Programmed for Victory

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

ROMANS 8:31

 

PONDER THIS

When you love God, God is on your side, and you’re programmed for victory. It may not seem like it. It may not always be there according to your naked eye. But if you wait, you’ll learn what poet Priscilla Leonard meant when she wrote:

“On the far reef the breakers

Recoil in shattered foam,

Yet still the sea behind them

Urges its forces home;

Its chant of triumph surges

Through all the thunderous din—

The wave may break in failure,

but the tide is sure to win! . . .

O mighty sea, thy message

In changing spray is cast;

Within God’s plan of progress

It matters not at last,

How wide the shores the evil,

How strong the reefs of sin—

The wave may be defeated

But the tide is sure to win.”

Priscilla Leonard, “Wave and Tide,” The Religious Herald 94, no. 3, (January 20, 1921).

God’s purposes will prevail. Satan can’t win. The stars in their courses are against the man who’s against God. The stars line up for the man who loves God. And if you go against God, you’re going to stumble on the stars. You’re going to have a collision with the stars.

How does it encourage you to remember that God’s victory is certain?

What tempts you to be distracted from this truth in daily life?

PRACTICE THIS

Spend time today looking up God’s certain promises about His victory in the Bible. Commit one or two of these to memory.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Embracing Jesus

This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. (1 John 5:3–4)

Notice: Loving God is not just keeping his commandments. It is having a kind of heart for God that means that commandment-keeping is not burdensome. That’s what John says. But then he puts that truth in terms of new birth and faith, rather than love. He says, without a break, “For” — that is, here’s why God’s commandments are not burdensome: “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.” So, the new birth is what overcomes the worldly obstacles to keeping God’s commandments without burdensomeness.

And finally he adds, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.” So, the new birth overcomes the worldly obstacles to burden-free commandment-keeping, because the new birth gives rise to faith. So, the miracle of new birth creates faith, which embraces all that God is for us in Christ as supremely satisfying, which makes obedience to God more desirable than the temptations of the world. And that is what it means to love God.

The eighteenth-century pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards wrestled with this text and concluded, “Saving faith implies . . . love. . . . Our love to God enables us to overcome the difficulties that attend keeping God’s commands — which shows that love is the main thing in saving faith, the life and power of it, by which it produces great effects.”

I think Edwards is right and that numerous texts in the Bible support what he says.

Another way to say it is that faith in Christ is not just assenting to what God is for us, but also embracing all that he is for us in Christ. “True faith embraces Christ in whatever ways the Scriptures hold him out to poor sinners” — that’s another quote from Edwards. This “embracing” is one kind of love to Christ — that kind that treasures him above all things.

Therefore, there is no contradiction between 1 John 5:3, on the one hand, which says that our love for God enables us to keep his commandments, and verse 4, on the other hand, which says that our faith overcomes the obstacles of the world that keep us from obeying God’s commandments. Love for God and Christ is implicit in faith.

John then defines the faith that obeys as “the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:5). This faith is “embracing” the present Jesus as the glorious divine person that he is: the Son of God. It is not simply assenting to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, because the demons assent to that. “They cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?’” (Matthew 8:29). Believing that Jesus is the Son of God means “embracing” the significance of that truth — the value of the reality. It means being satisfied with Christ as the Son of God and all God is for us in him.

“Son of God” means that Jesus is the greatest person in the universe alongside his Father. Therefore, all he taught is true, and all he promised will stand firm, and all his soul-satisfying greatness will never change.

Believing that he is the Son of God, therefore, includes banking on all this, and being satisfied with it.

John Piper 

Praise Before the Victory

“So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, ‘Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.’” 2 CHRONICLES 20:20

 

PONDER THIS

If you’re in the middle of a problem, begin to praise God, because He says, “The battle is not yours, it’s Mine.” You do have a part in the battle. Your part is praise. And you can’t hide until the battle is over, and then praise the Lord. You may think, “Lord, when You’ve done it all, and when You’ve given me the victory, then I’m going to praise You.” But God says, “You’re not going to have any victory until you start praising, until you start singing.” You may naturally respond, “I can’t sing and praise yet because I don’t have any victory yet.”

