What must we do to walk as victorious believers?

[Gideons300]

A brother in another forum asked the question, and it is an excellent one. Are we required to obey the two commandments? The two great commandments? All the above. None of the above? Here was my response. I pray you take it to heart and open yourselves to possibilities thatcup til now we have been blinded to.

*********** ***

No maatter what our answer may be, we will find failure will be our result. And why? We are still under the grip of the law.... i.e. self effort. The law was meant to be our schoolmaster to bring us, humbled and broken, with no confidence in our flesh, to the feet of Christ. But has it done it’s work in us?

I hear men say that the only commandments now are to love God with our whole hearts and the love our neighbor as ourselves. Well, guess what? If we truly set our hearts to do so, we again find abject failure. Is this not the truth, if we are totally honest with ourselves?

So what gives? Even though we are no longer under the law, we still find failure. Why? Because the essence of the law.... self effort... still binds us tightly, so that the best we can do is Romans 7, not Romans 8

Most have settled in in their prison cells, content with failure and forgiveness, but Jesus promised us FREE INDEED. And that is found by our living as Christians in Romans 8.

So how do we escape this terrible dilemma? We have to die, for that is the only way the power of the law is satisfied, releasing us from our prisons of self and what naturally follows.... self effort.

We read this, and our hearts sink. Most of us have tried to die, to deny self, yet year after year our old carnal self loving nature remains. Why? Because we have just looped back to trying again. Grrrrr.....

So.... what IS the answer? How do we finally walk under the easy yoke? How do we ever escape Romans 7 and walk as new creatures, as overcomers, not as the overcome? Is it even possible?

Oh, yes! I pray you believe me. Yes!! For even the weakest among us, bound by addictive sins that rule over many of God’s elect with an iron fist, God promises freedom from the power of the world and its baubles, the flesh and its desires and the devil hi,self and his temptations and accusations.

So what is the answer? If we have to die to break the law’s authority over us, and we cannot do that, how can we ever stare down the devil when temptation comes and do so with confidence, even joy?

The answer to our Romans 7 dilemma is found in the preceding chapter... Romans 6. Here we are told two truths, first that we... our old us.... died when Christ died. And secondlay, that when Christ rose to newness of life, so DID we. Past tense.

Oh, we have known this, and accept it as true, and still, no change has occurred? What gives? Oh, I pray all who read this listen closely. This is the key we have been missing to unlock the overcomer that resides within us.

We must appropriate those truths as OUR truths. That is what Paul tells us when he instructs us to DO something. You asked what we must do? Here it is.

“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 6:11

What I am sharing is not theory. 12 years ago, God gave this to me at my lowest. And when I finally had my blinders removed, and actually believed the old me did not need to die but WAS dead, I yielded myself to God. But this time something was different. I yielded myself to Him as one who is alive from the dead!

And with that, the law’s chain that had bound me to sin for so many years, even as a Christian.... fell to the ground.

What do we have to DO that we might work the works of God? BELIEVE HIM. We are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God. When we finally step out to believe that amazing truth as OUR truth, we step into agreement with God and abiding in Him opens up as not only possibly but assured!

Sorry this has gone longer than I intended, but concise answers is not my gift lol. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them and I will do my best to answer you.

Blessings,

Gideon

 

[royal priest]

As usual, you provide solid truth that is well articulated. Have you written any books or considered it? Your theology and writing style reminds me very much of author, Jerry Bridges.

 

[Not me]

A brother in another forum asked the question, and it is an excellent one. Are we required to obey the two commandments? The two great commandments? All the above. None of the above? Here was my response. I pray you take it to heart and open yourselves to possibilities thatcup til now we have been blinded to.

*********** ***

No maatter what our answer may be, we will find failure will be our result. And why? We are still under the grip of the law.... i.e. self effort. The law was meant to be our schoolmaster to bring us, humbled and broken, with no confidence in our flesh, to the feet of Christ. But has it done it’s work in us?

I hear men say that the only commandments now are to love God with our whole hearts and the love our neighbor as ourselves. Well, guess what? If we truly set our hearts to do so, we again find abject failure. Is this not the truth, if we are totally honest with ourselves?

So what gives? Even though we are no longer under the law, we still find failure. Why? Because the essence of the law.... self effort... still binds us tightly, so that the best we can do is Romans 7, not Romans 8

Most have settled in in their prison cells, content with failure and forgiveness, but Jesus promised us FREE INDEED. And that is found by our living as Christians in Romans 8.

So how do we escape this terrible dilemma? We have to die, for that is the only way the power of the law is satisfied, releasing us from our prisons of self and what naturally follows.... self effort.

We read this, and our hearts sink. Most of us have tried to die, to deny self, yet year after year our old carnal self loving nature remains. Why? Because we have just looped back to trying again. Grrrrr.....

