The Walk of Victory- Hype or Reality?

What I am about to share with you sadly is not what the vast majority of the church believes. I believe all this is going to soon change as the last days approach. The sleeping virgins are beginning ot be awakened. If at first you do not agree, all I ask is for you to bring it before God in prayer and ask your heart what it hungers for, rather than what your head can accept.

What I have to share comes from my own personal struggle with sin in my life, specifically pornography. I am not talking about an occasional slip, but a deep seeded habit that was as addictive as any drug. Maybe some here can relate. Even as a Christian, I still could not find the key to victory and I searched for decades, hating my sin, yet I could not let it go. It had me by the throat.

 So please understand, what I share with you is a great treasure to me, because two years ago I broke before the Lord, exhausted, out of new options, out of hope. I very seriously took the words Jesus spoke that "Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord" and finally concluded that if I was to die, I would not see my Lord. I knew my heart was corrupted, that sin was my master.



That night, I broke before God with a wail of desperation and many tears. I was fully the "O wretched man that I am" of Romans 7. The things I did not want to do, I did, and the things I so wanted to do, I could not find the strength to do. Perhaps this has been your experience, yet something inside you tells you that there is a victorious walk Christ has for you.



When I did, deeply broken and ashamed, seeking God with all that I had, suddenly the light of His manifest presence was there, a supernatural visitation is all I am permitted to say, and these were His words- "For this my son I am well pleased with you." I fell on my face in awe and yet total confusion. Why would He be pleased with me?



Over the next hour or so, I received wisdom directly from the hand of God. I did not deserve it, I still do not today. But what He shared with me changed my walk from night to day, from darkness to light and the sins that had kept me captive for 37 years fell away from me completely through no effort of my own. God did it and still keeps me in His victory today. So the truths I share with you have passed a huge test. They worked in me..chief of sinners! It was like the lock on the door of my understanding was unlocked by God and I saw plainly how we are all to walk free indeed.


He first led me to Romans 6:


What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?


God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?



Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.



For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:



Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.



Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.



Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.


Romans 6:1-11



The Lord asked me if I had ever obeyed this exhortation that Paul gave us....not just in a "positional sense" but in a very real one. I had not. But I saw in an instant the secret to the walk of victory and the reason why I had walked in defeat. When I had come to the Lord those many years before, I came by faith alone, with no confidence that I could save myself, but there my faith ended.



If we only understood, God is not looking for strong men and women of God who will do exploits. God is searching for those where He can show Himself strong.! My problem, I thought, was that I had always been too weak. The Lord explained to me clearly that my failure had been because I had always been too strong, and this was why He was pleased with me, for I had come to Him as one who had no strength, and thus, He was freed to be strong in me, and my faith could be exercised because faith is inherantly an act of total dependence.



How many of us have not yet seen the depth of the truth that "In me, dwettheth no good thing." How many have not yet let the law do its assigned task to break them of all confidance in their fleshly efforts to become holy and to realize that the entire salvation process is by faith alone, believing in the strength of the indwelling God to do it for us.



How easily we forget that it is "to those that have no might that He increases strength" !



Faith in the promises that God has made to us is the key to our victory, but a man who believes even a shred in his own strength and resolve cannot depend 100% on God alone. True faith becomes impossible until we see how truly desperate our plight is to get victory over the sins that plague us. Until we see the depth of the corruption of our old nature, that it cannot be "transformed" into a new man, but must be put off by faith, we cannot again by faith put on the new man which has on obedient heart!



"And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."


1 John 5:4



I had never taken my position in Christ as someone who was dead to sin and alive to God. Yet that is exactly how we are told to "yield ourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead", not still trying to die.



The walk of victory is clearly promised in scriptures. The promises of God are everywhere yet how few walk in them! How few even hunger after a walk of victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. For many, we have become content to have sin in our lives as a pesky but necessary nuisance. Is this the full salvation Christ promised? Is this the easy yoke, where we find rest for our weary souls? Is this the "free indeed" He spoke of in John 8? No, it is not.



Sadly, we believe we must still have sin as our master as long as we are in this body and will fight any who even suggest that God meant what He said when He promised that sin shall not have dominion over us.


Most contend that we are "just sinners, saved by grace", thinking this is humility, when actually it is unbelief masked in a cloak of religion, and dishonoring to God. Please understand, I do not say this to offend any but we must understand, our entire salvvation is to be built around this amazing thing called faith, total trust that our God cannot lie. Our unbelief has opened the door for satan to deceive us mightily, and brought the church into the sad, divided and worldly state it is today. But listen to Paul in His exhortation to the church at Corinth:



"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."


