Claiming Your Victory!

During World War II, Lt. General Jonathan Wainwright (pictured at right with General MacArthur) was commander of the Allied Forces in the Philippines. He had taken over the desperate defense of the islands in March 1942 after MacArthur departed with the words, “I shall return.” Despite Wainwright’s best efforts in the face of limited food, supplies, and military support, he was finally forced to surrender his exhausted and starving forces to the Japanese on May 6, 1942. For the next three years he suffered as a prisoner of war in a Manchurian concentration camp where he endured incessant cruelties of malnutrition, physical and verbal abuse, and many psychological mind games. And yet, through it all he maintained his dignity as a human being and as a soldier.

After the Japanese surrendered in 1945, General Wainwright and his soldiers were still held as prisoners for a short period of time. Even though the war was over, the bondage continued until one day an Allied airplane landed in a field near the prison. Through the fence, the General learned from the airmen that the war was over and that he and his men were now free. Immediately, the General marched up to the Command House, burst through the door and said to the commanding officer in charge, “My Commander-in-Chief has conquered your Commander-in-Chief. I am now in charge of this camp.” With that, the Japanese officer took off his sword, laid it on the table, and surrendered his command.

It was Jesus who said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning” (Lk. 10:18, NIV). Paul added to this by saying, “having disarmed the powers and authorities, he (Jesus) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col. 2:15, NIV). Clearly, the devil and his demonic forces have been defeated! There is, therefore, no reason today for Christians to live under any kind of bondage, for our Commander-in Chief has absolutely decimated our enemy, making his power ineffective. As a result, we can live as “more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37, NIV), for we have been set free from being prisoners of war, to being ambassadors of light, liberty and unspeakable joy! Now is the time to declare victory over all the forces of evil!