Lesson EIGHT
Book A
VICTORY
You are complete in Him, who is the head of all '(principality and power."
Colossians 2:10
NEVER DEFEATED
The Scripture says that In Christ Jesus, we are complete. Colossians 2:10 We are given a totally new nature, on accepting the Lord Jesus as Saviour. This nature is completely different and opposite from the old one. In fact the Bible says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold ALL things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17 So through the new birth or the "born again" experience, we have a situation where we no longer walk according to the old nature. The Bible says, that the old has already " passed away" . Now everything is brand new. As the Lord Jesus Christ said, "Scripture can never be broken", I believe this Word in preference to my feelings on the issue.
JOHN BECAME MORE THAN A CONQUEROR
John Gaughan had been an alcoholic for years. He was not a drunkard but a total alcoholic. He knew that there was a demon inside of him driving him to drink. It was insatiable. He was never satisfied. Normal cravings weren't enough with John. He soaked himself in drink from the first moment he took one. John had tried many things. He had given up drinking many times and returned to it defeated. Even when dry John was simply a "dry alcoholic". The cravings never left and going back was natural to him. He was " completely defeated by this problem. Completely bound. John became a born again Christian and even then he was still a drunk. But he knew that something had changed inside of him. He would begin to shout at the devil within him and tell the devil that he had to go! That he was leaving and that he would never come back.
Faith began to well up on the inside as he confessed this and spoke it out. Sitting drinking in a car one day John stomped his feet on the car floor and shouted the devil's time had come. His faith had grown with what he knew that God had done, and he never had a drink again. It wasn't enough for him to become a Christian, but it was the beginning. He began to realise that the devil has to let go of Christians because of what Jesus has won for us in our lives. Total victory. John now plays Christian music in a band in Faith Ministries Church, here in Leeds
MORE THAN A CONQUEROR
"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved "' us." Romans 8:37 In our new creation we are different from the old one. Before we were under the weather". Now we are "more than conquerors".
Before we were shaped by what people did or did not do. Now we are shaped by what God says we are. We do not belong to the earth any more. We are aliens to it and its ways. "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us "' by God." 1 Corinthians 2:12 The Spirit that we have been given is not of this world but of heaven. It is given so that we can appreciate what, in reality, we have been given by "'God.
SEATED IN HEAVENLY PLACES
Our spirit man is already "seated in heavenly places". It is not waiting for victory but already has it. It is a position, freely given to us by "' God, through the Lord Jesus Christ. "Raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in "'Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:6 God has placed within us a position of total victory. Putting us above the "' things of this world, He has made us to defeat it. Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place." 2 Corinthians 2:14 "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus "' Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57 God gives us the victory, not circumstances. God has declared it and it "'cannot be broken!.
In fact one of the redemptive names is Jehovah Nissi which means "The Lord our banner or the Lord our victory"....He is the God of war...the warrior God, Sabboath too. But the banner is a banner for victory and this is the sure sign that He only leads in victory. Praise God
HOW DO WE APPROPRIATE IT ?
"' "We walk by faith, not by sight" 2 Cor 5:7 We appropriate all the New Covenant details and promises by faith. Jesus was tempted by the devil to mistrust God and to misplace God's trust in Him, but He destroyed the arguments of the devil by countering with, It is written..." "It is written...", "It is written..." God says that we have the victory and that He leads us into victory only, not another way. Doubts emanating from the kingdom of darkness tell us that this is not so. That we are to be defeated. But these doubts are not truth. What God says is the truth. So we destroy these doubts by the truth. God says, "It is written '',
GOD SAID IT: WE BELIEVE IT: THAT SETTLES IT!
OUR WEAPONS DESTROY DOUBTS "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into "'"captivity to the obedience of Christ." 2 Cor 10:4 " Our weapons are given to us by the Holy Spirit and can bring every thought into captivity. We have been given power over our own thought life. It might not seem so. Our thoughts may dominate us, sneeringly. But God says that it is so, and that makes it so, even though we cannot see it in the "'natural. "' The Lord tells us to renew our minds, however. Romans 12:2 . We renew our minds according to His Word. What He says we are, that is what we begin to see ourselves as. As we begin to see it through the eyes of faith, so it "'becomes reality in our lives. "'
WE WALK BY FAITH AND NOT BY SIGHT
The faith-walk enables us to do the miraculous. Peter stepped out of the boat onto the water because Jesus had told him to, "Come". His faith came "' by hearing, and hearing the Word of God. Romans 10:17 However, Peter lost his faith when he began to doubt. He doubted because his brain started to think of the impossible thing that he was doing. Moved by the circumstances, he began to realise that he was walking on "' water. People can't walk on water. Then he began to sink. However the Lord Jesus had told him to come. Would God's Son tell you to do something that would hurt you? No. But this trust and faith was wrested from him as he began to take into account the circumstances around him. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,." Eph 6:12 . But we do wrestle. We wrestle doubts, unbelief, disobedience, error, deception, hatred and malice, just to state a few. It is a fight but a good one because we win
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NEW CREATIONS BOOK
CHAPTER EIGHT
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