITED PRAYER & YOU HAVE IT! But if you say later, "Look, it must have been a false victory, I must not really have it, because look how terrible I feel & how many battles I'm having," then you're surrendering it, you're giving it up! As long as you hold on to it & keep thanking the Lord for it, it's yours. That's why we need to keep thanking the Lord even if we don't see it or feel it, because if we keep hanging on to it by faith & thanking the Lord for it & telling the Enemy he's a liar, then pretty soon we WILL feel it & see it!
         5. AFTER AWHILE THE ENEMY WILL GIVE UP, IF HE SEES HE CAN'T GET YOU TO SURRENDER, but he's going to do all he possibly can to fight you until either you give up or he sees you're determined to hang on. With some people he doesn't have to come whispering in their ear very long until they just completely give up & say, "I must not have gotten it after all; the Lord failed, He didn't answer", or "I failed, I didn't really BELIEVE enough" or whatever excuse they give. With some more determined people he'll fight a long time because he really is intent on trying to stop you & taking that victory away from you if he can. He may fight you a long time, but if you WANT to keep the victory you CAN, he can't take it away from you unless you let it go!
         6. YOU HAVE TO KEEP TELLING YOURSELF & REMEMBERING YOU DO HAVE THE VICTORY. Otherwise, if you don't realise or agree you have the victory after all the Promises the Lord makes, & the united prayer & all the prophecies & Promises the Family gets for you, then you're calling the whole thing a lie! You're calling them liars & saying that they didn't really get things from the Lord for you. You're calling the Lord a liar, you're saying His Word isn't true! So how can you do that?
         7. TO CALL THE LORD A LIAR & SAY HE DIDN'T DO IT IS VERY BAD! After you've had united prayer & everyone knows the problem & has prayed for you & knows that you have gotten a victory, it's very serious to doubt it, because you're not only responsible for letting go of the victory yourself & getting down in the depths of discouragement again & back into the old problem, but you're also responsible for discouraging all these other people & leading them to doubt too! If you confess your FAULTS in public, then you'd better testify to your VICTORY, too, & accept the fact that the Lord has healed you & given you the victory!
         8. THE LORD GAVE THE VICTORY! We know that His promises & His Word & all the Word that people got when they prayed are true. If we come & we confess our faults one to another & pray for one another, then we'll be HEALED! The Lord has promised it, so how can you doubt that? That's the real key to the victory: FAITH to believe that we have it, that the Lord's given it to us! Of COURSE it's not our own righteousness that gives it to us or helps us to keep it, because it's a gift & the Lord doesn't give the victory to any of us because of our goodness. It's only because of His grace & because He promised it to us.
         9. BEFORE WE HAVE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE, THE ENEMY REALLY REALLY FIGHTS US TO KEEP US FROM GETTING THE VICTORY, but AFTER we've gotten the victory, then he fights us again just as hard to make us release it, to surrender the victory that we do have, you see? But once he sees you won't let go, then he gives up. We just have to hang on to that victory & not let it go & just know that our FEELINGS don't have ANYTHING to do with it! It's by FAITH that the Lord has given us the victory, & we KNOW He's given it to us, even if we don't FEEL like it!
         10. IF WE WERE REALLY SINCERE WHEN WE PRAYED & REALLY WANTED IT & EVERYBODY PRAYED FOR US & WE DID EVERYTHING WE WERE SUPPOSED TO DO, THEN WE HAVE THE VICTORY, & only doubting & unbelief can steal it away from us! If we call the Lord a liar, which we do if we're doubting the victory, then the Enemy can come & steal that victory away from us. If we don't believe the Lord, then we're believing the Enemy & we're right back where we were & probably worse off!
         11. SO NO MATTER HOW YOU FEEL AFTERWARDS, IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE! You have to KEEP BELIEVING & PRAISING & thanking the Lord, because your praise is a sign that you really believe the Lord has given you a victory! You don't thank somebody for something that they haven't given you or done for you, so your praising & thanking the Lord for it shows that you really not only know that He's given it to you, but you appreciate it & that you're going to hang on to it!
         12. SO KEEP PRAISING & THANKING & FIGHTING! Don't give up! Like the song says, "Praise the clouds away, night will turn to day. If you PRAISE & PRAISE & PRAISE, you'll PRAISE the clouds away!" Hallelujah! Keep praising!--He'll never fail!