Preview 3: "The Day I Stopped Trying"

Struggling to overcome? Maybe this chapter will help. This teaching has had the greatest impact upon my personal life. A key, if you will, to living victoriously. A discovery of God's power that is readily available. May the Lord strengthen you as well.

From my earliest years as a pre-believer to my struggling days as a young believer, the basic understanding of the grace of God that I possessed was that it meant forgiveness (or at least access to forgiveness). Never – not even once – was I told that the grace of God empowered me. It may compel me, even comfort me, but I was never given the key to my victory. I was told that I had the key, but was never told what it was or how to use it. As I have grown into this new understanding of the grace of God, it has been my mission (even my calling) to set at liberty the captives of religious thinking. I long to see the healing of the nations within the Body of Christ. The message of grace provides just that.

You no longer have to struggle with the darkness. You don’t have to wonder if you will ever be set free from the flesh. You don’t have to walk in shame. You can walk in the power of God every day of your life. Then your conversations will change. You will stop worrying whether or not you are forgiven. You will enjoy the ability that God has provided for you through the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ.

The Bible gives us many descriptions of the victory we can walk in:
More than conquerors
Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world
God…gives us the victory through Christ
Christ always leads us in triumphal procession
And of course, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

If you are anything like me then you have claimed many of those verses over and over. However, even in the claiming we have found ourselves striving and praying for something that is already ours. How is it possible that we could have something as glorious as victory and be so ignorant as to how to access it? The answer is just that – we are ignorant of it. Or we just don’t believe it.

Paul talks about this type of life in Ephesians 4:18. Describing the Gentiles he stated that they were darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of their heart. While we may be quick to point to the unbelieving world as it relates to these words, I think if we were honest with ourselves that we would discover these words are true of us as well. In fact, much of the church that I have been exposed to is filled with unbelieving believers. They believe in Jesus but they truly struggle to believe all that He has to say about them.

You need to get a few things straight in your life. You are an overcomer. You are fully loved by God. You are victorious in Christ. If you are not experiencing this reality it may be because you are ignorant of it. Religion has kept most of humanity in a mindset that makes them less than what God created them to be. In particular, religion will say that there are two divisions of man: lost sinners and saved sinners. And while most would say this is a term that would adequately describe their lives, it would fall way short of how the Father describes us.

I have discovered that there is a reality that is true whether you listen to worldly philosophers, clinical psychologists, or Christian counselors. These men and women have come to the same conclusion: What you believe determines how you behave which determines your results. If you struggle in the area of how you believe, then you will struggle in how you behave. While most religions tend to focus on behavior first, they continue to have the same results. God wants you to change the way you think. In this way, you will be truly transformed.

As long as your definition of an overcomer is based upon your performance then you will be let down over and over again. However, if you can base your definition on the finished work of Christ then you will find the victory that God wants you to enjoy. When you realize that you are loved, accepted, and complete in Christ; everything you do will come from the place of rest. You aren't striving - you are being. AND that my friend is a totally different form of existence. Apart from grace we simply have to strive to be the best we can be. Enabling grace to work in our lives means that we get to be the best version of ourselves. Grace empowers us to overcome sin because Jesus already overcame it. Grace enables us to live abundantly because our life is hidden with Christ in God. Grace expands our understanding of God's unconditional love so that we can be settled in our relationship with Him. In essence, grace reminds us that Jesus did it all and we find it all in Him.

Here’s what you need to understand:
Grace empowers you to live the life you were created to live all along.

This life is not foreign to you. Maybe in practice, but not in reality. It’s the life that Adam & Eve lived before the Fall. They easily related to the Father. They walked with Him fully. The idea of separation was foreign to them. It wasn’t until they ate from the tree of knowledge that they began to see themselves in a different light. From that day forward, man would strive to be pleasing, to overcome every obstacle, and to do everything in their power to be like God. Those days are past. In Christ, those who were far off have been brought close. We have been redeemed, reconciled, and restored. This was His mission. This is what Jesus came to accomplish. What we are learning is how to live out our redemption, reconciliation, and restoration.

Can you believe that?
Can you trust that what Jesus did is enough?
Will you live in His victory?

The overcoming life is not something to be obtained but realized. The minute we begin to believe that there is grace for everything that we face, is the moment we will experience victory like never before. Your weakness provides a perfect opportunity for the Lord to demonstrate His strength. What does the Scriptures say? "And they have conquered him (the accuser of the brethren) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony..."

Enjoy the journey.