I was curious, so I went to my internet browser, typed in the title and pushed enter. My screen was filled with books entitled How to Live the Victorious Christian Life, Victorious Christian Living, The Secret of Living a Victorious Christian Life, Life of a Victorious Christian...how many ways can we rephrase this title...Ah....Thirty One Days of Victory...seriously, the list went on and on.
Now that I know there is a gold mine of information on this topic, I'm a little perplexed. If there are so many books on living the victorious Christian life, why aren't more Christians really living victoriously? Why do so many fall away or compromise over time instead of staying strong, remaining faithful...or just simply, sticking by the "stuff"?
I've been thinking about this topic for a while now when a phrase stated during a Sunday message caught my attention: You can only live victorious if you're actually in the battle fighting for victory.
Well that makes sense. It's one thing to go about just living the Christian life: reading your Bible, praying, going to church, loving your neighbor. It's another thing to be totally sold out, fighting against the flesh, battling to do right...doing what needs to be done so that you CAN be victorious.
Romans 8 reminds us that in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. (Rom. 8:37) But if you read the chapter in its entirety you read about the difference between walking in the flesh and walking in the Spirit. One brings bondage while the other brings freedom.
The same chapter warns of suffering that may come from walking in the Spirit: the trials, the struggles...the times when your heart will be so heavy that you won't even know how to pray. But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. (Rom 8:26)
Yet through all this we are guaranteed that all things will work together for good...who shall separate us from the love of Christ...Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors.
You may like the idea of being a conqueror, but you can't be a one if you don't get into the fight. You can't be victorious by sitting passively on the sidelines, not really wanting to get involved, just doing the bare necessities of Christian living. It comes at a price: blood, sweat, tears, prayer and lots and lots and lots and lots of work.
And no, that wasn't a typo.
In the days we live in, the time for sitting on the sidelines is over. We don't have the luxury of being status quo. Either you get in the game and fight to live victorious or you stay where your at, never getting involved and never winning.
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (1 John 5:3-4)
Simply Living Victorious,
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