So.... what IS the answer? How do we finally walk under the easy yoke? How do we ever escape Romans 7 and walk as new creatures, as overcomers, not as the overcome? Is it even possible?

Oh, yes! I pray you believe me. Yes!! For even the weakest among us, bound by addictive sins that rule over many of God’s elect with an iron fist, God promises freedom from the power of the world and its baubles, the flesh and its desires and the devil hi,self and his temptations and accusations.

So what is the answer? If we have to die to break the law’s authority over us, and we cannot do that, how can we ever stare down the devil when temptation comes and do so with confidence, even joy?

The answer to our Romans 7 dilemma is found in the preceding chapter... Romans 6. Here we are told two truths, first that we... our old us.... died when Christ died. And secondlay, that when Christ rose to newness of life, so DID we. Past tense.

Oh, we have known this, and accept it as true, and still, no change has occurred? What gives? Oh, I pray all who read this listen closely. This is the key we have been missing to unlock the overcomer that resides within us.

We must appropriate those truths as OUR truths. That is what Paul tells us when he instructs us to DO something. You asked what we must do? Here it is.

“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 6:11

What I am sharing is not theory. 12 years ago, God gave this to me at my lowest. And when I finally had my blinders removed, and actually believed the old me did not need to die but WAS dead, I yielded myself to God. But this time something was different. I yielded myself to Him as one who is alive from the dead!

And with that, the law’s chain that had bound me to sin for so many years, even as a Christian.... fell to the ground.

What do we have to DO that we might work the works of God? BELIEVE HIM. We are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God. When we finally step out to believe that amazing truth as OUR truth, we step into agreement with God and abiding in Him opens up as not only possibly but assured!

Sorry this has gone longer than I intended, but concise answers is not my gift lol. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them and I will do my best to answer you.

Blessings,

Gideon

Always a pleasure to read and feed off you your relationship with Christ. Your writings are a expression of the truths God has revealed in you. Blessings as you fulfill your calling of God in your generation.

Blessings,

Much love in Christ, Not me

 

[Tharseo]

What I am sharing is not theory. 12 years ago, God gave this to me at my lowest. And when I finally had my blinders removed, and actually believed the old me did not need to die but WAS dead, I yielded myself to God. But this time something was different. I yielded myself to Him as one who is alive from the dead!

And with that, the law’s chain that had bound me to sin for so many years, even as a Christian.... fell to the ground.

Could I ask you more details about it? What actually happened to you? How did your mind, your thoughts, your heart change? What "victories" have you achieved in this victorious life? I am very curious to know.

I guess I can share mine, but I think you are more experienced in this regard.

 

[Gideons300]

Could I ask you more details about it? What actually happened to you? How did your mind, your thoughts, your heart change? What "victories" have you achieved in this victorious life? I am very curious to know.

I guess I can share mine, but I think you are more experienced in this regard.

I have another post out there with my testimony as to my visitation 12 years ago. You are welcome to read it and if you cannot find it, I will be glad to send it to you by PM.

My fear is that people will get their eyes on the miracle of God talking to me, as opposed to really hearing what He actually revealed to me and told me to share for it is for ALL of God’s children, no matter how weak, no matter how bound

But as to your question, it is a fair and good one. Let me see if I can expound a bit.

I had been a Christian.... and a serious one for almost 38 years when God visited me at my lowest. Addicted to inappropriate content by age 12, When I got saved I had great hope that this disgusting addiction that I had a love/hate relationship would be finally defeated in my life. Boy, was I wrong.

I was told by those in the church I was involved with to not worry about it, for we are now under grace, but they simply had no explanation for the many verses that promised victory over sin and the many warnings as to the effect sin has on our faith. Since I refused what I call “greasy grace” where God winks at our sins but sends others to Hell for the same actions, I naturally fell into legalism and leaning on the arm of the flesh.

I grew hard core, angry, judgmental. I memorized large portions of scripture. I fasted up to 21 days at a time on just water. It may have starved my body but it simply fed my religious pride. I was trying harder than others, so surely God would reward me, right? And if God was a hard God for me to serve, by gosh, I was going to make sure God was hard on them too. LOL.

The only thing I can see I did right was refuse to lower the standard of holiness and victory. Whereas others simply excused their continuing in sin with a wave of the hand and the excuse that no one is perfect, I could never being myself to do so. It left me totally frustrated and defeated. The sin I hated grew and the more I struggled, the tighter it bound me.

So that night twelve years ago, I finally waved my white flag and gave up. I knew nothing else to try. No more resolutions. No more new leaves to turn over. All had led me to deeper failure. I was the poster boy for Romans 7, and despite what Icheard from the pulpit that there was no condemnation to His children, I was condemned even if I mowed my lawn, for that was ‘fixing up MY kingdom’. LOL. I was a wreck.

