Winters in northwest Iowa are cold and snowy. Where do cities there put all the snow scooped off the streets? When I was in grade school they would pile the snow into a large pile on the school playground. That mound of snow was better than any playground equipment! Recess became even more anticipated as we looked forward to the game "king of the hill." In the game of king on the hill you fight for the right of being on the top of that big pile of snow. When my grade successfully took the hill we had to change strategy. You see, while we were trying to capture the peak we were fighting for victory, but when we occupied the peak we were fighting from victory. Taking the peak is a much different strategy than holding the peak. It has been said that the Christian life is not a fight for victory but a fight from victory! Paul wrote these words to the Corinthians, "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Corinthians 15:57) Victory is in and through Jesus Christ.

Why is it important to understand that victory comes through Christ? Think of yourself as a boxer facing the most famous fighter of all times. You are being beaten to a pulp; you can hardly stay on your feet. You are about to give up and collapse to the canvas when suddenly an angel appears and tells you the future. The good news the angel gives you is that you will win! Would not the news that you will be victorious give you courage and strength to continue to fight? Of course it would, you would determine to stay on your feet just to see how this would happen! Knowing that victory is in Christ will encourage us to stand firm during the battle.

What will be the result of His victory? "Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place." (II Corinthians 2:14) The end result of His victory is the fragrance of Christ spreading everywhere. The world longs to smell His fragrance, not the stench of the flesh.

If we are victorious in Christ, why don't we see His victory in our current circumstances? We may not always see victory in our current circumstances, but in the realm of the spirit we are already victorious. We are able then to fight on from that viewpoint, expecting eventual experiential victory because we are in Christ and Christ is already victorious. But there is more than victory -- there is an entirely new kind of life. This life is the only real source of power for your own personal living. It is the exchange of your human life source for a divine life source. This is the exchange of Adamic human life for the victorious and powerful Christ living in us. We are to count ourselves as nothing and esteem Him as everything. This brings us to our next aspect of the exchanged life.