War before the Win

So if you know me, you know Creed II is one of my favoriteeeee movies! I literally watch it randomly, all the time. I go through these phases where I’ll go a week straight and watch it every night. Or now with Southwest flights, I’ll always watch it when flying. (I am currently, writing this while on a flight and I had a God moment that I had to share!)

But now I’ve noticed that I no longer want to watch the whole movie. I watch the very beginning, but I skip over the part where Adonis Creed fights Drago the first time. This started subconsciously . I can’t stand to see him lose. I cringe as I watch Creed take all those hits from Drago. I get mad and want to jump in the screen and help him! So I skip right over it and skip to the second half of the movie, when I know he is about to win. I absolutely love that last fight in the movie! The fight win he receives victory and takes home the title😎 I’m always on the edge of my seat cheering on Creed!

As I sit on the plane, it dawned on me that that is something we struggle with in real life. We want to skip the war and get right to the win! We want to skip over the hard work and just get to the the good part . But usually that’s not how it works. God has to get us conditioned mentally and sometimes physically for the blessing. God is more concerned about our hearts than the place he is taking us. He knows that in order for us to not mishandle what he is giving us, we have to be prepared.

In the movie, Creed let the pressures of the opponent get to his head to the point that he went against the advice of his trusted friends and family and fought anyway. His professional mentor/Coach/boxer Rocky, knew that it was not the time for Creed to take the fight. Because he had experience with the opponent, he could see what Creed couldn’t. He wanted to save him from the unseen, he knew Creed wasn’t ready. When Creed took that first fight against Drago, he took a bad loss. The same is true for us. God can see everything; he sees what we can’t see. And when he tells us no, it’s not to hurt us, it’s to save us. It doesn’t always mean no, sometimes it just means not right now. Good needs to train us and get us ready.

When we go about things our way, it doesn’t usually work out. Instead, we have to be patient and trust that God is working things out for the good of those he loves.

When Creed received the correct training from Drago, he went through new experiences. He trained differently than before. He did things that he had never done before. His body was conditioned like never before. And in the end, HE WON THE FIGHT!

When training for a fight, we shed pounds. We gain muscle. We gain stamina. We learn what to look for. We study our opponent. We focus. When we are going through a war/challenging season in life, God is conditioning us the same way. Sometimes we have to shed bad patterns and unhealthy relationships. We gain confidence and strength. We study God’s word and we don’t let the devil slide in with negative thoughts. We focus on what God said in his Word because we know that God is a PROMISE KEEPER!

So with that being said, slow down! Learn all there is to learn in the wilderness. Run the race, don’t try to speed up time, and do things your way! God has a plan and although his timing is not always what we would prefer, his plan is ALWAYS BETTER! Besides…we know that we will always have victory when we fight our battles with Jesus!!

Trust God❤️