Walking in Victory

Abiding in Jesus

Richard L. Wilson

WALKING IN VICTORY; ABIDING IN JESUS

Unless otherwise indicated,

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION,

Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Walking in Victory; Abiding in Jesus

What is Victory?

If we are living in spiritual defeat, there’s little chance of an abiding relationship with Jesus. First we need to enter into victorious living. So, what is victory? Victory is not sinless perfection, although our goal should never be lower than perfection. We are called to godliness, and God is perfect and without sin. Jesus, by His death, surely bought the potential for perfection. Yes, the provision is there to live a sinless life, but the harsh reality is that we simply don’t appropriate enough of His provision to achieve perfection. Even the most committed, Spirit Baptized, Spirit filled and Spirit led believers fail to live sinless lives—our inescapable fallen nature is a chronic unholiness. The Apostle John stated assuredly that even claiming to be without sin is a case of self-deception, it’s living a lie, and that in itself is a sin (see 1 John 1:8–10).

For fallen people like us, perfection will be realized in Heaven, not before. But again, while acknowledging the persisting reality of our inborn weakness, being content with any standard for our own life that is less than complete perfection is out of keeping with God’s transparent holiness. But sinlessness is not the same as walking in victory. Victory is attainable and we definitely should be walking in it.

So, if victory is not sinless perfection, what is it? Victory is about who is winning in the life-long war that goes on within us (see Ephesians 6:12). Is sin winning? Is sin in control? Is our old nature stronger and dictating the terms? That’s spiritual defeat. Or, is our new nature in charge? Are we walking in the Spirit and keeping the old nature on the defensive? If so, we are winning—that’s victory. Living struggle-free is not an option. If we get weary with the conflict, know this: The enemy is not weary. The enemy never surrenders, never relaxes; he will continue to attack on every front where he sees any weakness in us.

What is the right response to satanic attack? The best defense is an offence. Ok, what should our offensive strategy look like? Shall we start swinging a bat in the living room? No. Our warfare is spiritual and the “struggle” that brings victory defies all the rules of physical combat. Our nature is to fight, that instinct makes spiritual warfare challenging for us. Instead, relax. Bring it all to a grinding halt and learn to rest in the Lord. Clamp a lid on our tendency to charge out and “engage the foe!” Prayerfully wait…and listen…as the Spirit teaches us the art of quietly trusting Jesus. Then let Him win the battle—in us, or through us, or completely without us, however He chooses to do it. That, for us, is the tough way, but it is the only way to lasting, authentic victory. And when we consider what is at stake, we really have no choice, we must walk in victory. The interests of the Kingdom and our eternal reward are on the line.

Sin and Victory

Even when we begin to walk in victory, unconscious sins will continue. Our whole culture, our way of life, our pattern of thinking is so sin-soaked and out of tune with God that there’s probably not a waking hour goes by that we don’t say or do or think something amiss. And then there’s our old nature—still with us. It’s a continuous violation of His blazing holiness. But God is gracious. He doesn’t badger us about many of those details, He just quietly keeps covering them with Jesus’ blood—and over time, issue by issue, He points out problem areas and trains and transforms us into His image (see 1 John 1:7).

But sin comes in other modes. Now and then (…it’s bound to happen) we get caught off guard by an exasperating, maybe infuriating situation. Ideally, we’ll remain steady, displaying God’s grace, love, and wisdom in the midst of the tension. But all too often we blurt out the wrong thing or react the wrong way. When the dust settles, we’ll need to go back and confess, apologize, reconcile—whatever is appropriate. Still, if we are walking in victory, such poisonous reactions and outbursts should happen far less frequently.

But maybe temperament is not our issue, it could be other weaknesses, like maintaining total truthfulness, gossip might be our struggle, a tendency to covet a grandiose lifestyle, or a wandering eye/lust—you fill in the blank as the Lord indicates… So, in what direction are we headed? Are we walking in victory more of the time this year that we did last year? Are the ‘incidents’ being reigned in better than previously? True victory will lead us on an upward trajectory, the path of improvement and the higher ground toward Christlikeness.

As for presumptuous sin…in general, walking in victory should eliminate that altogether. We need to come to a holy predetermination that moral relapses, old habits, worldly entanglements, destructive addictions, etc, will cease with finality. However, if a serious stumble or fall does occur, don’t despair—swallow your shame, confess the sin, forsake it, and take any action needed to make amends. Then start rebuilding your relationship with the grieved Spirit, get restored, get your victory back on track without delay and deny Satan any further gloating over the (hopefully temporary) defeat in your life.

Walking in Victory Needs Two Spiritual Legs

Most of the victorious walk is based on the writings of the Apostle Paul. Obviously Paul had broad spiritual gifting and power—and spiritual power is vital to a continuing walk of victory. But Paul soon realized that power and gifting are not enough—we read his agonizing testimony in Romans chapter 7. Then, God revealed to him the completing Source of Victory in Romans 7:25, the Liberating Person: “…Jesus Christ our Lord!” The Lamb of God, Jesus, the same One who saved us—He personally is our victory! In Him there is security and protection (mostly from ourselves). Intensely trusting Jesus is effective because the power potential is in His passion: His death, His burial, and His resurrection—and we appropriate that victory-power by faith. In Romans chapter 8, Paul shares what he discovered, that to walk in victory we must, by faith, live out the elements of the passion of Jesus. Remember, for walking in the Spirit, we need two spiritual legs. We need the gifts and power of Pentecost—that’s one leg. We equally need the authority and power inherent in Jesus’ Person and passion—that’s the other leg. Starting with Romans chapter 8, Paul taught both, he walked on both.

