1 John 2:6
says, " The one who says he abides in Christ ought
himself to WALK IN THE SAME MANNER AS HE WALKED."
How did Jesus walk? Was it in victory SOME of the time,
or MOST of the time or ALL the time? We know the answer. He
was tempted in all points as we are,
but He never sinned.
"For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with
our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as
we are, yet without sin" ( Heb.4:15).
We are now told to walk even as He walked. Is that
possible here on earth? Would God tell us to do something
that He knows very well we cannot do? No. That
is unimaginable. Even earthly fathers do not make
unreasonable demands on their children. How much less God!
Some of the saddest words written in the New Testament are
found inMatthew 13:58 - "He did
not do many miracles there BECAUSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF".
The parallel passage in Mark 6:5 states, "He COULD NOT do
any miracle there…."
He had wanted to do great things for those people in His
home-town. But He was limited by their unbelief.
Unbelief ties the hands of Almighty God so that He
cannot do for us the things that He wants
to.
I wonder if there have been miracles that God had wanted
to do for you, but which He could not do because of your
unbelief. At the judgment-seat of Christ,
will any of us have to hear these words, "I could not do
all that I wanted for you and through you because of your
unbelief?" What regret there will be in
our hearts if we discover that at the end of our earthly
life! It is good to think about it now.
The same principle applies in entering into a life of
victory over sin. We can fast and pray and thirst - and still
never get anywhere - until we BELIEVE
that God CAN and WILL lead us into such a life.
Satan knows that you can't get anything from God except
through faith. So you can imagine how he will try to fill
your heart with unbelief. Unbelief is a
greater danger than lying or adultery, for these latter
are easily recognized as sins, whereas unbelief isn't.
Hebrews 3:12
says, "Take care, brethren, lest there should be in
any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away
from the living God."
An evil heart of unbelief can cause us to fall away from
God. Unbelief is the root cause of all the other sins.
Romans 6:14
states, "For sin shall not be master over you, for
you are not under law, but under grace."
There the Holy Spirit tells us very plainly that if we
are under grace, sin cannot have dominion over us. That is so
plainly written that even a child can
understand it. In spite of that, many believers still do
not believe in the possibility of living a life of victory
over sin.
God wants you to live in victory. It doesn't matter how
dirty your thought-life is, or how long you have been
defeated by anger. The Lord can set you
completely free and give you a pure heart. But He can't
do it for you until you believe.
The Bible says that what we believe in our heart, we must
confess with our mouth.
Rom. 10:10
states, "For with the heart man believes, resulting
in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting
in salvation."
This is an important principle - for it is through the
confession of our mouth that we give expression to our faith.
This in turn leads to deliverance from
sin's power. And so we must speak the word of our
testimony to Satan, saying, "I believe that God is going to
lead me into a life of victory over sin."
Thus we can overcome Satan.
"And they overcame him (Satan) because of the blood
of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and
they did not love their life even to
death" (Rev.12:11).
Keep making that confession, each time you fall, until
victory becomes a reality in your life. Don't be discouraged
if it doesn't come overnight. God will
surely honour the confession of your mouth.
