Maintaining Daily Victory

Victory is the beautiful thing in the Christian life. If we gain victory, there will be no condemnation or guilt and we will not sin any more.

The greatest battle of our lives that has the greatest consequence is the battle against sin. It is a fight that every man and woman is engaged in during their daily lives. If we are defeated in this battle, you will have sorrow on earth and suffer for eternity. Satan (the flesh) desires that it will keep all mankind in sin to enable it to have victory.

The joy we have is that God has made a plan and a way of escape, to give us freedom from sin, and happy living with Him for eternity. We are told of this victorious life in Psalm 119:1-3: ?Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the way of the Lord.? The Bible talks of this group of people who have discovered the way of victory as being blameless and spotless. They neither walk in the flesh nor live in sin. They do not fall and rise, but seek the Lord whole-heartedly and walk consistently in the law of the Lord. Iniquity does not arise in their private homes, in their conversations or in their places of work. They hurt nobody, speak evil of none, steal nothing belonging to anybody else, commit no adultery or fornication, or act in any mischievous way among people of the world. They pattern their lives after men like Enoch who walked consistently with God; Joseph, who discovered the secret of living a righteous life in a dirty environment (Egypt); Samuel who walked before the Lord blameless; and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who stood firm and refused to bow when millions around them were falling down to worship Nebuchadnezzar?s idol. Daniel purposed in his heart never to defile himself with the dainties of the king?s food and would rather go into the lions? den, if necessary, to retain his integrity and righteousness. Paul the apostle counted all things as dung and dross that he may be found not in his own righteousness, but in the righteousness of God. Such people in the time of provocation and temptation, rest in the peace of Yahweh and are victorious over sin. They put their eyes, bodies, ears, feet, tongues and thoughts under control in compliance with Paul who said, ?I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.? (1 Cor 9:27).

The grace and power of Yahweh and the light of the gospel in their lives. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Partnership with God is the source of this kind of victory, which is only possible when Christ lives within and fights against the flesh and the world. We will need to pray daily to have victory and to maintain it.

Christ in Us and We in Christ

We live in sin and sin is in us all. People are worldly because they are in the world and the world is in them. But to gain this victory is to turn around, to be transformed; in short, to bring Christ into them and them into Christ. Abiding in Christ is the source of this victory as confirmed in John 15:5: ?I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me, ye can do nothing.? Christ here emphasizes the necessity of all being in Christ and Christ being in them. Abiding in Christ means a change of attitude. An empty sack cannot stand upright. So Christians cannot have the victory without Christ. A graceless Christian cannot live in the grace of Yahweh. A lamp without oil cannot shine; a Christian without Christ and without the spirit of Christ cannot walk according to the light of the gospel. Such Christians are like a vehicle without fuel.

We will walk in the path of victory if we allow Christ to live in us and we in Christ. When this radiant light shines in us, gossiping, back-biting, stealing, embezzlement, falsification of accounts and lying will be things of the past. Christ says in Revelation 3:20, ?Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me.? If there is any besetting sin defiling our life from day to day, making us feel guilt all the time and we find ourselves crying like Paul, ?O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of sin (flesh)? (Romans 7:24), then Christ the Victor and sin-bearer is at the door waiting to deliver us. But we must take a bold step to do away with that immorality and sin. Control our temper, and make him our Saviour, Redeemer, partner and companion and we will be new creatures as stated in 2 Cor 5:17, ?Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.? This verse does not refer to a person outside of Christ, a church-goer, somebody with a familiar spirit or one who takes cover in one of the many denominations. Being ?in Christ? is different from being in riches, politics and society. If any be in Christ, his or her name is in the book of life: he or she has the joy of salvation and is on the way to eternity. Being ?in Christ? is the greatest, most important, most powerful, extraordinary spiritual and eternal thing that can happen to anybody.

The Means of Victory

1 John 5:4, 5 says ?For whatever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?? Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ overcometh worldliness, lust of the flesh, the pride of life, temptations, superstitious belief, worldly enticements and defilement.

Some people who claim to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are not only overcome by these sins but are still found in gambling circles, cinema houses, film shows, drinking and dancing halls and night clubs where they mingle with thieves, idol worshippers and those involved in the occult. An overcomer always thinks of victory, plans to be victorious and removes every stumbling block in the way of victory.

He or she does not hesitate to obey the word of Jesus which says, ?If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee.? (Mat 5:29,30). We are to cut off any bad friends, neighbours, men, women, businesses or relationships that tend to take us to those things we have already forsaken. Avoid besetting sin or any object of temptation, as you would avoid a snake; see victory as our greatest need and possession.

Escape for Your Dear Life

?Escape for thy life, look not behind thee? (Gen 19:17) was what the angel said to Lot and his family. Similarly, we must run away from sin, from the things of this world and run to Christ. The moment we relax into conversation with sinners and false prophets, the messengers of satan, we will lose the victory. The young prophet in 1 Kings 13 made this mistake and was deceived by the old, backsliding false prophet. ?He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spoke unto me by the word of the Lord saying, Bring him back with thee into the house that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.? (1 Kings 13:18). It is significant that this old false prophet met the young prophet of God when he was resting under an oak tree forgetting that the only resting place is Yahweh. There is no reason to rest here on earth, but he was resting in the wrong place at the wrong time. The lesson for us is that we cannot stop praying, reading the Holy Bible daily, fighting against sin in the flesh and running the race set before us. Paul strictly warns us in Ephesians 4:17, ?That ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.?

If we wish to escape with our lives by maintaining a daily victory of life in Christ, sin will never destroy you or drag you down.
 

Bro. Friday E. Umese (Oboro, Nigeria)