We are to give praise that comes not after the victory, but before the victory. Why is this? That is ultimate faith—when we begin to praise God before we see the answer. It’s our way of saying, “God, we don’t know how You’re going to do it. That’s none of our business to know. But You’re bigger than this problem. And, therefore, I praise You.”

What makes it difficult to praise God before He gives victory in a situation, or if He never gives victory at all as we wish?

Why is God worthy of praise, no matter the outcome of our circumstances?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of ways God has provided for you and given you victory in the past. Consider how you might recall these instances as a catalyst for praise in future difficulties.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Victory Over the Enemy Within

“Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose us some men and go out, and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.’” EXODUS 17:8-9

 

PONDER THIS

The victory over your flesh is a God-given victory. Paul wrote in Galatians 5:16, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” If I’ve learned one thing in all my Christian life it is this: holiness is not the way to Christ; Christ is the way to holiness. Now, I’m not just playing with words. Paul did not say, “If you will not walk in the flesh, then you can walk in the Spirit.” He said to walk in the Spirit as the means to keep from walking in the flesh.

Victory over your flesh is a God-given victory. That’s the only way you’re going to come out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and into Canaan. There’s an Amalek within you that stands to try to keep you from living in victory. But thank God, there is a victory. When you take the staff of God, which is the Word of God, through the power of God, the Spirit of God, and you hold it high, He will give you victory.

Where do you currently need to fight against your own flesh?

How will you depend on God to give you this victory?

PRACTICE THIS

Journal the ways you are currently fighting against the flesh. Write out the ways you will depend on God for victory in these areas.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How to Respond When You Falter

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (Romans 7:19)

Christians do not live only in defeat. But neither do we live only in perfect victory over sin. And in those times when we fail to triumph over sin, Romans 7:13–25 shows us the normal way a healthy Christian should respond.

We should say:

I love the law of God. (verse 22)

I hate what I just did. (verse 15)

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? (verse 24)

Thanks be to God! The victory will come through Jesus Christ my Lord. (verse 25)

In other words, no Christian wants to live in defeat. No Christian settles for living in defeat. But if we are defeated for a time, we shouldn’t lie about it.

No hypocrisy. No posing. No boasted perfectionism. No churchy, pasted smiles or chipper superficiality.

And even more, God save us from blindness to our own failures and the consequent quickness to judge others.

God, help us to feel worse about our own shortfalls than the failure of others.

God, give us the honesty and candor and humility of the apostle Paul in this text! “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24–25).

John Piper 

Subversive for the Savior

When Jesus met the man filled with demons at Gadara, the demons cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29)

Demons learned a mystery here. They knew they were doomed. They knew the Son of God would be the victor. But they didn’t know until it happened that Christ was coming before the time of final defeat.

Christ is not going to wait for the end of the war to lead his troops into combat. He has begun to lead a subversive force into the territory of Satan. He has trained a “life-squad” to perform daring rescue operations. Christ has plotted many tactical victories before the time of the final strategic victory.

The resulting wartime mentality is this: Since Satan’s doom is sure, and he knows it, we can always remind him of it when he tempts us to follow him. We can laugh and say, “You’re out of your mind. Who wants to join forces with a loser?!”

The church is the liberated enemy of “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). We are the guerrillas and the gadflies. We are the insurgency against the rebel kingdom of “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2).

It is not safe. But it is thrilling. Many lives are lost. Satan’s forces are ever on the lookout for our subversive activity. Christ has guaranteed resurrection for all who fight to the death. But he has not guaranteed comfort, or acceptance from the world, or prosperity in enemy territory.

Many have gladly given their lives behind the lines running errands for the Commander. I can think of no better way to live — or die!

John Piper 

The Triumph Is Sure

Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you. (Isaiah 25:3)

Isaiah sees the day coming when all the nations — representatives from all the people groups — will no longer be at odds with Yahweh, the God of Israel and his Messiah, whom we know to be Jesus.

They will no longer worship Bel or Nebo or Molech or Allah or Buddha or utopian social programs or capitalistic growth possibilities or ancestors or animistic spirits. Instead they will come in faith to the banquet on God’s mountain.