It’s a mistake to treat this as an either/or situation. If we attempt to walk in victory by hopping on either spiritual leg alone, we’ll likely go down in failure—sometimes failure so public and dramatic as to reproach the name of Jesus and His Kingdom. But even if our failure turns out to be a stealth failure (nobody but you and God knows what happened), we could still forfeit much of our eternal reward. Why settle for that?

Again, our pilgrimage here involves warfare largely against the enemy within—so we need to attend war college. Soldiers with savvy can make the difference. The study of walking victoriously seems to condense into three main principles (with three points under each principle): Our Quest, Jesus’ Passion, and The Spirit’s Power. Now, to be successful, all three principles must remain active together—hardly suitable for numerical ordering; nevertheless, to make it easier, we’ll follow this outline:

I. Our Quest/ Our Involvement

A. Our Desire

B. Our Will

C. Our Faith

II. Jesus’ Passion/ Jesus’ Provision

A. His Death

B. His Burial

C. His Resurrection

III. The Spirit’s Baptism/ the Spirit’s Power

A. Greater Revelation of Jesus

B. Greater Praise and Worship

C. Greater Fruit of the Spirit

Let’s begin with this principle:

I. Our Quest/ Our Involvement

A. Our Desire

In a very real sense, walking in power and victory over sin begins with our own choice (see Romans 6:16). God will not drag us further than we want to go. Even those who have received Spirit Baptism are not automatically thrust into victory. Maintaining victory over sin is challenging for those who earnestly seek it—if we don’t want it, it certainly won’t happen. Samson was a Judge over Israel, anointed with the Holy Spirit (see Judges 13:25); his anointing would compare with the Spirit Baptism of today. He thoroughly enjoyed the power and exhilaration of the Spirit’s special working, but he had no interest in the fruit and discipline of the Spirit. Spiritual fruit, or a disciplined life, or a victorious walk, do not develop spontaneously—constant, prayerful submission is required, that means we must desire it. But, as happened with the Apostle Paul, simply desiring to walk in victory may not be enough. That brings us to the next point:

B. Our Will

Here is where it gets more practical: Are we ready with actions and maybe life-adjustments to express our desire to walk in victory (see James 2:22)? That will expose the involvement of our will. Our readiness to act should reveal itself in several ways. Maintaining our victory will call for faithfulness in daily Bible study and prayer—when we feel like it and when we don’t. The Bible is the textbook of our life and we need to know it thoroughly. We will consistently attend to home, business, and financial obligations—with appropriate witness.

We will be faithful in assembled worship and related responsibilities as the Lord may indicate for us. We will involve ourselves in witnessing and mission outreach—as the Spirit leads. We will respond positively and joyfully to the timeless principles of basic human stewardship. Those principles acknowledge God as Creator of all and Giver of everything; they teach that one-seventh of our time and one-tenth of our income belongs to the Lord. (There are clues that God laid out human stewardship responsibilities in the Garden of Eden—the prophets imply that such stewardship will still be practiced in the Millennial Age to come.)

We will accept New Testament standards of moral purity without argument and without hesitation. This means no sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman (see 1 Thessalonians 4:3–8). With the Holy Spirit’s power, we will bring our thought life into disciplined focus on “things above” (see Colossians 3:2). Lustful thoughts must be immediately stifled and replaced as Paul directed in Philippians 4:8–9. Any laxness in moral purity will instantly quench the Spirit, blight our joy, and blunt our effectiveness in serving Jesus. Granted, the world does not make this easy for us. They continually force us to choose between the jolt of lust and the joy of the Lord. They delight in flaunting their immodesty as a shameless ploy to grab attention for profit or other advantage. They demand that we accept and celebrate their perversions.

Victory Is Easily Lost

These are intensely practical areas, but loss of victory can be the price of failure in these basics. If we begin to stray or slip in our spiritual honesty, the Lord quickly alerts us. The peace of God within us dims; uneasiness replaces our sense of spiritual strength and we lose our boldness in prayer. John points out the value of a heart kept in tune with God: “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him” (1 John 3:21–22).

Even little things about our attitudes, conduct and lifestyle are painfully important, it calls for constant sensitivity to the heart and mind of the Spirit who lives in us. This should be true of all believers, but if we have been Baptized with the Holy Spirit, He has touched our hearts in a deeper way; He has revealed more of Jesus to us. Even vague problem areas are brought into sharper focus for correction, allowing us to maintain joyful communion with God—more reason why God intends for every believer to be Spirit-Baptized.

Defeat Is Never Acceptable

Warning: We may have a personal issue that’s prompting the Spirit’s conviction—but…oh no…it’s our coddled thing! So, we go into protection mode and try to ignore the Spirit’s probing. Eventually we become accustomed to His censure and consider it just another normal annoyance. That’s not only unfortunate, it’s spiritually dangerous; if God’s Spirit begins to trouble us about any issue it calls for quick correction. Otherwise we forfeit our victory and settle for living in defeat.

Defeat is never acceptable. When Jesus died and shed His blood, He purchased everything we will ever need for victory over sin—we have no valid excuse for not living in victory. On the flip side, acquiring victory assumes that the Spirit of Jesus has complete control of our life. Ok, supposing our heart’s desire truly is to be completely under His dominion. Well…expect a challenge because the flesh will fight fiercely to retain control. Our spiritual warfare is continual and we need continual help—with The Baptism, The Comforter is our mighty measure of help.

