The Path to Victory: Remembrance and Resurrection (VCL)

John 12:24 Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces a lot of grain. The one who loves his life will destroy it, and the one who hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there my servant will also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

A Place of Remembrance

Remember that all your sins were settled once and for all at Calvary. You must understand that not only did Jesus die for my sins, but I died with Him and in Him. Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me. 2 Cor 5:14 One died for all, then were all dead. Romans 6:4: We are buried with Him by baptism like Christ was raised up, and we should walk in newness of life. You must assent in your mind and heart the truth - that we died with Him. He must increase, and I must decrease. Jesus Only - God is calling me to die with Jesus.

My calling must magnify the Redeemer. I must know that Christ in me is the hope of glory. I must beg Him to make me indifferent to the trifling concerns of this life so that I may serve the Lord Jesus with a willing mind and follow His holy example.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Have you died with Christ?
• Have you died to your reputation?
• Have you died to your point of view?
• Have you died to your self-esteem?
• Have you died even to some of the precious, normal, natural things of life that are not God's will for you?
• Are you facing life's future with an ambition to serve God?
• Is it going to be the mission field, or is it going to be your relationships that haven't been called to the place to which God has called you?

A Place of Resurrection

A place where reproach has been rolled away.

Ephesians 2:5-6 Even when we were dead because of our offenses, made us alive together with the messiah (by grace you have been saved), raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly realm in the Messiah Jesus.

Victory is found in the liberty with which Jesus Christ has set us free, deliverance from sin. We are not only identified with Jesus in His death, but we are also one with Him in His resurrection, and we are one with Him in His ascension, far above all principalities and powers.

Romans 8:23 Not only the creation, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit also groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

We wait here in the flesh, in a body that quickly fades away. But we have available to us a life that is seated with Him in heavenly places, which, when He ascended into heaven, is poured out into the hearts of believers. In the flesh, I am on the earth, but in the Spirit, I am in heaven. In the flesh, I am subject to the devil. In the Spirit, I am with my Lord in glory.

Which is going to control my life, my body or my spirit? Which will decide my Christian calling, this flesh of mortality and defeat or the Spirit of liberty that Jesus has put within me? Am I going through my Christian life bound as a victim to this body of sin, temptation, and desire? Or by faith, am I going to take my place where I am in Spirit with the Lord Jesus and say to the devil, "Get out. I'll have no part with you."? I have two choices. Either I am going to let myself be victimized by the flesh, or I am going to let myself be conquered by the Holy Spirit.

Faith makes all this real, and only Satan can put doubts in my mind and tell me lies when God's Word says it is true. Any Christian who, by faith, takes his position on victory ground is invincible. If I step in by faith and claim that life which is far above all principality and power, I am beyond and out of reach of the devil.

Victory is only in the measure in which I have been humbled. It is triumph only in the measure I have gone down with the Lord Jesus to the grave.