And they will have the veil of sorrow removed and death shall be swallowed up and the reproach of God’s people will be removed and tears shall be gone forever.

That’s the setting for understanding the vision of Isaiah 25:3: “Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you.” In other words, God is stronger than the “strong peoples” and he is so powerful and so gracious that in the end he will turn ruthless nations to revere him.

So the picture Isaiah gives us is one of all nations turned to God in worship, a great banquet for all the peoples, the removal of all suffering and grief and reproach from the nations, who have become his people, and the final putting away of death forever.

This triumph is sure because God is doing it. Therefore we can be certain of it.

Not one life spent in the cause of world evangelization is spent in vain. Not one prayer or one dollar or one sermon or one letter of encouragement or one little light shining in some dark place — nothing in the cause of this advancing kingdom is in vain.

The triumph is sure.

John Piper 

What Jesus Did to Death

Just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:27–28)

The death of Jesus bears sins. This is the very heart of Christianity, and the heart of the gospel, and the heart of God’s great work of redemption in the world. When Christ died he bore sins. He took sins not his own. He suffered for sins that others had done, so that they could be free from sins.

This is the answer to the greatest problem in your life, whether you feel it as the main problem or not. There is an answer to how we can get right with God in spite of being sinners. The answer is that Christ’s death is an offering “to bear the sins of many.” He lifted our sins and carried them to the cross and died there the death that we deserved to die.

Now what does this mean for my dying? “It is appointed [to me] to die once.” It means that my death is no longer punitive. My death is no longer a punishment for sin. My sin has been borne away. My sin is “put away” by the death of Christ. Christ took the punishment.

Why then do I die at all? Because God wills that death remain in the world for now, even among his own children, as an abiding testimony to the extreme horror of sin. In our dying we still manifest the external effects of sin in the world.

But death for God’s children is no longer his wrath against them. It has become our entrance into salvation not condemnation.

John Piper

When Your Life Is Too Full for God

“So Joshua answered them, ‘If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you.’” JOSHUA 17:15

 

PONDER THIS

The reason many people are not living in victory is that their lives are cluttered. Many believe they don’t have enough time for prayer or Bible study. The reality is, if you don’t have enough time for prayer and Bible study, you’re doing something you ought not do. I don’t know what it is, but I will guarantee you that if you don’t have time to read your Bible and pray, you’re doing something God never assigned you to do. There’s something cluttering your life.

Whatever is cluttering your life may not be overtly harmful, sinful, or wicked, but if it is cluttering your life, you need to get rid of it. There’s enough time to do everything God wants us to do. But this often requires removing the clutter from our lives. Some people are so busy doing good they don’t have time to be godly. We must remember that we never waste time that is spent at Jesus’ feet.

What is cluttering your life right now?

What steps will you take to prioritize time with God and His Word?

PRACTICE THIS

Plan for specific time on your daily schedule to spend with God. Consider what needs to be removed from your life in order to prioritize this time.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Lamb Holds the Victory

“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!’” REVELATION 5:11-12

 

PONDER THIS

I heard of a man who worked in a slaughterhouse where they processed beef cattle. The man thought nothing of his job until one day the slaughterhouse began to process lambs. And a lamb came through the chute, and he said, “It was my responsibility to cut the throat of that lamb. I’d never done that before. I’d watch the steers as they would wrestle and fight, but the little lamb just laid his neck back. I laid down my knife, and I resigned from my job. I couldn’t do that. I could not take the life of a little lamb so meek, so mild.”

God used a mild little lamb to deliver His people from Egypt. Do you know what the symbol of Egypt was? It was a serpent. Not so long ago, I visited the British Museum in London. I wanted to see the section on Egyptology. I wanted to see the crowns the Pharaohs would wear. On Pharaoh’s crown and scepter, you see a serpent coiled up. This is the battle—between a seemingly defenseless, gentle, meek, mild lamb and a venomous, hissing, poisonous serpent. God gave victory to the lamb, the one who laid down His life.

How is Jesus’ victory unexpected according to the ways of the world?

How do you struggle to live in gentleness and meekness like Jesus?