Listen to the news. Look at the world around. It’s an ongoing train wreck of evil. We can let it overwhelm us to where we capitulate, compromise and adjust to it—and lose our testimony and our effectiveness to curb any of it. The response on the other extreme may be even worse: Confession time…here’s where I struggle. You too may identify and know how it goes: We hear, see or contact an infuriating evil being perpetrated—maybe against us personally! The first flash of instinct is to over-react, lash out in anger and speak or act in the flesh…and all too often we find ourselves as guilty as those who made us angry. I have to pray and submit daily to the Spirit’s direction and firm restraint and let Him handle the situation and dispense justice as He sees fit. Our part is to be occupied with learning patience and faithfulness—fruits of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22). With The Baptism those fruits grow larger and we are granted access to enhanced resources for persistence and self-containment in the face of such provocations.

C. Our Faith

“This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4b). Walking in victory is essentially a walk of faith (see Galatians 2:20). “The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:17 b). Our faith is the great shield we have against satanic attack (see Ephesians 6:16). But victory calls for more than a token faith, more than an entry-level faith. The Lord wants to be glorified in the sight of the world; that can happen as we display a quiet, invincible faith in Him.

Jesus’ Faith-Curriculum

Watch as faith moves from entry-level to God-glorifying, overcoming, mountain-moving faith: In Mark 4:40, after Jesus had calmed the storm, “He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” This is one of several occasions when Jesus rebuked His disciples for their lack of faith. The disciples deserved those rebukes because they were living under Jesus’ intensive teaching every day and virtually around the clock. He taught them about the Kingdom; He laid out what God expects in the lifestyle of His children. Jesus’ own life before them was a continuing faith-demonstration of the love, grace, mercy, stability, power, and provision of God. Truly, the disciples were immersed in the most intensive faith-course in history; it was teaching geared to inspire a strong, growing faith and solid, unswerving allegiance to Jesus. Imagine His exasperation that in spite of all His efforts their responses indicated they were absorbing very little of His faith-curriculum.

But really, if we had been with them in their circumstances, limited to the spiritual level available to them at that time, we probably would have done no better, maybe not as well. He would have rebuked us right along with them.

But then, in Jesus’ final hours before He was crucified, He promised His disciples that if they would only ask Him, they would be enabled to do the marvels and miracles He had done—and even greater works (see John 14:11–14). That of course would be due to the Paraclete whom He was promising them. The Spirit would begin moving upon them in a new way; He would take all that Jesus taught them and reprocess it into their thinking (see John 14:25–26). In that final discourse Jesus was implying that their faith would be enhanced by that new working of the Spirit—but who would have suspected how extensive an impact Pentecost would have on their faith?

Pentecost-Transformed Faith

Notice the immediate difference in their faith on the day of Pentecost. Suddenly, they could believe God for anything. When a ridiculing crowd gathered around the upper room where the spectacular manifestations were occurring, the disciples did not retreat behind bolted doors—as they had previously. Now they were fearless; they stepped out with a commanding boldness that sprang from newly empowered faith. They spoke with confidence, believing that God could create order in that mixed, motley crowd. They were filled with certainty that hearts would be touched and the people brought to repentance. They trusted the Lord to transform that flippant mob into steadfast pillars in the church that had just been hatched. Peter preached and sure enough, 3,000 were saved and Spirit Baptized (see Acts 2).

Later, when Peter and John saw a crippled man begging at the temple gate, they could believe God to heal the man and release an explosion of praise and glory to Him (See Acts 3:1–10). And so it went as they launched into their ministry with Pentecost-transformed faith. All the faith-building material they had been absorbing for three and a half years suddenly hardened into a highway upon which they marched bravely and humbly into spiritual conquest.

After Pentecost, with Spirit-opened eyes, the disciples came into broad understanding of the redeeming, life-changing power of Jesus’ so-recent death, and, with Spirit-enhanced faith and Baptism-Power, they walked in victory. Pentecost holds out the same potential for our faith today, expanding our spirits to believe God for bigger things than we can get our minds around. It’s another compelling reason to enter and walk in Spirit Baptism. We’ll touch on faith again later—its’ importance cannot be overstated.

Let’s survey another principle of victory:

II. Jesus’ Passion/ Jesus’ Provision

Jesus’ redemptive passion is foundational to walking in victory—it’s the bedrock under everything (see Matthew 16:16, 18). He is our Lord and Messiah, the Author and Finisher of our faith; without Him and the salvation He has provided, there would be no hope—there certainly would be no victorious walk.

This is a complex area. Volumes have been written on this one section, but if we combine them all, we will have only a few gems from the overflowing treasures of truth that abound in Jesus’ redemption. We can look forward to spending eternity learning about and rejoicing in the riches of all He accomplished when He sacrificed Himself for us.

Observe how the three events of Jesus’ Passion make victory possible:

A. His Death

Jesus gives us salvation—freely. He offers a victorious walk—no charge. But the cost to Jesus personally to provide this for us is beyond calculation. Our salvation, our victory, cost Jesus unthinkable suffering; the price was Calvary’s cross; He paid with His life. The currency was the holy blood of Jesus—all of it. His sacrificial blood, His death, is the authority for every phase of our victory over sin (see 1 Corinthians 5:7; Revelation 12:11). Every aspect of His dying contributes to our victory. Our destructive sins, the sin of Adam (which is the root of our sins), and all our inborn urgings toward sin—the Father placed the whole sordid package on His sinless Son who paid the full penalty for it (see 2 Corinthians 5:12). As we invest complete trust in Jesus who died as our substitute, God declares us righteous. Jesus served the sin-sentence declared against us, and only because of that, we are released from God’s wrath.

