New Life in Christ – Raised to Conquer
When Jesus Christ ascended back to the Father in heaven, He had achieved decisive victory against every enemy that could arise against us. He broke every chain of sin and darkness and brought us into His glorious life and light.
Ephesians 1:22–23 NKJV And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Christ’s resurrection and ascension to the Father’s right hand has an immediate and significant impact on us.
What Christ achieved by conquering death and the grave has brought us into His victory, power, and blessing. Our new life in Christ is presided over and regulated by the Lord Jesus Christ’s victory, power and life that has brought us into peace with God and access to this grace in which we stand. (Romans 5:1-2)
Isaiah 45:2 NKJV ‘I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron.
Sustaining the victory that has been gained often seems like an insurmountable and unachievable task.
Do you ever feel that you gain ground and then go back and repeat the same thing again? Have you felt that you took one step forward and two steps back?
You should know that you did not gain this new life of victory in Christ by your own works.
Christ working in us is what gives us the victory. Somehow we must learn how to sustain or hold on in faith to the victories that Christ has gained. Our faith and trust in the Lord calls us to press forward toward complete victory in every area of our lives.
The way that we are going to sustain and hold on to this victory may seem strange to our old human nature.
Our victory and life as a conqueror is totally dependent on the work of Someone else and our faith and trust in Him. It is dependent on Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit revealing our position and transformation in Christ.
Jesus Christ is our Victor and Victory.
Philippians 3:8-10 That is why we pray, “that I may gain Christ and be found in Him… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”
This is the process of the Holy Spirit’s work to conform us into the image of Christ. (Romans 8:29) The depth of our “knowing Christ” brings us into the fullness of “His appearing” and our transformation. Gaining Christ reveals in us the depth of victory that He has gained. Through His sufferings, we gain the benefit of His healing, cleansing, redemption, atonement. Through His death, we gain power over sin, power over Satan, power over the forces of darkness. Through the power of His resurrection, we gain continued victory over every dark power that assaults and attacks. Through the power of His resurrection and victory, we gain access into the position wherein Christ stands.
God wants to break every chain from our lives and make us invincible champions in Christ.
He has provided everything needed for sustainable victory in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:31-38 gives God’s promise of this complete victory. If God was so extravagant to give us His Son, “will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”
Romans 8:31 AMP What then shall we say to all this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?
These tremendous present gains produce in us a continued life of victory and power in Christ.
The life of overcoming victory and power is impossible without a revelation and appearing of Christ in our lives. Ephesians 3:8-21 talks about the unsearchable riches of Christ that God wants to make known to the church. These boundless, incalculable, and exhaustless riches of Christ are already prepared for us in Christ. Since they are prepared for us, we must press on to know and experience them.
Ephesians 3:19 AMP [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!
What exactly is the appearing of Christ in our lives?
In Acts 9, when Saul was confronted with an appearance of Christ it dramatically changed the course of His life.
He was an enemy of the gospel and Christ when the Lord appeared and Saul became a new man. When the Lord Jesus Christ confronted him by name, he asked “What do You want me to do?” (Acts 9:6) The appearance of Christ took Saul out of his old destructive life patterns into a new life, hope and future and made him Paul the Apostle of Christ.
In Acts 22:17-18, Paul was in the Temple in Jerusalem praying, and fell into a trance and he saw the Lord.
The Lord told him to get out of town quickly for they will not receive your testimony about Me.
In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul spoke of his visions and revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The experience was so great that he did not know if he was in his body or out of his body. He said he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, that are beyond the power of man to put into words, which a man is not permitted to utter. There in the third heaven, in the presence of God, he had unspeakable revelations.
The appearance of Christ happens in countless and varied ways, phases or stages.
Christ appears when you put your faith and trust in Him and you are saved and your life is transformed. Christ appears to us when the word of God is quickened by the Holy Spirit and shows us the unsearchable riches of Christ. He did that when He called you out of darkness into this marvelous light and new life in Christ. Christ may appear to you when you fast and pray and draw nearer to God. The Holy Spirit is constantly revealing Christ and everything that He said.