1 Corinthians 6:9,11



Why did Paul write so adamantly to the Romans when he said:



"Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" Because he had taught them the great truth that old old nature has been put to death so that henceforth, sin no longer has a grip on us. Therefore he firmly answers "God forbid! How can we that arer dead to sin live any longer therein?"



What does God speaks of us? He tells us that now we are light in the Lord, that we are more than overcomers and it is faith in these truth that allows us to actually walk as children of light, with our shield of faith quenching ALL the fiery darts of the wicked one.



Does He not say that with every temptation He will make a way of escape that we might be able ot bear it? Does He not say He will keep us from falling? Does He not say we can do all things thru Him that loved us? Does He not say that sin shall NOT have dominion over us? He does indeed and many many more wonderful promises. The question is...who will believe His report?



Listen, saints! The promises of God, promises we have ignored all our lives, are the key to our victory, the key to being changed into the image of His Son! Of course our brains struggle with believing that the overcoming life is possible! If they did not, salvation would not be a miracle at all, but simply a decision to do good and not do bad. Our hearts must become so hungry that we launch out to believe the impossible, for what is impossible with man is indeed possible with our God!



"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature"


2 Peter 1:4



Why do so few walk in them? Unbelief. We start out in faith, but then revert to law, where the weight of obedience falls on OUR shoulders. The result? The experience of a man in Romans 7.



Please note, Romans 7 is NOT Paul's testimony as a believer! He clearly says who he is talking about in 7:1... I write this to those that know the law, and then preceeds to describe perfectly what that man's experience will be...what mine was for 37 years. If we are walking in faith alone, faith in what God has clearly told us about who we are in His Son, our experience is to be Romans 8, no condemnation! And how to you get from Romans 7 to Romans 8? By obeying Romans 6.



I will leave you with one last amazing scripture, found in Ezekiel 36. Here God foretells the coming new covenant and what it would do for us. No more would we be ruled by external commandments to try to make our old rebellious nature obey. He would give us a new nature and write His desires on our heart. All would personally know Him, the wise and the fool alike. But listen to this astounding promise. He said " and I will cause you to walk in my statutes"

Obedience that was a requirement of the old covenant, the law of commands, was to be under the new covenant be a benefit...a gift from God! In vs. 37, He finishes his promise of this amazing agreement with this profound word:  "I shall yet be inquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them."!



For 26 straight months I have found God to be faithful, that as I hold up the shield of faith that I am indeed a new man in Christ, and that old things are indeed passed away, the sins that were eating me alive are gone, not partially subdued...GONE. To this day I am still in amazement for I know it is not me.



I apologize for such a long post, and I pray you waded thru it to glean something beneficial to you. May we all finally experience what God saved us for...to save them from our sins, not in them, saving us to the uttermost!. God wants to make us holy...will we let Him? This and this alone is "the glorious liberty of the children of God".

Blessings,



Bruce

The full truth about the law we seem to so love... ouch!


How many there are in Christ's body that are weary and heavy laden. How many hunger for the rest that was promised by God for us, only to be found burdened down with a walk under the spirit of the law. As a result, they find their results are identical to the man in Romans chapter 7.


Now some believe that Romans 7 was Paul's testimony and it was...when he was Saul, and labored to please God under the old covenant. Look closely as Romans 7:1. Paul said he wrote this to them that know the law...this will be your experience. How could this possibly be Paul's experience as an Apostle, the same man who said boldly "I can do all things thru Christ that strengthens me."? There was no battle inside Paul. His battle had been won. His black dog was dead. He said he kept his body under. He said "Praise God that always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus." Not so the man in Romans 7, laboring to please God in his own strength.


Listen, saints. The point of the law was not to show us how to live. It was to hold up an ideal...no, no...not even an ideal...a shadow of the ideal, which is a life controlled by love...love for man and love for God. But listen. It provides NO power to us on the performing of the commandments. It was to say, in effect, "You can't get there from here."



Therefore a man under the law of commandments, 10 commandments included, as holy as they are, will find that the things he does not want to do, he does anyway, and the things he wants to do, he cannot do. It leaves one in a state of guilt, defeat, and no matter how much you do, you feel you need to do more.



When I struggled under the weight of the law, I could read 10 chapters of the word a night and feel like I should have read 20. I could give $100 to a just cause and then feel guilty for not giving more. Listen, I felt guilty mowing my grass! LOL. Here I was making my kingdom nice and neglecting His kingdom! If I had a victory, I only thought of the fact that I would fall sooner or later. I never felt God was pleased with me. Well did I relate to the "O wretched man that I am" scenario. The law, holy as it is, works death.



But listen! That is what it is supposed to do! If you have felt that way, you are blessed! The law is working its magic on you. And what is the law trying to teach you? That in you dwells NO GOOD THING, that you do not have the resources to do what it commands of you, that unless you get a miracle from God, your are in deep doo doo.