Second Corinthians 5:21 gives us another aspect: As Jesus hung on the cross, He was made to be sin, regarded by the Father positionally as sin, so that in Jesus sin was judged, and in Him sin died. For us, who by faith are “in Jesus,” that means that the Father views our sins as having died in Jesus, and the Father is then free to impute to us the God-righteousness, God-holiness of Jesus.

Galatians 3:10–13 presents another view: In His dying, Jesus became a curse for us. As violators of God’s law, we incurred the violator-curse upon ourselves, but on Calvary He bore that curse, and thus we are released from the curse and bondage of the law.

In 2 Corinthians 4:6–12 we find another side: Paul describes us as those who are always given over to death—carriers of the death of Jesus, that the light of His life might be revealed in and through us, and we become walking display cases of His redeeming, resurrection power.

Another facet: In Christ, vicariously, we died. In Him, we died to sin—that means that we are released from the death-power of sin (see Romans 6:1–7). Think about sin: sin brings death, but in Jesus our spiritual standing is that we are already crucified, dead people (see Galatians 6:14). The backfire of our positional death has already burned off all the fuel, we stand in the Center, protected. Sin has done to Jesus the worst it can do, it has no further claim—we are now outside of its jurisdiction. Our crucifixion in Jesus (see Galatians 2:20) not only liberates us, it becomes our authority for victory over sin.

Yet another aspect: Positionally we have permanently crucified the sinful nature (see Galatians 5:24). Practically—it’s not so easy. We should be living the crucified life every day because we need to make sure the sinful nature stays dead. The problem here is that the sinful nature (or, “the flesh,” that ugly, twisted part of us where Satan tries to work) does not die the way physical things die. In faith, we must keep nailing our old nature to the cross to be shamefully crucified with Christ. Some day we will go to be with the Lord and He will remove the old nature from us forever—praise God! Until then, by resting in the power of Jesus’ blood, we can keep our old nature defeated. If we don’t, it will rise up and defeat us—and we will forfeit our “walking in victory.”

Summarizing, the cross is the place of victory; it is our authority for victory, but the Holy Spirit is the Power, the Force Field that holds us to the cross. We must maintain that Power at maximum strength. This is another reason why we need the Baptism with the Holy Spirit—we need to walk daily in the extra resources it makes available to us.

B. His Burial

It is important that Jesus was actually, certifiably dead, because if there was no real death, there was no real resurrection. But the Roman soldiers (they knew what death looked like) declared that He was dead (see John 19:33). Then Jesus was buried in the tomb—the final proclamation that He was surely dead.

For the believer “in Christ” seeking to walk in victory, our identifying with Jesus in the tomb means that for us that the death certificate is signed and sealed; we are released from the slavery and authority of sin (see Romans 6:4). As things are now, sin has no claim on us, no legal right to enter. If any sin gets into our life and experience, it must receive our permission.

C. His Resurrection

Jesus did indeed go into death. But He didn’t stay dead! On Sunday morning, there He was—alive again! But the way He came back from the grave was different from those who (like Lazarus in John 11) are raised from the dead. They too go into the prison of death, but God, by His power, reaches into death and temporarily retrieves them back out of death. But death still retains its claim on them, and eventually it will come to collect, and they will die again.

Ponder how different it was with Jesus: When He had borne His Father’s full wrath against sin, when the punishment-part of His mission was complete, when there was no more to be gained by further suffering, He triumphantly declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30), miraculously vacated His body and left it dead on the cross. But that was not the end of it…after three days, to make good on His promise, He returned to this physical realm (in new way whereby He retained full access to the spiritual realm, dual access). He, “…through the glory of the Father…” (Romans 6:4), forced His Soul and Spirit back into His cold corpse, warmed it up, kicked the stiffness out and made it live again! This is praise material!

Consider what Jesus had to contend with: The spear-thrust after His demise left His body totally incapable of resuscitation or sustaining mortal life as we know it. But Jesus’ new kind of life is stronger than death; it overpowers death. “Death cannot keep its prey…He tore the bars away!” With an audacious display of the irrepressible power of His divinity, He arose! He burst through death, conquering the very entity of death!

Our risen Lord emerged on the other side with a totally new kind of life that is more than immune to death—that’s defensive—His life offensively destroys death! Jesus’ return to life was resurrection; it was the firstfruits of the incorruptible ‘last day’ type of resurrection. His resurrection anticipates the coming finale when Jesus will seize death, the captor of all humanity. We will witness as He takes that captor captive and throws it into the Lake of Fire, from which it will never escape. Then there will be no more death.

That’s the life-power that we plug into when we by faith identify with Jesus in His resurrection (see Philippians 3:8–11). In Christ, we too burst through death and exit with Jesus on the other side; death-dealing sin has been completely overpowered. Jesus’ resurrection encapsulates the authority for us to walk in victory.

Jesus Is Baptized by John

It is significant that Jesus portrayed the three events of His Passion when He was baptized in the Jordan River. Let’s scan the background: As Jesus was being baptized, several issues were advancing in parallel. Jesus’ receiving baptism gave to John’s ministry the ultimate, divine endorsement and authentication. Also, being baptized was essential to Jesus’ full identification with humanity and the human experience. Further, His baptism set an example that exhorted others to repent and publicly declare their repentance. Granted, repentance was not necessary for Jesus. But He was expecting others to be baptized by John, and had He failed to be baptized it could look like the pharisaical aloofness that He railed against. Jesus’ participation made the statement that every fallen person needs repentance and the regenerating, saving grace that was attending John’s ministry. But John, knowing that his ministry of baptism denoted the repentance of those who are sinners and guilty of sin, and knowing that it thus did not apply to Jesus who had no sin to repent of—John initially protested, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matthew 4:14).

