The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Rebellion, #5

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (Revelation 12:11)

To be an overcomer is to resist successfully all the various lusts, fears, and pressures that continually attempt to cause us to disobey God. The overcomer fights his way, through the Spirit, into the rest of God. The rest of God is that state where we are abiding in restful union with Christ in God.

The rest of God is available to each of us but we have to conquer, through Christ, the world, Satan, and our own fleshly lusts and self-will. We have to overcome every enemy that would urge us to disobey Christ. Total victory is possible through Christ but not easy to accomplish.

We overcome the accuser, Satan, by three means:

By the blood of the Lamb.

By the word of our testimony.

By loving not our life to the point of death.

We overcome the accuser by the blood of the Lamb as we wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb.

How do we wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb? We do so by walking before God in open confession and repentance of our rebellion and sin.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (I John 1:7)

Remaining under the authority of the blood of Christ requires that we "walk in the light." To walk in the light is to live in the Presence of God, always performing His will.

If we are living the true Christian life of obedience to Christ, presenting our body a whole burnt offering to the Lord, then the Lord reveals His will to us each day. Also, God begins to point out to us the various sins we are committing.

To walk in the light is to pay strict attention to each item of conduct under present scrutiny. If God directs us to go somewhere or to do something we are to obey instantly and diligently—as soon as we are certain it is the Lord who is speaking to us. To not do precisely what God is directing us to do is unthinkable for a true saint of God. Any sluggishness on our part signifies we still are part of the rebellion.

The Holy Spirit is faithful to emphasize to us the sins that are to be put to death. The Spirit does not speak of all our sins at once, only those over which He is ready to give us dominion. He brings us to one "city" at a time. When that particular sin in our personality comes up for judgment we are to respond vigorously by confessing the sin to God and repenting of it with all the strength the Spirit gives us. We put the particular behavior to death through the Spirit. In this manner we wash our robe and make it white in the blood of the Lamb.

To be continued.