Victory!

It is easy to focus on the battle in front of us and the darkness around us. In one sense, that perspective is necessary. The reality of evil in the world and its manifestations in our lives keeps us on our ‘spiritual toes’, so to speak. When we clearly see the world as it is, we know how to pray and repent.

But in another sense that perspective can be a trap, one that is set for us every day by our enemy, satan. It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that evil is winning, or worse, that evil has won. When we find ourselves in that pit, our hope begins to dim. And a life without hope is a defeated life, a life of fear.

When we find ourselves saying, “The world is so evil, I am helpless in the face of the darkness” we have made a wrong turn on our journey with Jesus. We have turned away from Him and His promises and veered into the deadend of self.

When we begin to think that way, we need to get back on the right road. Isaiah says, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way. Walk in it” (Isaiah 30: 21). The ‘way’ is the way of the cross; the voice is the Holy Spirit. Because the truth is that in the darkest situations, believers walk in the light, on the way of Hope. Our hope is not in ourselves, our hope is in the Lord. “I lift my eyes up to the hills – where does my help (and therefore the source of my hope) come from? My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121: 1,2). Jesus made it all; He rules and reigns over it all today. That is power. And His power was most visibly and tremendously exhibited on the cross.

We are men and women of hope, joy, peace, and power because, and only because, of what Jesus did on the cross. Because of the cross and the resurrection, Christians can claim the truth that Paul proclaimed in his letter to the Colossians:

“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory . . . For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority . . . And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 1: 27; 2: 9, 10, 15).

Jesus has won the decisive victory over the powers and principalities of evil; they are defeated. Jesus in us is our hope and our victory over the darkness – in our own lives, the lives of those we love, and all who we pray for, because in Christ we have access to the same power that He used to defeat the enemy when He died and rose from the dead.

Paul implores us to remember the hope to which He has called us, our glorious inheritance, and the great power for those who believe. “That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead” (Ephesians 1: 19, 20). We have that power!

And, “When Jesus called the 12 together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Luke 9: 1, 2).

We have been given access to the same power – the power to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, release light into the darkness, and defeat the power of evil – the power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead. And we have been given authority to use that power, when we use it in the name of Jesus.

Because of the cross, our right relationship to God has been restored. We can now fulfill the purpose for which God created us – to be rulers on earth in partnership with God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, indwelling in each of us. He made us a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned us with glory and honor. He has made us ruler over the works of His hands placed everything beneath our feet (Psalm 8).

We have power and authority over the darkness. Use it wisely, but use it.

It has been said that the first word of the Gospel is ‘repent’. The first words spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of Mark are, “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the Gospel.” But I think the first word of the Gospel is ‘Kingdom”. ‘Repent’ is the first command. The second is ‘believe’.

In my last post I listed the desolation I see in America and the world. We must repent of our role in this desolation. But we fall into the trap when we allow our eyes to dwell on the darkness. It is there, and we need to see it for what it is, but our eyes should always be fixed on our hope and our victory – Jesus. The enemy will not win – he has already lost. He will not steal our children, kill our joy, peace, and hope; destroy our faith, wreck our relationships, our churches, or our nation. In the power and authority over the darkness given to us by our Savior we are and will be victorious for His glory. And as we battle the darkness, we will become stronger. We will be transformed. Believe!!

Believe also the truth of who we are in Christ.

Remember the great words recorded in Hebrews:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 2: 1 – 3).

We will not ignore the darkness, but we will not allow it to overwhelm or defeat us either. We will attack, we will take back all that satan has claimed, and we will never give up, no matter what the enemy throws at us. As we walk in the Spirit, we will be joyful, full of peace, and hope because we know the truth – Jesus is Lord over all, always working out His plan of salvation. Our hope is not about wishing for an outcome, but the confident, joyful expectation that Christ has won the victory, not just when heaven comes down to earth, but now.

Jesus won the victory over the darkness and Christ is in us. Therefore, we have the same power over the darkness that Jesus had. He told us we will do even greater things. But we must confidently appropriate our inheritance and we must engage, especially through prayer, releasing living water into the world. And to do this effectively, we must stay intimately connected to Jesus, living in His presence. As we do, we will see the same victory in our families, our neighborhoods, our cities, our nation, and the world. Christ in us – His power, joy, hope, peace, and His faith are our inheritance.

Brothers and sisters, we are at war. God is sovereign, but we must act! Augustine wrote about this messy, mysterious place of supernatural power and human effort: “Without God, we cannot; without us, He will not”.

Onward Christian soldiers,

John