But Jesus knew something else: a new kind of baptism, a new ordinance, was about to be instituted. The baptism Jesus received, although it appeared the same as all the others, was unique in John’s ministry because it carried a new meaning. On this occasion, in this one case, sin was not the main focus, but instead, righteousness! Jesus’ explanation conveyed that His immersion would be a firstfruits baptism that would “fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 4:15). Jesus was the first to receive Christian/Messianic water baptism and it pictured His own passion—which would happen about three years later when, by His death, He finished the work of salvation. His passion would purchase our imputed righteousness before our Holy Heavenly Father. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). (See also 1 Corinthians 1:30; Philippians 3:9).

Let’s think about the three events of Jesus’ baptism: (We’ll see how our experience fits into His experience as He was being baptized.) First, Jesus pictured His death on the cross as He passed under the water. (We who believe in Jesus are “in Christ,” so “in Him” we also died.) Then He was out of sight under the water; that pictured the tomb where He was buried, where sin had done all it could do to Him. (We were buried there too, with Jesus, and sin must release us.) Third, He came up out of the water. That was His way of showing everyone that He would rise from the dead and come back to walk in a new kind of life (see Romans 6:3–14; Colossians 2:12; 1 Peter 3:21). (Jesus brought us with Him when He arose. As we live our life right now, we are walking in Him and drawing upon His new kind of life.) Jesus’ baptism staged a visible drama of His own redeeming work. His baptism pictured what transpired in the spiritual realm as we were being born again. All of the symbolic content which Jesus demonstrated in His baptism was reenacted in our own water baptism when we, quite literally, followed the Lord in baptism.

Jesus’ Provision Versus Sin’s Persistence

Jesus’ baptism displays how all the power of Heaven is marshaled to give us victory over sin. In a legal sense, everything is satisfied. All of His provision supporting our victorious walk is in place and active. Everything we need was bought by Jesus’ blood. As to spiritual warfare, we might appear to be armed to the point of overkill—against any type of temptation. Unfortunately, sin is relentless, it’s always maneuvering to usurp control of our lives. Sin has been defeated but it keeps trying to pull us down into failure so as to ruin our witness and sap our relationship with Jesus. If we let sin have the upper hand and we fail, it will mean that we have not availed ourselves of all that Jesus provided for us when He died on the cross.

All of this provision for victory was offered to Old Testament believers as they looked forward to the coming of Messiah, but few displayed much victory over sin, the overall picture was one of spiritual defeat. Jesus wanted the reports cards improved in the Church Age. So, what did God do about it? Notice that the Dove descended upon Jesus between His baptism and His temptation (see Matthew 3:16–4:1). That points us to the third principle, the Power, the special measure of the Holy Spirit.

III. The Spirit’s Baptism/ the Spirit’s Power

The Baptism Power of the Holy Spirit who enables us to walk in victory begins with Jesus. He is the leader of our faith; whatever He expects of us, He did it first—with the same resources that He offers us (see Matthew 10:25). Let’s follow this: First Jesus was water baptized, and then He was Spirit Baptized, specially equipped for service and godly living by the Dove who came down upon Him. Jesus combined that empowering of the Spirit with the authority of the events of His coming Passion (His death, burial, and resurrection), and using those two spiritual legs, He walked in victory over temptation.

We are called to identify with Jesus in all the meaning behind His Jordan River baptism. That includes His Spirit Anointing/His “Second Work”—which was the firstfruits of the Personal Pentecost/Spirit Baptism He provides for us. The pattern for our experience continues through Jesus’ Spirit Filling, His overcoming in the Temptation, the features of His ministry, and His life of holiness that pleased the Father.

Question: Would Jesus have come back from His Temptation victorious if He had not received an extra measure of the Spirit? We only know that He didn’t try. We ought not to try it either. Look at us…our natures are weakened by sin; we always drift toward evil. If the Father considered that it was in order for His Son, Jesus to have more of the Spirit before facing His temptation, we most certainly need The Baptism to resist Satan’s attacks against us.

The Positional, the Practical

Review the victorious walk: In Jesus we are crucified, buried, and raised again. These are all positional—that means they are describing our spiritual standing as God sees us. Now, Jesus, full of the Spirit, resisted all of Satan’s temptations and He became our champion. In Jesus, positionally, we have overcome, we are victorious—the battle is won! But our day by day hands-on experience is in the realm of the practical. Thank God, by faith those features can become the practical operating system of our life. Let’s expand on this:

We are weak and temptations still bother us. For us to have victory over temptation and sin in our practical daily living, we need more than a positional victory, more than a positional power. And the loving Lord knows our situation, so He offers us Spirit Baptism—a second, Special Measure of the Spirit like that given to Jesus. The Power of Pentecost is more than adequate for every need every day. That Extra Power provides extra enabling for us, in terms of our individual calling, to live out the events of Jesus’ Passion: His death, burial, and resurrection. We appropriate all this by prayer and faith.

Notice how the Paraclete helped Jesus when He faced testing, temptation and challenge: Jesus was powerful, both personally and in His ministry—because He was always led by the Spirit, He was always sensitive to what the Spirit desired, He was always in tune and receptive to the Spirit’s communication. This constitutes the guidelines for our life, and Paul makes it clear in Romans eight that those features are essential for anyone aspiring to walk in victory. Jesus was always given the right words; He could recall appropriate Scripture (see Matthew 4:1-11). He promised the same spiritual help for His properly trained and Spirit filled disciples (see Matthew 10:19–20; John 14:26; 16:12–15).

