Striving or Surrender? (4 key points to victory)

You want victory. So do I. If we do not it’s likely that we are lying. There is not a person who has breath that doesn’t want freedom from the things they dislike. It could be life circumstances that never seem to change, or it could simply be a subtle habit you really dislike but are unable to kick. We’ve resolved year after year, without change. This is the reason so many people are on a quest for a striving definition. As if to answer this question: how can I effectively strive with lasting results? What we need is a revelation from God! Because when God speaks, we hear loud and clear. The issue is, we’re not listening. Sadly, it’s because His voice is lost in our striving. So let’s answer striving or surrender?

Key point one: It’s not possible to hear God’s whisper amongst our screaming. 

God is big. He’s got the capability to speak things into being (Genesis 1), and yet we can drown Him out easily. That doesn’t make Him small, it makes Him loving and gracious. He is patient with us (2 Peter 3:9). And thankfully so, I personally have enough things to occupy His time, you likely feel the same way. 

We’re so busy fighting the enemy that we’re not living the abundant life given us. What does that mean? We have been conditioned to perceive sin as an action word, a verb – something you do. If this is the only way you see sin, you will never find freedom. You will never know the life Jesus has offered because you’ll be distracted, fighting the enemy, attempting to change that action. The devil is real, no doubt, but we have given him way too much attention. If we mentally can only define sin as a verb, we will always be striving and never arriving at trust. 

Key point two: You are either ‘in Adam’ or ‘in Christ’ (lost/found)

(Romans 5:12-21) In Adam, all are born sinners: sin is in the spirit. Our spirit is who we are – a noun meaning “I am.” On the other hand there are sins in the flesh – a verb meaning “I do.” Are you living out of who you are or what you do? At birth we are lost, so both of these are an issue. What I am and what I do both separate me from God. But sadly, most believers (being found or saved) still have this foundationally backward. Understandably so because we don’t like who we are. But when we are saved through the work of Christ, the old us is no longer living. We have been crucified (died) with Jesus on the cross, we also live again (the new man) with Him through union in the resurrection. 

In Christ, we are a new creation. Life is in our spirit, not sin like it was before. Our ‘I am’ is “in Christ.” Our ‘I do’ is still flawed because that’s the part of us being saved or sanctified. At salvation our soul does not get born again. However, who we are (our spirit) is born again. We have life in our spirit. If we don’t first trust in this and accept it for ourselves we will live backward all our lives. We will live knowing what Christ has done for us, we will even accept His gracious and loving gift. But when what we do paints a mental picture of who we are, we’re forever trapped striving.

Trusting God looks different. First comes salvation, you must be born again. What comes next is sanctification. Sanctification happens when we trust God. We must trust in who we are upon being born again. If we fail to trust that important point, we lack trust and turn to the flesh. 

Key point three: Salvation is through Christ’s life, not His death

I preach Christ crucified. His death is a foundational truth to Christianity and for the Believer. Hebrews 9:22 ‘without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. ‘Sins’ here is a verb, it’s something we do (or don’t do, it’s expressed in soulishness, through our body). Thank you Jesus for Your shed blood. It is necessary! Crucial to our faith. However, if this is where it stops there is an issue: Praise God, we have forgiveness of sins (verb), but the reigning power of sin (noun) still exists in the spirit. 

If Christ only came to cleanse us of our sins, that did not solve our most inherent problem. It’s not just that we sin (verb), it’s that sin (noun) is who we are at birth—this is a major issue. Sin is reigning in us. Sin has a monopoly on us. Sin has mastery over your entire life! You will be remastered if you do not release the master (Luke 11). Note something vitally important: It is not our job to get rid of sins, we are to get rid of noun sin thinking. Sin is no longer our identity when we are born again. It brings great victory to know this. 

Paul says “much more,” in Romans 5, it’s the theme of the chapter. It’s vitally important that we recognize the atonement of our sins thanks to our crucified Savior. It’s also important that we recognize our union with Him on the cross. We died (Galatians 2:20). If we emphasize only our union death with Jesus though, we won’t see the purpose behind it: new life! That is the “much more” Paul is emphasizing. Being “much more,” it is a misunderstanding for most Believers, as it’s not even preached in our churches. Not because of false theology, I would dare say pastors who preach the gospel would consider this their belief. But it’s not preached. 