We Christians are funny people. We get saved, fully acknowledging that we are sinners and that our only hole is by faith in Christ's death. We see our sin as specific acts, such as shorting the IRS last year on our taxes, or lusting or enjoying a good gossip session. What we do not see is the depth of our sinfulness. Our old creation, our fallen nature, what Paul calls our "flesh" is in rebellion to God! It simply cannot do good. All of our righteousness is as filthy rags!



Under the influence of the flesh, we want to run our own lives, and think we can, we just need a little boost from God. Foolish, foolish people we are. What God desires is to fully surrender to Him as failures, weak and in need of everything, as people with NO strength.. That is a man or a woman who is about to find the strength of an indwelling God and the victory He longs to give us.



If the law is to be effective to do its job as a schoolmaster to bring us to the feet of Jesus. it must is preached as it was written. Here is what the law demands...not asks...demands.



1) Perfect 100% obedience all the time. If we disobey one commandment, we are guilty of breaking all of them. This is the curse of the law.


2) The religious pharisees actually strove to do this. They had convinced themselves they were obedient and pleasing God by obeying down to the tithing of the herbs in their gardens. Jesus however, elevated the law to its full weight. He told them that if they just lusted, they were adulterers. If they harbored hate, they were murderers. The law demands not only perfect obedience, but it demands that that obedience be done with 100% pure motives. It is this law that we are requred to serve if we choose to do so. Are we really ready for that?



Now the really bad part. Was there grace under the law? Yes, IF you broke one of the 10 commandments once in ignorance rather than willfully. Past that one free pass, the penalty was death.


After the 10 commandments were given, a man was gathering firewood to cook his family a meal on the sabbath. He was delivered to Moses for the commandment had been broken. Moses asked God and here is what God said.



"Take him out and stone him to death."



This is the law in its full "glory". Thank God Jesus became a curse for us, releasing us from the curse of these external commandments, holy as they are. They do nothing to cleanse the inside of the cup. Nothing.

 And we want to serve God under this covenant?? Are we nuts?



We Christians have formed a quasi- faith, quasi-law religion, softening the law so we think we can do it, and believing only that Jesus died for us and rose again, but nothing further. But the law is chiseled in stone. It does not change, and grace has no effect on it. It demands. I call it the gospel according to Nike. JUST DO IT.



Because we have softened it, moved the line a bit, we feel we can for the most part obey it. Foolish people we are. Do we lust? Adulters still. Have we hated? Murderers. The law was given for ONE purpose, to break down our inner defenses and reduce us to a pile of unworthy goo at the feet of Jesus.

 Now, with that said, here comes the new covenant. God said in Jeremish 31 that the reason we needed the new one was because we broke the old one continually and we did! Read about God's promise of this amazing agreement in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36. What is the difference? True forgiveness? Yes, absolutely. But there is far more. Once forgiven, God said He would engrave the wishes of God on our hearts. The external commandments were over. He would put His own spirit within us and listen now....cause us to walk in obedience. He would give us new natures, a nature that did not want to sin, a nature that could love easily, a nature that could truly abide in Him all day, every day. And how will these miracles come about in us? In the same way, of course that we first began this walk with Gof, by believing Him and what He says He offers us.


I will leave it here for now, for I feel like I am writing a book. May I recommend devouring Romans 8 (life under the new covenant), Romans 7 (life under the law) and Romans 6 (directions on how to get from 7 to 8). Then read Galatians. Here Paul was protecting the Galatians from returning back under the law in just one area...circumcision. He told them if they go back in just one area, Christ will profit them nothing.



Look, the law speaks of our self confidence, our strength, our efforts to please God. Self control is an absolute necessity. But the new covenant is by faith alone. Here we are to be His workmanship, so that no one can boast. But in oder to believe, we must be brought low by the law, for it is when we are broken and weak, without strength and without hope of ever being holy by our own efforts, onlt then can we finally believe the promises of God.

"and unto them that have no strength, he increaseth might."



And what about self control? Ahhhh, read the list of the fruits of the Spirit that Christ Himself will grow us us. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, and.....self control! Praise our loving Father! He really will cause us to will and to do of his good pleasure!



Ok, one last thing. I will do anything I can to help anyone to fully understand or enter this walk of faith alone in the promises of God, getting free of our old nature to walk in the victory that Christ has bought for us, a life without condemnation, a life without willful disobedience. If you have questions, or even honest disagreements, I am willing to share openly. All I ask is that we do not lean on "well, I think"s but solely on the word of God for our answers.



I will say this boldly because it has turned my own walk that was formerly a flesh fest of sin and self rule to joy unspeakable. This walk, once one is established in it, will turn your entire world upside down. God has guaranteed it.



Blessings,



Bruce