Let’s survey three ways that Spirit Baptism can empower us to walk in victory: Greater Revelation of Jesus; Greater Praise and Worship; Greater Fruit of the Spirit:

A. Greater Revelation of Jesus

When we are Baptized with the Holy Spirit we are given an expanded revelation of Jesus (see John 15:26; 16:13–15). That revelation opens our understanding of the basis of walking in victory: the events of Jesus’ redemptive passion. As we, by faith, identify with those events, they can begin to impact our lives, and that allows us to experience lasting victory. Indeed, that expanded revelation benefits every area of our life. We are given a clearer knowledge of who Jesus really is, how much He loves us, the abundance He keeps giving us, and the marvelous ways He arranges our lives. Those wonderful realities impel us to love Him more deeply.

As our love for Jesus enlarges, we become aware that the slightest disobedience becomes a painful insult against Him because He is perfectly faithful to us and He loves us with an everlasting love. God gives us a keener sense of how intensely Jesus wants our lives to be righteous and free of sin. He tries to steer us away from anything that might cool our intimacy with Him, slow the advance of His Kingdom, or leave us in spiritual defeat. So, our expanded revelation of Jesus leads us to grow in our love for Him and obey Him fully—these elements combine to make it more likely that walking in victory will become our way of life.

Our greater revelation of Jesus heightens our longing to see Him face-to-face and experience the joy of living eternally with Him. That blessed hope detaches us from the world and its ways—walking in victory will become the only lifestyle that holds any appeal for us. As Jesus becomes the sunshine of our souls, we’ll learn to live every day as closely as possible to how we will live with Him in Heaven. In Heaven we will not be plagued by sin, self, and defeat—our burning desire should be to banish those items here and now.

B. Greater Praise and Worship

Greater praise and worship is another evidence of our Spirit Baptism. As our souls overflow in praise and glory to God, we fulfill a major purpose for why He created humanity (see Isaiah 43:7). In response, the Lord fills us with joyous energy, and He begins to move, often in miraculous ways, bringing us into deliverance and victory. Jehoshaphat spearheaded his army, not with his best warriors but with a praise team! What happened? “As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated” (2 Chronicles 20:22).

That same linkage between our praise and God’s powerful intervention is echoed in Isaiah 42:12–13: “Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim his praise in the islands. The Lord will march out like a mighty man…and will triumph over his enemies.” In Acts 16:25–34 Paul and Silas were beaten, bloody and shackled in prison for their Spirit-led ministry. But instead of a pity party, they had prayer and praise. God responded with earth-shaking deliverance and victory! Soon the jailer and his whole family were gloriously saved! Praise helps us in either of two ways in our stand against temptation—consider:

(1) As the Paraclete in us pours out praise and worship to our Holy God, He can blunt the appeal of sin. The world calls to us with its glitter, sensuality, and promises of personal grandeur, but the Spirit reveals the deception lurking behind the facade and how it leads to a tragic end. When we’re praising God, He can cause the world’s flashiest temptations to be boring or even repellant to us. In this setting, saying “No!” comes naturally—and we walk away in victory.

(2) As the Spirit in us lifts praise to the throne of God, He enables us to resist even when Satan increases the pressure of temptation. As Satan works on our weakest area (our thorn in the flesh) the Spirit in us becomes a fountain of praise and worship that wells up in an overflow of God’s grace and strength. As we apply His grace to our situation, we remain victorious when testing reaches torturous levels (see James 4:6–7). This is the more difficult path of deliverance, but it leads to more reward. We’ll have an identifying sense of fellowship with Jesus who suffered when He was tempted (see Philippians 3:10; Hebrews 2:18).

C. Greater Fruit of the Spirit

Paul wrote about the effects of the fruit of the Spirit in our life: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22).

Note two things in the verse above: (1) These are the attributes, the characteristics of God. The fruit-manifestations of the Spirit are evidences of God living His life in us. (2) The moral opposite of each of these divine traits leads us to sin, selfishness, despair, and trouble, i.e., spiritual defeat and no victory.

Now, the Spirit indwells a believer at salvation, imparting a portion of each of the fruit-manifestations. Ask yourself, “How much of each of those items was I given? Have those manifestations grown in my life?” Your answers will reflect a significant part of how much spiritual antidote you have against urgings of your sinful nature seeking to defeat you.

But what if you could receive more of the Spirit’s Presence than the initial Indwelling that came with your new birth? Your fruit-manifestations of the Spirit could become more robust. As for the thorny sins that bother you most—the chances are better for keeping those pests crucified. Every child of God should want that, should be eagerly seeking such a spiritual advantage.

Good news—it’s true! Praise the Lord, it is the truth! It is available; it’s as close as your sincere desire and your reach of faith—don’t miss it! The Father is more eager to pour it out than you are to receive it. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit can be the advantage you’ve needed to walk in victory and live a fruitful, powerful Christian life.