PRACTICE THIS

Praise God for working in unexpected ways, most of all through the Lamb of God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

 

Victory in the Wilderness

“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’ But Jesus answered him, saying, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”’” LUKE 4:1-4

 

PONDER THIS

Adam lost his estate in a beautiful garden, but Jesus overcame Satan in a wilderness. How did Jesus overcome Satan? The same weapons that belonged to Adam in the Garden of Eden were the weapons Jesus used. What were they? The anointing of the Spirit of God and the authority of the Word of God were the way Jesus won this battle, and that’s the way Jesus continues to win the battle.

Jesus defeated Satan as a man. Satan hounded Him to Gethsemane, then to bloody Calvary. But that was the worst mistake Satan ever made. The hounds of Hell were baying for the blood of Jesus. Satan thought, “Surely, He’ll not do this. He’ll not pay this price. He will not take the sin of the world. He’ll not pay for Adam’s race. He’ll not become the object of the Father’s loathing.”

But Jesus said in Gethsemane, “Nevertheless not My will but Thine be done.” And Jesus went on to dark Calvary, and cried upon that cross, “It is finished.” They put Him in the tomb, but the enemy could not keep Him. The power of God is too great to stay dead; He rose again and gave us a way to new life with God.

How do we rely on God’s Word in spiritual battle? What distracts us from this?

How did the anointing of the Holy Spirit empower Jesus to overcome temptation? How can the same be true for us?

PRACTICE THIS

Share with another Christian where you are struggling with spiritual battles now.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Victory Is Not for Rebels

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” 1 JOHN 3:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

Jesus became the Son of Man that we might become children of God. Jesus was born of a virgin that we might be born again, and Jesus is showing us not how to overcome Satan as God would overcome him, but how to overcome Satan as Man would overcome him, being born of God. You don’t have a chance to overcome Satan without being born again. You’ve got to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

Is the consuming desire of your heart to do the will of God? Are you submitted to God’s will? Do you really want to know God’s will, or do you just want to escape temptation and do your will? Victory is not for rebels. Unless you have bowed the knee to the lordship of Jesus, made God sovereign in your life, and become His child, there’s no real hope for you to overcome Satan.

How has your position as a child of God changed how you go through hard times?

What does it look like to be consumed with the will of God? What distracts you from this?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to others who have prioritized following the will of God. Ask them how they have grown in that, and consider the next steps you need to take toward similar growth.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Victory First. Satan’s Counterattack Next.

 “When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.’” LUKE 3:21-22

 

PONDER THIS

Jesus entered the temptation of the wilderness just after He had been baptized. He had a mountain-high experience of seeing God move and approve of Him in a beautiful and magnificent way. He was baptized by John the Baptist. He came up out of the water, and God said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” then the Spirit, like a dove, descended upon the Lord Jesus Christ. But after the dove came the devil.

Did you know that some of your greatest temptations will come after some of your highest spiritual experiences? Did you know temptation can come at any time? Sometimes people get in trouble because they’ve been in a revival meeting and they’ve been so gloriously, wonderfully blessed, they begin to praise God, but then they begin to coast. Sometimes ministers will testify, they’ll get in some of the biggest arguments with their wives right after they’ve preached and seen people saved. Satan comes to counterattack. When you have the approval of Heaven, you’re going to have the assault of Hell. This is why we are called to always be ready, to put on the armor of God, and to prepare ourselves spiritually each day.

When was a time you faced temptation on the heels of a spiritual high?

How can you prepare for temptation? How often do you prepare for it?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to Christians you look up to and ask how they prepare to face temptation.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

It Will Come to Pass

“Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.” DANIEL 9:27

 

PONDER THIS

When we think about the prophecies of the End Times, we have to hold onto what we know about how it will end, “…until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.” The Bible says there's a coming consummation. Jesus is going to bring all things together. He's put everything into action, and He's going to put everything into conclusion. He was there in the commencement; He will be there in the consummation. He shall come with the armies in Heaven and with a sharp two-edged sword that goes out of His mouth—His Word!

In the Garden of Gethsemane, when they came to take Jesus, they came with sticks and swords, and a great army, to take Jesus and crucify Him. Jesus told them He was the one they sought and the Bible says they fell like dead men on the ground (John 18:6). Then Jesus allowed them up to handcuff Him. He went through all that because He knew it would bring all things together. He has been faithful at every step in God’s plan, and He will be faithful to the end.

