How to Live a Victorious Christian Life
Have you ever felt defeated? I mean really defeated, like you just flat messed up your life, your marriage, your relationships, your job, or your walk with Jesus? Well, you may have never been in this position, but I can humbly admit to you I have messed up royally in all these areas, more than once. I have experienced the heart-wrenching defeat of sin in my life, and I have witnessed its victory over the lives of other faithful believers. How does this happen? How do we go from living victorious and being fruitful for Christ, to experiencing crushing defeat?
An Old Testament story in the book of Joshua provides some insight into how this can happen in the lives of faithful believers. Joshua had taken over for Moses and he led the Israelites into the Promised Land. As Joshua and the Israelites defeated the city of Jericho (Joshua 6), God told his people to destroy everything and not to take any spoils of war. All seems well until the next battle with a much weaker opponent. Israel goes to fight against the people of Ai and are defeated and Joshua 7:5 tells us, “… the hearts of the people melted and became as water.” What happened? What was the difference? How could they experience the miraculous victory against the much more powerful Jericho, but now are wallowing in defeat against Ai?
This mirrors our own lives and just as with Israel, those around us are baffled by the change in direction and circumstances in our lives. A closer look at the text in Joshua 7 reveals to us the cause of defeat. At the beginning of Chapter 7 in verse 1 we learn, “the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe fo Judah, took some of the things under the ban, therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel.”
Joshua, Israel’s leader was more than frustrated. He was distraught and heartbroken and so he went to the Lord to figure out what happened. God tells Joshua the cause of the defeat was that someone took what they were not supposed to take. Look at God’s word in verse 12 of Chapter 7, “I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst.” Israel was supposed to sacrifice everything to the Lord, but Achan chose to deliberately disobey the word of the Lord and he took some of the silver and gold from Jericho. Thus, God removed his blessings from the people.
From this scene we learn several things that are important to living a victorious Christian life:
1. We lose the victory when we disobey the Word of God
Whenever you stray from God’s word (the Bible) you can be assured you will not have the blessings of God on or in your life. God will not bless those who violate his will.
2. Only God’s plan guarantees victory
There is no path to victory that is not God’s path to victory. You cannot will yourself to victory through intelligence or strength. You will not be able to sidestep God’s plan and substitute his plan with your plan.
3. We can’t mix the things of the world with the things of God
Achan tried to mix the unholy things of Jericho that were meant for destruction with the holy things of God. There is a great temptation in the life of the Christian to take the things of the world and place them among the holy things of God. The things of God are not compatible with the things of the world. When you try to mix the holy with the unholy, you are headed to spiritual defeat.
There is a great temptation in the life of the Christian to take the things of the world and place them among the holy things of God.
After God reveals that Achan is guilty of Israel’s defeat, Joshua confronts Achan, and he confesses. Achan is then judged by the Lord for his sin and upon this judgment, God restores his blessed presence to Israel and with that their victory.
We can live victoriously when we:
1. Obey the Word of God
Commit to reading and obeying the word of God. God’s path to victory is through the Holy Spirit empowering the Word of God in our hearts. As you obey, you grow in a deeper love for Jesus which leads to a greater desire to follow his word.
2. Admit when we fail
There comes a realization and even freedom when you reach a place of honesty in your spiritual walk. Avoid hiding your sin and instead be honest and admit when you fail. The quicker you admit, the quicker you repent and return to the blessed fellowship of Jesus.
3. Diligently examine our hearts for things of the world that don’t belong
Ask God to use this Spirit and his word to examine your heart. Trust the word of God to do its work to reveal the unholy things that do not belong. Regularly bring your failures to God and be renewed by his eternal flowing river of grace.
4. Regularly ask God to remove these unholy from our heart
As you turn to the word and the Spirit, let this be a continual process of cleansing and renewal. The temptation to defy the word and will of God will be in the flesh until you see Jesus face to face. And with the temptation comes the reality of failure. With each temptation and with each failure run to Jesus.
5. Trust in the gospel
As you run to Jesus, trust in the gospel. The same gospel that offers eternal justification before a holy God, offers a renewing sanctification throughout your life. Yes, you will sin and yes, you will fall. But the beauty of the gospel is the eternal justification offered to all those who come to Jesus. This justification means you can continually trust in the grace of God and not the judgement of God. When you have been defeated, don’t hide in fear, instead, trust in the gospel that saved you and run wholeheartedly to Jesus.
The same gospel that offers eternal justification before a holy God, offers a renewing sanctification throughout your life.
Living a victorious Christian life is not a constant string of victory celebrations, but a process of walking in victory, crying in defeat, and returning to Christ who has won the victory on our behalf.
I hope you read this article and are reminded of God’s love for you. I pray this helps you remember that while defeat may come, you don’t have to stay defeated because you have a Savior who has secured victory on your behalf.
In His Grace,
Brad