Faith is the Victory

Recapping: Our Quest/Our Involvement, Jesus’ Passion/Jesus’ Provision, and the Spirit’s Baptism/the Spirit’s Power—these are the principles of the victorious walk. But they need to be more than inert truth. For these principles—particularly the events of Jesus’ Passion—to translate into victory in our daily experience, we must cast ourselves on the grace and mercy of God. We must utterly depend on Him to intervene and cause it to happen. In short, it’s faith—faith in our all-powerful, miracle-working God. Faith is the victory! We can’t mentally or emotionally will ourselves into victory any more than we could will our way into salvation. Our salvation is in Jesus, because of His finished work—as is our victory. In Galatians 3:1–5, Paul insists that everything that makes up our Christian experience, including Spirit Baptism, is due to our believing what we heard. We trust God—that’s faith.

So, where do we get the kind of faith that God can respond to? We can’t self-generate such faith. But God can. He’s not only the Object of our faith, He is the Author. He is the Source of the faith we need to enter into victory. What, then, is our part? Obedience—that’s the starting block. God looks for those who are eager to obey whatever He indicates. And…we need to desire Him. Love for Jesus, and desire for Jesus—it’s all about Jesus. When we are obediently seeking Him, then we are ready to pray that He grant us victory-faith, and we can redirect that faith back to Him. And remember, Pentecost-transformed faith can be more effective. So, by His grace and mercy, He does it all. Our biggest contribution may be to keep ourselves out of His way and not hinder the process—and praise Him as He brings it to pass.

Sometimes a suggested prayer can help to close the deal when we’re standing right at the door, wondering which way to turn the knob: “Lord, I want victory; I need victory. Have mercy on me—I’m weak! I cast myself upon you with the faith you’re giving me; I’m depending wholly on you. You are my salvation, and my Baptism Power, be my victory also! You alone are my resource for walking in victory, beyond you there is no backup. I pray for a further empowering of your Spirit to enable me to walk in victory so that my life will bring full glory to the Name of Jesus, whom I love, and in whom I live, Amen.”

Use the faith He’s giving you to actively and personally identify with the events of Jesus’ Passion, and by that faith-identification make those events the operating system of your life. It’s the pathway into the expansive freedom that Paul wrote about in Romans chapter eight. The victorious walk is an ongoing, liberating experience, but there’s more! Victory prepares us—victory is the gateway to the next phase, God’s intimate garden of glory: Abiding in Jesus.

Abiding—in the Positional Sense

Jesus indicated in John 6:53–56 that every believer is abiding in Him. If we are born again, we are “…in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Technically, we are abiding in Him—that’s our spiritual position, the positional aspect of abiding. So, the question is not, “Are we abiding in Jesus?”, it is rather, “How freely are we allowing His life-flow to permeate every part of our being and produce its intended effect in our practical daily life?” Are we giving unclogged access for the flow of His Spirit to yield the fruit He seeks? Jesus desires for us to have a deep, intimate, abiding relationship with Him that goes beyond the positional, and transforms all we are, all we touch. Our discussion will focus on the practical, the intimate level of abiding.

Abiding and Spirit-Baptism

It’s instructive to note that Jesus waited until after He had taught about Spirit Baptism in John 14 before He expanded on the subject of abiding in Him in John 15:1–17. We can assume that Jesus presented these concepts in their proper order: first, Spirit Baptism, then, practical abiding in Him. Believers with the Baptism are more likely to maintain a deep, abiding relationship. Jesus taught in John 15 that bearing much fruit, intimacy, and joy are features that attach to abiding in Him. Spirit Baptism makes it more likely that those features will become working realities in our life, even as the Baptism furthers our walking in victory as we studied above.

Abiding and Victory

Abiding in Jesus on the intimate level blossoms when we begin to walk in victory. Victorious living is the door into the abiding life. Once we’re in, ‘abiding’ keeps the victory-door propped open—it works both ways. Walking in victory clears debris, maintaining an open channel whereby our abiding relationship and developing intimacy can translate into maximum fruit-bearing. Practical abiding in Jesus is the relationship He longs for. Abiding in Him at that level resolves many of the issues that can arise in our spiritual struggle.

Most of our attention will be focused on John 15. This passage is part of Jesus’ final discourse to His disciples—it began in the Upper Room. His teaching opens in John 13:31 and continues through chapter 16—even as He dealt with interruptions, questions from the disciples, and changing locations.

The Vine and the Branches

In John 15:1–17, Jesus calls Himself “the Vine”—we are the branches. This is Jesus’ object lesson illustrating His concern that we develop and retain an intimate relationship with Him—it must become priority-one in our life. His simple words, “Abide in Me, and I in you” (John 15:4 NASB[1]), describe the process. Jesus expects us to do, without hesitation, whatever it takes to abide in Him.

“Abiding” assumes our identifying with every event comprising Jesus’ salvation-work. But it goes deeper to a growing love-involvement with the living Person of Jesus—a relationship so close, so tender that sometimes we may not wish to publically discuss the details—it’s not always fitting. We’re dealing with confidential ‘pillow talk’ that transpires during times of prayer-privacy between the spiritual bride and Groom. That’s abiding.

Abiding is being grafted into the very heart of Jesus. It’s like a spiritual artery pumping from His heart into ours, and the Spirit-Life that keeps Him so alive flows into us as we receive the Vitality of God Himself. Abiding is God living out His life in us—in whatever setting He desires to place us; it transforms us into the in-His-image people He created for sacred fellowship with Himself.

Abiding cannot be spasmodic—it implies a constant faith-relationship cultivated in a continual prayer-life (see 1 Thessalonians 5:17). As we keep our relationship with Jesus fresh and organic, the results will be the same with us as with the grapevine, it bears fruit. The branch of a grapevine doesn’t lie awake at night, fretfully planning. It doesn’t exhaust itself with long days of frantic effort. It just abides. It quietly receives the flow of life, and it bears so much quality fruit that the excellence of the vine is commended. Our being Spirit Baptized is assumed here—that brings more power into the fruit-bearing process.