How have you seen Christ as faithful to redeem throughout the story of Scripture?

What are some things that make it hard to believe Christ will have ultimate victory? How does Christ’s faithfulness give you hope?

PRACTICE THIS

Speak honestly with a friend about what troubles you in the world, then remind one another of the faithfulness of Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Nothing Left Unfinished

 “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.” DANIEL 9:24

 

PONDER THIS

Sin cannot be dealt with until the Messiah is recognized. There is no way of forgiveness for Israel or anyone else apart from the Lamb of God. When you recognize Jesus as Messiah, then sins are forgiven! And when sins are forgiven, God and Man are reconciled! Jesus’ death has always been sufficient, but it will never be efficient as long as He is rejected.

Not only does God forgive our sins when we receive Him, and not only are we reconciled, but God also makes us perfectly righteous in His sight. The righteousness of God is fulfilled in those who trust him. Verse 24 says, “…to seal up vision and prophecy…” This is what God has been up to! One of these days, God is going to put the last period upon the last sentence, upon the last paragraph, upon the last page, upon the last chapter, upon the last book of history, and God will say, “It’s done.” Not one jot nor tittle shall fail from the law till all be fulfilled. You can rest in it. You can bank on it. It’s been said, "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it." God said it, that settles it, and whether you believe it or not, God is going to do it!

What are the greatest problems you see in the world? How can you look to Christ for hope to restore all that is broken?

How does knowing God’s ultimate victory change how you see hardship on Earth in the meantime?

PRACTICE THIS

Praise God for the ultimate victory He has and worship Him as your hope in the hard things of life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Church Growth God’s Way

It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. (Romans 9:8)

Picture the Old Testament Abraham as a pastor. The Lord says, “I will bless you and prosper your ministry.” But the church is barren and bears no children.

What does Abraham do? He begins to despair of supernatural intervention. He is getting old. His wife remains barren. So he decides to bring about God’s promised son without supernatural intervention. He has sex with Hagar his wife’s handmaid (Genesis 16:4). However, the result is not a “child of the promise,” but a “child of the flesh,” Ishmael.

God stuns Abraham by saying, “I will give you a son by her [your wife Sarah]” (Genesis 17:16). So Abraham cries out to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” (Genesis 17:18). He wants the work of his own natural, human effort to be the fulfillment of God’s promise. But God says, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son” (Genesis 17:19).

But Sarah is 90 years old. She has been barren all her life, and she has already passed through menopause (Genesis 18:11). Abraham is 100. The only hope for a child of promise is stunning, supernatural intervention.

That is what it means to be a “child of the promise” — to be born “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). The only children that count for children of God in this world are supernaturally begotten children of promise. In Galatians 4:28 Paul says, “You [Christians], like Isaac, are children of promise.” You are “born according to the Spirit,” not according to the flesh (Galatians 4:29).

Think of Abraham as a pastor again. His church is not growing the way he believes God promised. He is weary of waiting for supernatural intervention. He turns to the “Hagar” of mere human devices, and decides he can “attract people” without the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.

However, it will not be a church of Isaacs, but Ishmaelites — children of the flesh, not children of God. God save us from this kind of fatal success. By all means work. But always look to the Lord for the decisive, supernatural work. “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord” (Proverbs 21:31).

John Piper 

The Tide is Sure to Win

“And Barak said to her, ‘If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!’”

JUDGES 4:8

 

PONDER THIS

I love the ocean, and I love to watch the tide come in. Poet Priscilla Leonard once wrote, “On the far reef the breakers recoil in shattered foam, while still the sea behind them urges its forces home. Its song of triumph surges o’er all the thunderous din: The wave may break in failure, but the tide is sure to win. . . . Oh! Mighty sea, thy message in changing spray is cast. Within God’s plans of progress, it matters not at last how wide the shores of evil, how strong the reefs of sin. The wave may be defeated, but the tide is sure to win.”

