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Down to the last quarter, it’s a tight game. Your heart races as your eyes follow the basketball up and down the court. You pull your focus away just long enough to glance at the time clock. Oh my! It’s getting close. So close! The countdown on the clock has accelerated; we’re in a time crunch! It’s time to give it all we’ve got!

It’s the ultimate battle of good versus evil. Truth versus deception. Light versus darkness. The opposition is fierce. They are menacing giants, cunning and full of trickery. Pure evil, they execute foul after foul. To say they are aggressive is putting it mildly. They are violent!

But there you are. Safe on the bench. After all, you’re just happy to be part of the team. To feel the camaraderie. To belong to a worthy cause. I know your palms are sweating and your pulse is skyrocketing watching there on the sidelines. But what are you afraid of? Really? That the bench might get cold?

Come on, now! Now is the time! Come off your bench and step into your destiny! Shake off the fear trying to entangle you! Shake off that spirit of timidity holding you back! Be courageous!

Don’t you know who you are? You were chosen! A huge ransom was paid to have you on the team! A price more than the Cavaliers pay Lebron James, man!

Ignore the opposition’s chants of ‘you can’t‘ and ‘you won’t.’ They are just afraid that you will! Show them what you are made of! You are an overcomer! Blessed and highly favored! The head and not the tail! Above and not beneath! More than a conqueror!

Light always overtakes darkness! Truth always shatters deception! The victory is yours, but you’ve got to get in the game!

Your team needs you! They are suffering violence! And it’s time for the violent to take it back by force!  Rise up and make the opposition tremble in fear! Unleash the lion of Judah that is within you! LET THEM HEAR YOU ROAR!!!

Now… get out there!

And having summoned His twelve disciples, He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness… These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them, saying, “And as you go, preach, saying ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely you received, freely give… Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.”  –Matthew 10