In battle operating from higher ground has several advantages. It is easier to maneuver and takes less energy. It enhances the aim, range, and force of various weapons. It increases the chance of clear communication. In addition, it provides a longer and broader perspective of enemy movement. The same is true in various battles people face throughout life. Working from the higher ground of what is true, right, and already established yields greater success. Therefore, as you face difficulties, don’t operate from the low ground of the current problem. Instead operate from the higher position that God has already secured a solution; it just may take time to practically work it out in your life.
Understand The Glorious Position You Can Have in Jesus
God created you and loves you. He always has your best interest in mind. However, every person by default, rejects God in favor of serving themselves. This has led to broken lives and a lost, dark, and dying world. Straying from God and his plan in order to pursue self-fulfillment always leads to the low ground of destruction and death. Fortunately, God loves us too much to leave us to die as rebels on the field of self-centeredness. He sent Jesus, God the Son, to forfeit his life as a ransom and rise again. Anyone who believes in him can know God, become a part of his family, and receive his power and wisdom to joyfully live rightly now and forever. For those that trust and obey him, Jesus bridges the chasm of sin that separates you from God and his blessed promises which enable to become the best they were designed to be. The apostle Paul explains the glorious blessings believers experience.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:3-14).
Pray Confidently
Because Jesus has defeated sin, death, and Satan you can experience that same victory. It starts with prayer, recognizing that Jesus is the fulfillment of all God’s promises and anyone who abides in Jesus benefits from that fulfillment. “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 1:20-22). Amen means, “so be it.” Don’t get stuck on the low ground looking only at your problems. Instead with a “so be it” attitude take the high ground–confidently look to the solution God is already providing in Jesus. That’s why Jesus taught believers that they could ask anything in his name and he will do it (John 14:12-14). This does not mean God is a magical genie waiting to grant any of your wishes. It means that if you come under the authority of Jesus and align your will with his character and mission then what you seek will come about in God’s way and timing.
If you trust Jesus as your savior you are a citizen of heaven even though currently you still reside on earth. Operate from that higher ground. Pray and believe God will work his will on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). Jesus taught, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13). Ask verbally, seek mentally, and knock by physically taking action knowing that through his Spirit, God’s sovereign purposes, promises, providence, and timing are working together across the universe to fulfill his perfect plan and across all aspects of your personal life to transform you into the likeness of Jesus.
Move Forward by Faith As If Victory Is Already Achieved
When you struggle with sin, are oppressed by the sin of others, or suffer from living in a fallen world, act by faith as if you already are what you are meant to be. That’s what faith by God’s grace is. Through loyalty, trust, and obedience you substantiate or make real in your experience the hope you have in God even though it hasn’t come about yet (Hebrews 11). I understand this is not easy at times, for you are in a spiritual battle. However, in Jesus you occupy the high ground of an overcomer. “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him [Jesus] who loved us” (Romans 7:21-8:1, 8:37).
Align your will and actions with the fact that God is transforming your character and equipping you for every good work in Jesus. Jesus is the author and perfecter of your faith. Here are a few scriptures that declare this encouraging truth. “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he [God] who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:3-6). “Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21). “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
Don’t focus on whatever current problem or battle you face, but rather receive the solution that God has already won for you in Jesus. If you trust Jesus, recognize that you occupy higher ground where he has graciously saved you, he is saving you, and he will save you. God has raised you to live above the low ground of worry, despair, idolatry, indifference, or pride. Work from the higher ground of your victory in Jesus, your power in his Spirit, your position in heaven, and your eternal perspective from God to overcome your difficulties and to proclaim his truth and salvation with others for his glory. Prayerfully sing God’s praises, study his word, share his truth, serve all people, stand in the gap to intercede, and stay dependent on God. Jonathan Cahn stated this concept well in The Book of Mysteries, “Live from heaven, from the kingdom yet to come, from the life yet to be, even from the you you are yet to become. Fight the won battle, run the run race, accomplish the finished work, start from the finish line, begin from the victory, rejoice now from the joy at the end. Live now from what will one day be, and you’ll live a life of blessing, and victory on earth as it is in heaven.”