The same God who has programmed the planets to produce that undefeatable tide is the God who has programmed your life. When you get in league with God, when you say, “I’ll do what Barak did; I will hear the Word of God; I will believe the God of that Word, and I will live by that Word; and whether I see it now, or whether I see it later, I know that I know that I know,” then you can be confident. So, let’s be confident and prioritize seeking His way over our own.

How can you look to God’s way instead of your own? What is difficult about doing that? Why is it worth it?

How does God’s victory help you pursue Him?

PRACTICE THIS

Discuss with a friend some of the ways you have served God in the past and the areas that feel scary or intimidating. Lift these things up to God and ask Him to direct you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Living in Victory

“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

GALATIANS 5:18-23

 

PONDER THIS

When I was a younger preacher, I thought if I could be pure enough, holy enough, and clean enough, then the Holy Spirit would fill me. But I had it 180 degrees backward. I could never be clean and pure until I was filled with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we have the idea that being filled with the Holy Spirit is an attainment—it isn’t. It is receiving a gift from God, just like when you were saved.

You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God because you don’t have what it takes. That doesn’t mean you can cling to your sin and expect God to fill you, but it does mean the only way you will ever be victorious over sin is to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit of God is the transforming fire of God. Fire transforms whatever it is burning into its own likeness. It turns whatever it’s burning into fire itself. When you are with the Lord Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, you are being transformed from glory into glory. And because the Holy Spirit of God is the transforming power of God, He not only consumes, but He also transforms.

What are some things the Holy Spirit has changed in your heart?

What is an area of your life in which you do not reflect Christ? How are you seeking to surrender that area to the Holy Spirit’s transformation?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask friends in the faith for testimonies of how they have been transformed by the Spirit.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Our Toothless Enemy

You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Colossians 2:13–15)

The reason that union with Christ makes a great difference for the believer is that Christ achieved a decisive triumph over the devil at Calvary. He did not remove Satan from the world, but he disarmed him to the extent that the weapon of damnation was stripped from his hand.

He cannot accuse believers of unforgiven sin. Which is the only accusation that can destroy us. And therefore, he cannot bring us to utter ruin. He can hurt us physically and emotionally — even kill us. He can tempt us and incite others against us. But he cannot destroy us.

The decisive triumph of Colossians 2:13–15 is owing to the fact that “the record of debt that stood against us” was nailed to the cross. The devil made that record his chief accusation against us. Now he has no accusation that can hold in the court of heaven. He is helpless to do the one thing he wants to do most: damn us. He can’t. Christ bore our damnation. The devil is disarmed.

Another way to say it is in Hebrews 2:14–15: “[Christ became human] that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

Death is still our enemy. But it is defanged. The viper’s poison has been drained away. The deadly sting is gone. The sting of death was sin. And the damning power of sin was in the demand of the law. But thanks be to Christ who satisfied the law’s demand. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).

John Piper 

God’s Most Successful Setback

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9–11)

Christmas marked the beginning of God’s most successful setback. He has always delighted to show his power through apparent defeat. He makes tactical retreats in order to win strategic victories.

In the Old Testament, Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, was promised glory and power in his dream (Genesis 37:5–11). But to achieve that victory he had to become a slave in Egypt. And, as if that were not enough, when his conditions improved because of his integrity, he was made worse than a slave: a prisoner.

But it was all planned. Planned by God for his good and the good of his family, and eventually for the good of the whole world! For there in prison he met Pharaoh’s butler, who eventually brought him to Pharaoh, who put him over Egypt. And finally, his dream came true. His brothers bowed before him, and he saved them from starvation. What an unlikely route to glory!

But that is God’s way — even for his Son. He emptied himself and took the form of a slave. Worse than a slave — a prisoner — and was executed. But like Joseph, he kept his integrity. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Philippians 2:9–10).

And this is God’s way for us too. We are promised glory — if we will suffer with him as it says in Romans 8:17. The way up is down. The way forward is backward. The way to success is through divinely appointed setbacks. They will always look and feel like failure.

But if Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christmas it is this: What Satan and sinful men meant for evil, “God meant it for good!” (Genesis 50:20).

You fearful saints fresh courage take

The clouds you so much dread

Are big with mercy and will break

In blessings on your head.

John Piper