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Victory

Do you know victory? Have you been in that dark abyss of lost depravity and experienced the utter joy of Christ’s hand pulling you out into the daylight? Few have.

Sadly, there is more talk of victory than experience. We casually speak about freedom in Jesus and deliverance from sin, but too often we do not grasp the magnitude of deliverance or the cost of remaining where we are. The Israelites knew bondage. Egypt’s Pharaoh despitefully used God’s people and broke their backs and wills with his labor. Sweat dropped from their brows and tears stained their aging faces. They groaned under the weight of their bondage and despaired in their captivity.

Have you groaned and despaired in the captivity of sin? Any sin can become bondage when we do not repent and we continue in it. In fact, each time we repeat a sin, we give the devil more power over us. Unrepented sin really can consume us and bring us into a dark abyss because sin separates us from God. If we are born again and have a secure position with God, we can still interrupt our relationship with Him with unrepented sin. (Note that true repentance requires a turning away from sin.)

This can continue in a downward spiral which produces a stronghold. A spiritual stronghold is much like a physical stronghold. Think of a medieval castle filled with men flaunting arrows, boiling oil and other weapons. Usually, a castle was also perched on a hill and often surrounded by water. This was a stronghold and an attacking army was at a serious disadvantage; such a stronghold was very, very difficult to overcome. I recently traveled to Scotland and visited a few castles. It amazed me to realize that such a fortress was ever overcome. Repetitive sin produces just such a spiritual stronghold.

In fact, you and I are powerless to overcome a spiritual stronghold. Even if we somehow manage to discontinue the physical sin itself, i.e. stop using illicit drugs, we can never free ourselves from the power we have given this sin over us. And it is rare that we are even able to stop the outward behavior. As the apostle Paul says, speaking of sin in general, in Romans 7:24, What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Are you wretched? Have you been locked into a sin from which you’ve found no escape? It can be anything: overeating, smoking, drunkenness, gossip, fornication, the list is endless. People find themselves wanting to be free, but completely bound in captivity to the one thing they want to stop most. Why? Because each time we repeat a sin we give the devil more power over us in that area. We literally build a stronghold in our spirit. Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey---whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. (Romans 6:16 emphasis mine)

So are we forever lost in the darkness, falling in the abyss? No! Paul continues, Thanks be to God---through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:25a) We cannot free ourselves from strongholds anymore than the ancient Israelites could free themselves from Egypt, but our deliverer is Jesus Christ and he is more than able to set us free. He does, however, require our cooperation.

First, we admit to the Lord we have allowed the devil to produce a stronghold in us and that we are powerless to overcome it. Second, we confess the sin and ask Jesus to forgive us and set us free. Third, we stop both thinking about the sin and doing the sin. Fourth, we find scripture which addresses the issue and read it, out loud, every day. Fifth, we ask the Holy Spirit to give us the power to resist the sin and we rededicate ourselves to following the road of righteousness and freedom, every day. Finally, we believe that Christ can and will deliver us. If you don’t have that faith, ask the Lord for it and He will give it to you. If we fall, we get back up, confess, and once again turn from the sin.

Just as you built the stronghold one occurrence at a time, through the power of Christ you destroy the power one victory at a time. Every time you are obedient in thought and/or action, you break a piece out of that castle called a stronghold. Some people seem to tear it down quickly as if with a wrecking ball and some slowly stone by stone. But remember, victory is always worth the effort and time. And there is nobody and no sin which is too powerful for Jesus. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Too many Christians live without victory and power in their lives. They know that they shouldn’t sin but have no idea how to conquer it. Many give up and assume it’s hopeless and that they just need to go on the best they can with that heavy bag of sin dragging behind them everywhere they go and keeping them from leaping with the joy and strength of the Lord. This ought not to be. Jesus wants us to be free!

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1 emphasis mine)

Article Source: http://www.articles.narrowisthepath.com/Article/Victory/160