Summary: Everyone likes to be a winner. Business people like to make profits. Students like to make good grades. Chefs like to make a perfect meal. Doctors like a successful surgery. And sports fans love it when their team wins -- even though they don't do anything to help the team win, they are at least satisfied in knowing that they are on the winning side. <br><br> We all feel that it is important to be on the winning side in any contest in life. But did you know that there is a greater and far more important contest that is going on right now? It is a contest, a struggle, of epic proportions. It is a contest that takes place in the spiritual realm and the physical realm. It is a contest that has the destiny of the world hanging in the balance. <br><br> God, the Heavenly Father and the Creator of the Universe, wants everyone to live good and peaceful lives on this earth in obedience to Him. He even says so in His Word. In Jeremiah 29:11 we read: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." <br><br> The devil, however, has rebelled against God. He used to be a glorious angel, but now he leads and army of demons who seek to take control of the earth and use it for their own evil purposes. In John 10:10, we read of his evil purpose. The Bible says, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy..." <br><br> When we look around at the pain, suffering, and heartache in the world, it may seem like the devil is winning. But in the Book of Revelation, the Bible tells us that in the end God wins and the devil is defeated. Listen to these verses in Revelation 20: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more...And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." <br><br> One day, the devil is going to be cast into the Lake of Fire, where he will be punished for all eternity. God will get the ultimate victory, and He will restore the world to the Paradise that it was meant to be. The wonderful thing about this is that all of those who believe in God and have a relationship with Him through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ will come out victorious in the end as well. We will be blessed to live in the wonderful Paradise called Heaven. <br><br> In the end, God wins, and God wants you to be on the winning side with Him. He does not want us to miss out on the blessings and benefits of eternal life. That is why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins -- because He knew that we could never make it on our own. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” <br><br> + Plus, listen to Manafest singing "Every Time You Run"
