The Presidential Prayer Team

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 15:57

From the fall of France to the Nazis in May 1940 until December 1941, Great Britain basically fought the war against Germany alone. President Roosevelt did what he could to support the British, but many in the U.S. urged him to stay out of “another of Europe’s wars.” In London, when Winston Churchill received news of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he knew how America would respond. He reportedly declared, “So—we have won!” Churchill recognized that the United States’ entry into the war meant that the favorable outcome for his country was now assured. Someone wrote that, that night, he “went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.”

There would be long years until the war was ended, and many souls would be lost. Ultimately, the victory was secured.

While Chapter 15 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians deals with death – the death of the Savior and the death of the saints – it also deals with resurrection, both Christ’s and your own. It is in the resurrection that true victory over sin and death is assured. Just as Churchill found comfort and rest even as bombs continued to fall on London, so can you rely on the knowledge that the Lord is with you and you will be with Him forever. Give thanks today that the victory has been won!

Today’s Verse: 1 Corinthians 15:57

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

⁵⁰I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
⁵⁵“O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.