The Daily Word of Righteousness

Israel—God's Conqueror, #6

The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. (I John 1:2—NIV)

In addition to our personal testimony of God's faithfulness we also are to tell what we have seen and heard with the Lord, as the Spirit guides and enables us. This is the testimony of the prophet as he declares what God is saying today. The Lord Jesus faithfully spoke and did that which He saw the Father do and heard the Father say. John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus conquered the enemy as They proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of God and the need for people to repent.

The testimony of the servant of the Lord is that Christ is true and faithful. Let us never quit until we overcome the accusations and deceits of Satan by the word of our testimony. The Holy Spirit will help us for it is the Spirit who creates the Divine testimony in us.

Overcoming by Loving Not Our Life to the Death

We may be gaining victory over sin, and proclaiming the true Word of God, and yet be having problems with self-will.

Loving not our life to the death can prove to be the most difficult area of our wrestling with God. Yet it is right here, in the willingness to allow God to do with our life as He will, that the richest fruits of Canaan are grown.

We may think we have "given our heart to Jesus," but the actual giving of our heart, our life, to Christ is another matter indeed. Only suffering—patient, cross-carrying suffering—can produce the right kind of death in us.

The problem is that of passing from self-rule to the rule of Christ. God has many devices for accomplishing this all-important transition.

It is impossible for us to rule with God as one of His sons until our instinct for self-glorification has been slain and the will of God through Christ has taken its place.

Our self-centeredness is destroyed as God brings us into situations in which we cannot grasp what He is doing. We are carried this way and that way. We do not understand what is taking place. Total trust in God is necessary if the final victory over the accuser is to be gained.

Are you willing to follow God through years of deferred gratification when you are not sure what He is doing? This is a hard death to die.

Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. (Isaiah 50:10)

We must learn to trust in the Lord and not be afraid. It is not easy, but there is no other route to the total victory we are seeking.

God will not give His Glory to another, and so we who bear the Glory of the Lord must die and be raised again in Christ. It must be Christ who is living and not us.

If we are not willing to die, Christ cannot live. Only Christ is the Conqueror. If we would conquer with God we must die so the only true Conqueror can overthrow the adversary.

To be continued.