How do we get Jesus’s victory and power in our lives? How do we appropriate his resurrection and newness of life?
First, let me ask you, how do you know you are saved? It is by faith, of course. The knowledge of our salvation comes from our faith alone in God’s Word.
Likewise, we are to take up the cross, embrace it and receive victory by faith in the overcoming power of Jesus’s shed blood. We must admit, “God, I have no power. I do not have the ability to deliver myself, crucify myself or have any power over sin. I give up all my own efforts to die to sin.”
By faith, we are in Christ and are to enjoy the benefits of all he has accomplished. You see, from the very moment we were born again, we have been in Christ. That means we entered into everything that happened to Christ. This includes his victories as well as his crucifixion. If we agree with God’s Word that our sins are exceedingly wicked, we must also agree with the good things the cross offers. They are ours because Jesus accomplished them for us.
Scripture says, “Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4, NKJV).
Once we embrace the cross, we are crucified with Christ and resurrected with him into newness of life. We are set free! We can yield our bodies to the service of the Lord and offer ourselves as instruments of righteousness. Sometimes, we may stumble because of unbelief, but we can hold on to the truth. Ultimately, victory is ours when we cry, “Lord, I’m going to trust you until victory comes.”
I thank God for the cross of Christ and its crisis. I know by experience that the world's greatest “grace preaching” is the preaching of the cross. Have you had your crisis at the cross? What about that one stronghold you long to be delivered from? Deliverance is available for you today, but it won’t come until you kneel before Jesus and have your crisis at his cross. You must agree to no longer continue in your sin, not for another moment, and cry out, “God, I bring it to you now!”