The Invitation/ Prepared/ Holy Spirit as Personal Guide

We Can be Strong in Christ

Isa 50:7 October 11, 2015

I wonder if you have seen before, as I have, men and women, brothers and sisters in Christ, who have an obvious zeal for God. These believers in Christ boast of a wonderful excitement they have found in walking with the Lord. These worshippers of our Lord Jesus have a glow in their eye and about their faces. Their countenance clearly tells us that the Spirit of God is alive within them and the joy and the peace which God has set in their hearts overflow within them to the extent that it affects the very flesh on their face. Victory in Jesus is what comes to my mind when I see a person whose face shines so brightly at the mention of the name Jesus Christ. I think we are all familiar with the joy that is upon the face of someone who has received, in their heart, Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior. Perhaps we can remember looking at our own face in a mirror shortly after we had become born-again. Most likely our countenance did show the change because of what took place in our spirit within us. Whose face cannot change, when we realize that our spirit was dead to our heavenly Father but through our acceptance of the blood of Jesus, which is victorious over all death, we are cleansed and made new? Now we know our spirits have become alive to God. He looks upon his new child in Christ with good pleasure for his son’s namesake and we are assured of a new life right now and forever with our Creator in heaven. This is the victory in Jesus that can put peace and joy in our hearts and upon our faces.

Unfortunately many experience a temporary change in their countenance. After a honeymoon time with the Lord, our own nature within is always sure to show itself and shake up our new found faith. We can count on it. Very often early in our walk, our relationship with Jesus is strained by what can seem to be a constant struggle between the nature of our flesh and the Spirit of God. In Romans chapter 7 Paul speaks clearly about this. He says in verse 7, “I would have never known the sin in my heart – the evil desires that are hidden there – if the law had not said; “You must not have evil desires in your heart.” Romans 7:7 Living When we are walking with Jesus the Spirit sets the law of God in our hearts. Jeremiah 31:31-33 is a prophecy about a new covenant when the Lord will put the law upon the hearts of men. Paul continues in Romans chapter 7, to speak of the struggle within. He writes “I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind, I want to be God’s willing servant but instead, I find myself still enslaved to sin. So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free.” Rom 7:22-25 Living … He has set me free. These are the words that describe victory in Jesus. Unless we seek out God’s will and strive headstrong to be pleasing before the God we serve, the joy and peace which once filled our heart can now become smothered by shamefulness. Our new countenance can change and reflect the painful struggle of the battle that wars within us.

Now how about those who we know have been walking with Jesus for years and the peace and joy still shows brightly upon their face. What makes this believer in Christ different from another? I’ll tell you not only has this believer received Victory in Jesus but he has also been walking victoriously in Jesus. Because we are Christians we should be compelled by enthusiasm for what Christ has done for us to walk victoriously in Jesus. What does this mean? To get right to the point it means we should march forward, always toward Christ and seek to become strong by his Spirit, and in his Spirit. We should seek to become spiritual strongmen in Christ.

If the very thought of walking victoriously in Jesus excites you and stirs a desire within you, if you want to be able to say of your own relationship with Jesus, that it is sure, strong and victorious, then you should seek the free gift from God, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This Baptism which is told of by Jesus Himself in Acts 1:8 says that the believer, when baptized by the Holy Ghost, will receive power. If you have already received this baptism then you have within you the very same Holy Spirit that enabled Paul, Peter, Timothy, and the other first followers of Jesus to become spiritual strongmen in Christ. Jesus said the Apostles shall be witnesses unto Him in both Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts if the earth. God had no plans to send out spiritual weaklings among the world to testify of His Son Jesus. If we allow God’s Spirit to do His work of deliverance in our lives and want nothing less than the very most that the Father has to offer to us, we can stand firm in our claim of walking victoriously in Jesus. God will then have good pleasure in us and will allow us to testify before the Church and unto the uttermost parts of the world about His son Jesus Christ.

Stand Strong in the Spirit of God
God wants to make us spiritual strongmen, but for this, we must trust the Holy Ghost fully, not only that He wants to make us perfect, complete and strong, but that he will do it if we allow. We ought to seek to become this and not settle into being spiritual weaklings and wimps; cry-babies who want their own way, who throw tantrums or become obstinate toward God. We should desire the strength of the Holy Spirit which God has available for all in His Church; that baptism of fire by which we can receive strength, endurance, and wisdom to do the work that God will give us faith to do. We can become strongmen, not for ourselves but spiritual strongmen for our Lord, to exhort and edify one another in the ways of God. Let us abstain from the unnecessary things of the flesh in order to trim down the excess of worldly desires and begin to do away with any vestiges of a sinful heart. If we find there is an area in our lives which we know is a stumbling-block before us and it hinders our walk with the Lord we should become headstrong in placing this behind us and claiming our victory through Jesus. Isaiah says, “Because the Lord God helps me, I will not be dismayed; therefore, I have set my face like flint to do his will, and I know that I will triumph”. Isaiah 50:7 Living We ought to stand up strong in the Spirit of God. If necessary, rebuke the enemy in Jesus’ name. We have the right to use the great authority of Jesus’ name against Satan which may constantly place temptation in our way. Stand up strong in the spirit of God. Let us desire to become mature Christians.

Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Col 3:1-2 Desire to become a mature Christian. We all need to keep our guard up against the flesh. We must stand strong in our faith for the power of the Holy Ghost within us to overcome all spiritual enemies. Let’s not settle for anything less than the very most God has for each of us. Let us all become true worshippers of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Then we will have a glow in our eyes and about our faces that will clearly tell the world that the Spirit of God is alive within us. The joy and peace which God does set in our hearts will overflow within us to the extent that it will affect the flesh of our faces.