Without the revelation of this mystery, we will live our entire lives without victory. Not because we don’t have it, we do because we are “in Christ.” We just don’t know it. Someone needs to preach it, but the hearer also must be asking for it. “You do not have, because you do not ask.” (James 4:2-3). Start asking. Start praying Ephesians 1:17-18 over your own life. God, open the eyes of our hearts. 

We’re so busy fighting the enemy that we’re not living the abundant life given us. 

Once we understand we are already victorious, being in Christ, we start living life. Guess what living life does? It fights off the enemy. Because the moment we submit to God, the devil flees because we cannot serve two masters. My trust in God produces a resistance to the devil. I don’t resist the devil by trying hard or by being more disciplined. It’s all done by faith. Faith produces an understanding or an identity to live out of.

There is not a single tribe or nation on planet earth that doesn’t thoroughly comprehend the idea of sacrifice for sins. Go to any jungle or obscure people group in the world. They still understand a higher power. They still understand that they are flawed. So they do something about it, through a sacrifice. A sacrifice for sins is not a mystery. It’s not fully understood, but it is not complicated. 

What is complicated is, “Christ as your life” and “you are in Christ”

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live, in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 

It is at this point that the sin in our spirit (noun) is united with Christ. We, and our sin nature, is in union with Christ on the cross. He is the head, we are the body, making up an entire functioning body. Our old sinful nature is now dead! STOP trying to change the old man, he’s dead! Upon confessing Christ as Lord, we receive Christ as LIFE! A new nature is born. We are born again. START trusting in the new man who you are, in Christ.

Jesus said “I came that you may have life, and have it more abundantly.” He did not say that He came to forgive you of your sins! Praise God, that’s included in the deal too! We must understand Jesus’ main point: I’m not dying for the forgiveness of sins, I’m dying to give you life. If you are born again you are a child of God. Better to be a son than a servant because sons remain sons! This alone produces confidence. 

Key point four: Believers struggle with two things – LIES and FLESH

When you believe a lie, you act out in the flesh. Even when you are a born again believer the fact is: your soul did not get born again. So, we can still give the enemy a foothold. We have a victory and are free of the reign of sin (noun) in the spirit, but the flesh still sins (verb) in the body and soul. We are according to 1 Thessalonians 5:23 three-part man. “May your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete…” 

Within our soul we have our mind, emotions, and will. This is best illustrated with this image.

The two struggles believers face are LIES and FLESH. They exist and have power in the soul and our physical body. The lie affects our mind, our thinking. Believing a lie produces emotions in us. Emotions are powerful and cause us to act out, which is our will. What happens when you act out? There are consequences which bring shame, for example. Shame enters the picture and it confirms the lie. This is the cycle that every person with life can understand. 

Let me use an example. Let’s say the lie we believe is that, “I’m helpless.” Because I think there is no hope for me it produces an emotion, probably many, but let’s pick – sadness. In our sadness because of our helplessness we get to a point where we are so depressed we look for a way to ease that trouble and pain. So we turn to drinking. But the next day, hungover and in trouble for coming late to work, what do you think of yourself? The shame from the act of the will confirms the lie that began the cycle; “look at me, I’m helpless.” And the cycle continues. 

Until you trust God and His Word, and believe He died not only for your sins, but for your sin nature (old man), you will never find victory. Upon being born again you receive both! But many only live out of the former. Leaving the latter something keeping you in that cycle. It’s exactly what the enemy wants. Do you want victory? A better question is, are you born again? Because if so, you already have the victory. 

If you don’t know what you have, you’ll be on a quest to find what you’ve already got. If you’re trying to be something that you already are, you’ll never get there. You’ll be always striving, never arriving. “I’d rather rust out than burn out,” is a phrase I recently heard, twice actually. That’s what we’ve succumbed to; no matter what, life is just going to suck. To rust out means I’m not abiding in the vine (John 15). To burn out suggests I don’t have union with God. But when I recognize my position in Christ after being born again, life might still suck, but it won’t feel like it. Because I’ll be living with such a purpose. 

It’s freeing to know; “I am not the issue.” It’s a weight that can be lifted off your shoulders. This is faith. (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is believing without seeing. Another word for faith here is the word, “trust.” If you are born again, trust in who you already are and who is already at work in your life. Then the lies become easier to detect and ignore, leading to a life lived in the Spirit not the flesh. Plus, it’s so easy to be you.