How Can I Have Spiritual Victory in 2013?

December 30, 2012

How Can I Have Spiritual Victory in 2013?
Joshua 1; 5; 6
Charles Patton

 

Our spiritual health determines how we will handle every other part of our lives.

Having spiritual victory has nothing to do with whether we are saved or not; that issue was taken care of when we realized we were sinners and we asked Christ to forgive us of our sins and receive us as a child of God.  Spiritual victory has to do with claiming and living within the victories that Christ has already won for us.

 The life of Joshua gives us five principles we must live by if we are to claim the spiritual victory:

1.       The victory is won when we believe ALL the promises of God.

When God makes a promise, His character will not permit Him to break it.  It is His very nature to keep His promises.  See the promises God gave to Joshua:

 

“After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide, ‘Moses my servant is dead.  Now then, you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.  I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.  Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west.  No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.  As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you….Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.’”   ---Joshua 1:1-5, 9

 

Why are believers so fearful about the future?  Three reasons:

·         We may not know the promises of God---God’s word, the Bible, shows us God’s promises.

·         We may know God’s promises but we don’t trust them.

·         We take our eyes off God and focus on the circumstances around us.

 

2.        The Victory is won when we remember God is in charge.

We must take our hands off the controls and let God take over.  For Joshua, the battle at Jericho hadn’t even started yet, but God had given them the victory already:

 

“Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Isrealites.  No one went out and no one came in.  Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See I have delivered Jericho into your hands along with its king and its fighting men.’”  ---Joshua 6:1-2

 

3.       The victory is won when we remember His ways are not our ways. 

God has a plan for your life, it is better than any plan you can come up with.  Trust God’s plan and His promises—He knows more than us, He is all-knowing, so He knows the results of all our actions.  The battle plan He gave to Joshua sounds silly, for a battle tactic, but it worked because it was God’s plan carried out:

 

“March around the city once with all the armed men.  Do this for six days.  Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark (of the covenant).  On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.  When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.”  ---Joshua 6:3-5

 

4.       The victory is ours if we do not quit.

How many times have we forfeited victory because we gave up too soon?  Sometimes God wants us to see things to the end; we need to go through the entire process.  Just like baking cookies: do you still get yummy cookies if you don’t mix all the ingredients together and follow the recipe to completion?  Joshua did not quit the third time they walked around the city, he followed God’s instructions to the end.

 

5.       The victory is ours only through total obedience to God’s word.

The success of your endeavors will not depend on the way you use your own resources but on how you obey the Spirit of God.  In Joshua chapter 7, some of the Isrealites disobeyed God’s instructions and kept some of the sacred things of the city of Jericho that were supposed to be left alone.  This brought turmoil and defeat to the Isrealites in the next battle against Ai.  Obedience to God requires faith and trust.

So, accept God’s plan, don’t quit, and surrender to Him.  To remind you of a few of the promises of God, see Psalm 23, Psalm 91, Matthew 6:25-33, Romans 8:28, John 14:12-14.  Of course, there are many, many more, just read and seek God’s Word.