"There is no experience in Christian living so full of danger as the flush of victory. There is no moment so perilous as when, for the first time in his Christian life. the man of God experienced deliverance from sin. At such times we begin to take pride in ourselves, and to boast that our own arm has saved us. We so easily imagine that because we have achieved victory once, God has imparted to us some new strength which will see us through all our earthly journey.
How utterly contradictory to the truth that is! The fact is that, apart from the grace of God and the blood of Jesus, the smallest temptations will be too powerful for us. The victories we win in fellowship with a Risen Christ impart no strength to us. THE VICTORY YOU WON YESTERDAY WILL NOT BRING YOU POWER TODAY!"
Remember that in the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho, it was not Israel who captured Jericho. The Israelites walked around the city and shouted -- but it was GOD WHO HAD TAKEN THE CITY! "The silence which reigned over the ruins of Jericho was not a testimony of the strength of the people of God, but a testimony to the power of Jehovah Himself.
The greatest lesson that the child of God has to learn is the lesson learned by Paul, that 'in my flesh dwelleth no good thing,' that 'when I am weak, then I am strong.'; for the greatest cause of failure in Christian living is just this: imagining the victory God has given us has imparted strength to us to win every battle, when it has done nothing of the kind."
from VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN LIVING by Dr. Alan Redpath published by Revell
Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right man on our side,
the man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabbaoth, his name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.
FROM LUTHER'S HYMN -- A MIGHTY FORTRESS
Good words to ponder on this Friday, March 4, 2005
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