So, after my visitation, and I mean immediately, I had the mother of all paradigm shifts. The weakness and failure I had wallowed in for 38 years was replaced by peace and joy.

What I share is NOT sinless perfectionism. We still CAN sin. But as we grow in faith as to who Christ has made us, holding our shields high that the old me is not needing to die, but already dead, to my amazement, fruits of the Spirot began to grow. Sanctification IS a process, but until we align ourselves with God, believing that we DID die with Him, we may well be saved, but we are never safe. The rest of God is never experienced because we have never yet ceased from our own works.

I will be honest and I pray none take this as pride. It is a simple statement of fact. For the next two years, there was not one time I was conscious of crossing the line into willful sin. inappropriate content and masturbation were GONE. I began to believe it was sinless perfctionism and that I could’t sin, so it was time God instructed me on how holding up our shield of faith, and growing in faith actually works. I have much, much to learn, but I pray God can be sensed in my words. Sometimes I read what God gives me to write and I am dumbfounded at the depth of truth coming out of me, but it is not me. It is Christ in me.

Have I slipped in these past 12 years. Yes. Why? Because my faith was weak. But as a I have trusted Him to keep me from falling, He has done exactly that, praise God. One of the biggest lessons I had to learn was what to do IF... not when but IF I slip.

Does that slip mean it is not true that a I am a new creature and that the old me had passed away? Not at all. Satan is not after getting us to sin. He is after our testimony as to who we are. So, IF we slip, we confess. We repent. But we cannot neglect the final part of the restoration He offers. We hold up our shield of faith again that we are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God, and we do so IMMEDIATELY.

It is actually quite amusing action to see Satan totally foisted, getting ready to really lower the boom on us because of our slip, telling us it is all not true, only to see us standing fact again in the liberty wherewith Christ has set us free indeed.

I have far, far to go in my pursuit of God fully transforming me into the image of His Son. But I would also be remiss if I did not praise God for changing me from a self loving, self hating wretch of a man, angry at the world, into someone I actually like when a I look in the mirror.

God is real, abiding in Him is real, and is the brothright of every child of God. And in these last days, every true sheep will be awakened to the power of godlinss and to the fact that the promises of God are yea and amen.

Up til now, we have viewed our weakness as a himderance to our pursuit of God, but in truth, as we see how hopeless it is to gain the victory because of our weaknesses and addictive sins, that weakness is the very thing that allows us to do the ONE thing He asks us to do to ‘do the works of God’. And what is that?

“Believe on Him whom He has sent.”

Can our God be THAT good? Oh, yes! Yes He can... and IS!!

I pray this helps.

Blessings,

Gideon

 

[Gideons300]

Always a pleasure to read and feed off you your relationship with Christ. Your writings are a expression of the truths God has revealed in you. Blessings as you fulfill your calling of God in your generation.

Blessings,

Much love in Christ, Not me

So good to hear from you, my dear friend. God has been good to us even when we are blinded to it. But how wonderful it is to finally see how good the gospel really is!

Blessings,

Gids

 

[Gideons300]

As usual, you provide solid truth that is well articulated. Have you written any books or considered it? Your theology and writing style reminds me very much of author, Jerry Bridges.

Dear RP, thank you for your kind words. I have written tons over the years but it is all loose with no ‘organization’ However, I do feel led to share what God shares with me. Pray that He will help me put all this into something easy to read that flows and makes sense. My only goal is to see others find the Free Indeed He clearly promised.... as HE defined it in John 8.

If I can be of any further help to you, you have but to ask.

Blessings.

Gids

 

[royal priest]

Free Indeed

The title of your first book

 

[Gideons300]

The title of your first book

I like it!

 

[Not me]

So good to hear from you, my dear friend. God has been good to us even when we are blinded to it. But how wonderful it is to finally see how good the gospel really is!

Blessings,

Gids

Blessings, yes indeed! God is good to all that call upon Him. To actually understand, and know what our salvation in Christ consists of. Has been, and continues to be a prayer of mine. For I feel, if I/we/everyone understood what our salvation in Christ truly consisted of. We would be in need of nothing, and I mean nothing, in it’s largest and most complete meaning.

Blessings as we strive to make this a living reality in our life’s.

Much love in Christ, Not me

 

[Gideons300]

Blessings, yes indeed! God is good to all that call upon Him. To actually understand, and know what our salvation in Christ consists of, has been, and continues to be a prayer of mine. For I feel if I/we/everyone understood what our salvation in Christ truly consisted of. We would be in need of nothing and I mean nothing in it’s largest and most complete meaning.

Blessings as we strive to make that a living reality in our life’s.

Much love in Christ, Not me

You posts reflect the love you have for Him and the extent of grace He has shown you. They never fail to make me smile.

Blessings to you

Me