“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ (In Him) and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.” (2 Cor. 2:14)

The Smell Of Triumph
Several year ago on one of our family vacations, I decided to drive through a wild animal park in Oklahoma. We purchased some small buckets of feed to give to the various animals as we drove through. My daughter, Alicia, was sitting in the front passenger seat. My wife, Trina, and my son, Aaron, were sitting in the back seat.

At first all we saw were deer, so we fed the deer and they were nice and cute. Then a Llama came strolling up on Alicia’s side of the van. He scared her so much that she quickly pushed the power switch and rolled up her window.

I laughed and said, “I ’am not afraid of a Llama.” The Llama must have heard me say that because immediately he came to my side of the van. I began to feed him out of my bucket. All of a sudden he forced his whole head in the window and ate out of my bucket with his whole head in my lap. Alicia and I began to laugh nervously. The Llama pulled his head out of the bucket and sneezed in my van!

Llama spit and snot and slimy stuff went all across the front dash and on our clothes. It was nasty and had a terrible smell. I immediately slapped the Llama’s head to get him out and rolled up the window, but the damage had been done.

We left the park and headed for the nearest store to get something to clean up the mess. We finally got the slime out, but the smell was more difficult. During our whole vacation we could smell the Llama sneeze every time we got in the van. That smell stayed in the van for months before we finally got it out. The Llama was gone, but the smell was still there!

Sin and Satan are the same way. When the devil gets his head in your life, he will not leave until he has sneezed on you and made a mess. Jesus shed His blood, died, and arose from the dead for you to undo all that the devil has done.

God not only wants to get the devil’s head out and clean up the mess, but he also wants you to be free from the smell of the past. God does not want you to smell like sin, failure, guilt, and shame.

God wants you to apply the blood of Jesus to your life in every situation and smell like the triumph of Christ! In Christ you have a sense of righteousness and victory! You can forget about the past and press on for the high calling of God today and in your future. (Phil. 3:13-14) That’s shouting ground!

If you have sinned, 1 John 1:7 says: “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from all sin.”

First John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Thank God for the blood of Jesus and your place in Christ Jesus! “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.” (Eph. 3:12)

Triumph Always
This awesome promise in 2nd Corinthians 2:14: “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ … (In Him).” That’s God’s plan for you, is to triumph “always.”

Paul didn’t say you would never have any tough times. I like what someone said years ago: “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” Hallelujah! So how so you get to be tough? The Bible says, “…Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10). You become strong by acknowledging who you are and what you have in Christ (In Him)!

What do you need to do to always triumph in Christ (In Him)? Acknowledge every good thing that is in you in Christ. When you get up in the morning, walk around your bedroom and say, “I give thanks unto the Father God right now that He always causes me to triumph in Christ (In Him). When the enemy comes against me one way, he must flee in seven ways”!

God never said the enemy wouldn’t try to come against you. Isaiah 54:17 says, “No weapon that is formed against me shall prosper…”! He didn’t say you wouldn’t have any weapons formed against you, but He said the weapons can’t prosper! In other words, when adversity comes against you, you can declare:

“No Weapon formed against me shall prosper.”

Why? Because your righteousness “…is of Me, saith the Lord.” The righteousness you have wasn’t produced by you. It was produced by the Lord. God produced it for you in Christ (in Him). Hallelujah!

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Rom. 8:27)