Abiding and Obedience

Abiding is not a free-floating, unregulated state of being. As we abide in Jesus, much of the life-flow He directs to us is contained in the words He spoke. Jesus framed this in John 6:63, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” In John 15:10–17 Jesus highlights the linkage between abiding and obeying His commandments. In the larger context, John 13:31–16:33, Jesus repeatedly stressed obedience. Indeed, both abiding and obedience are equally essential, are interactive, and must develop together. ‘Obedience’ is carrying out Jesus’ teaching and the Spirit’s indications for us personally in every situation. “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love” (John 15:10 NASB). It includes all of God’s instructions from His inspired Word that apply to us as New Covenant believers.

Abiding in His Love

God loves us because He is love. In that unconditional sense, Jesus will continue to love us no matter what. So, He is not implying in John 15:10, “If you step out of line, no more love for you!” No. “Abiding in His love” exposes a unique strain of Jesus’ passionate favor that envelops those who strive to live in obedience to Him, His decrees and indeed all of Scripture. That kind of love will usher us into the most holy place of rich relationship with the Triune God, particularly with Jesus, our spiritual Bridegroom. It is spiritually living in the blinding, blazing whiteness of Shekinah glory as revealed in the Eternal Son (see 1 Kings 8:10–11; Luke 9:28–32). Psalm 91 describes this as dwelling “...in the shelter of the Most High.” It transforms our busy life into holy ground. It’s the place of inner peace—irrational peace in the midst of the storms that always seem to find us. Only God can give us this brand of peace (see John 14:27). Does this sound like the place you want settle in? Jesus tells us how to enter and dwell in that secret room: Keep His commandments.

His commandments are not like slave labor that dehumanizes and destroys the servant. No, His commandments build our character into a holy life that leads others to be reminded of Jesus as they watch us. That kind of life opens the door to abide in His special love. His special love, in turn, creates in us a craving to always obey Him implicitly. Here’s how it works: How strongly do you desire to obey Jesus? How much joy do you receive from obeying Him? Our answers reveal how freely His special love is flowing in us.

A Vital Key: Loving Jesus

Jesus speaks much about love in these chapters—love in several directions. He tells us how much he loves us; He tells us to love each other. But Jesus also makes it clear that we must love Him. He stresses this repeatedly, particularly in the previous chapter, John 14.

Loving Jesus is another key to this whole subject area. Now, some might be surprised to find that, for them, such love does not come easily. Loving Jesus, loving God, is so alien to our fallen nature. Our flesh can rush to fall in love with anything and anyone—except God. But not until I really love the Lord will I eagerly and joyfully obey Him. This might seem strange, but He alone can give us that kind of love for Himself. We cannot self-generate supreme love for Jesus even if we know how much we need it.

But God will not pour into us that kind of love until He sees in us a readiness to renounce every inordinate love that competes with our love for Him. He monitors our souls: Are we yearning to love Him? Do we ache to have our hearts released from worldly affections that chill our relationship with Him? When He sees our spirit moving into that love-seeking mode, He will respond to fill our lives with a new measure of love for Him—love that allows us to satisfy the Greatest Commandment and, at the same time, evicts improper loves. Praise the Lord for Spirit Baptism! It’s God’s conduit through which He can more readily channel to us that much love for Him.

We will become objects of God’s special delight and favor as we obediently abide in Jesus, deeply loving and serving Him and others. In that request-purifying setting we can ask in Jesus’ name for whatever we need and He will give it to us—along with fullness of joy (see John 16:23–24). The Holy Spirit dwells (abides) in us, and Jesus and the Father abide in us and we abide in Jesus; that mutual abiding forms a tender, intimate unity, bonded by His love. The result? We find ourselves spontaneously bearing much fruit to the glory of God.

The Flesh Will Resist

Abiding sounds simple. It is. Does that mean it will be easy? Hardly. Our old nature will stubbornly resist. We must shun every type of fleshly appeal, like bullying intimidation, pitiful plea, sensual enticement—to name a few. Indeed, we must counter-attack with a godly hatred for sin in its every expression and response within us. The Apostle Paul found that victory was difficult to achieve even when he genuinely hated sin and the sinful impulses that pressured him (see Romans 7:15). But he did hate sin – that’s the starting point. If we’re the least bit sympathetic or accommodating toward the fleshly gratification that sin offers, victory will not happen. Sin must be seen as the loathsome, destructive intruder that it is. No hatred for sin? Sorry, no victory. And the door to abiding will also swing shut.

All the Parts Work Together

Jesus’ special love; obeying Jesus’ commands; abiding in Him—these elements are all interdependent. Obedience opens the way for the deeper relationship of abiding in Jesus. At the same time, abiding makes our hearts tender so that we desire to obey Him. This is all possible through the power of Jesus’ special love carried to us from His heart by the Holy Spirit. When all of these elements are active in us, we will be living the abiding life. These things can only be revealed and experienced by the Spirit as we walk prayerfully in faith.

Finally, Jesus’ teaching in John 15 is clear: Abiding should not be regarded as a coveted prize for the favored few. ‘Abiders’ are not an elite group in the believing community with clandestine mystical rites—not at all. Jesus bought every one of His children with His own blood. He wants each one to accept His Gift of the Paraclete, learn to walk in victory, and then begin to abide forever “…in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). Granted, abiding is the secret place of indescribable spiritual wealth and fruitfulness, but it’s also the Standard Christian Life. Are you living there?