Colossians 3:1-3 NKJV If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
What is this saying?
Your life will be far better if it is lived in the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit. The power and victory of the resurrected, ascended and glorified Christ working in you is what destroys the powers of darkness. This brings to our focus Christ’s words: “your kingdom come” and “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This becomes more than a prayer when it becomes the reality of our life in Christ. The key to sustaining the victories we gain is by developing a true and full trust and reliance on God. If you are not sustaining the victories that have gained, you need to find out who you are relying on. Where have you put your faith and trust?
Psalm 23:1-3 NKJV The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul…
Get this word down in you.
God has planned your success. When we get God’s Word in our mind and heart, it will change the way we live. The Lord’s finished work will give you salvation and sustainable victory over your sins and from the power of Satan. After the Lord delivered Moses and Israel from Egypt, He told God’s people, “You will never see your oppressors again.” Moses told God’s people, “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” Without a doubt, God is able to give us sustainable victories. Watch this in Biblical history where God kept telling His people He would give them victory. On a regular basis, they magnified their troubles and lost faith in God. In the midst of your situation, keep your eyes on the Lord.
Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.
God had a word for Abram that is for every believer.
Genesis 15:1 NIV The Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
God had a similar word for Isaiah.
Isaiah 43:1-2 NKJV Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.
You did not get into the camp of Christ the Conqueror because you did “good works.”
Ephesians 2:4–6 NKJV But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
This is the unmerited favor of God. You are made a conqueror because God is merciful, loving and kind. He raised you up and brought you into victory in Christ when you were dead in trespasses, sins and offenses. Without God’s help and mercy, you would not be able to stand in the victory wherein Christ has made you free. He has turned our mourning into dancing. He has put off the sackcloth of our distresses and death and clothed us with His gladness, (Psalms 30:11). God has made us great.
Psalm 18:35 says: “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.”
David knew that God lifted him up and that he was nothing when God in mercy and love claimed him. David said, “My soul will sing your praise and not be silent. I will give thanks to you forever.” He knew that the Lord gave him victory.
Do you see what the Lord has done for you?
I just can’t stop praising the Lord. Whatever may come, I must praise Him. Whatever I do, I must praise Him. He has saved me and raised me and has filled me with the Holy Ghost. He is my Healer, my Deliverer and King. He has rescued me and changed my life. I would never have this victory if the Lord had not shown me mercy. He has brought me out and He has brought me into His glory, grace and love.
God prepared you for good works.
Ephesians 2:10 NKJV For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
God has brought you into Christ’s victory so that you could do the work of a conqueror.
That is why He gave you the whole armor of God and has prepared you for works of righteousness and faith. He has given you the Holy Spirit so you could do greater things and He has given you His Own victory, so you could stand against every evil foe. He has prepared you for works of victory and power. God has made it possible for you to overcome every evil thing by the blood of Christ and the word of your testimony.
Since He has prepared us for this, we should be busy.
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Make every word and deed bring glory to God and conform to the Lord Jesus Christ. You have been changed. You did not earn this. The Lord brought you into Christ’s victory and glory. Since He brought you up into this glory, grace and favor, you should do the works of an overcomer in Christ.
Hebrews 11 tells of many who rose up into the camp of a conqueror.
Hebrews 11:33–34 NKJV Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Think about what they did.
Hebrews 11:39–40 NKJV And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
God has provided something better for us.
Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been brought into His victory. Through Him, we live in victory and persevere. Through Christ, we can go from victory into victory. Keep on looking to the Lord your conquering King. He brought you into a higher calling and a greater victory. Do not be weary in doing good because the Lord is with you and He will finish what He started in you. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might and run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking away from everything that hinders and distracts. Strengthen yourself in the power of Christ’s victory.
