Victory Transformed: From God's Walk Among Us to His Spirit Within
Deut. 23:14 For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.
I can get excited about the Lord our God walking among us. I can also get excited about the REASON He chooses to walk in our midst; to deliver us, and to give up our enemies before us! God does not change; He wanted His people to have the victory THEN, and He wants His people to have the victory NOW! Victory over what? Victory over any weapon formed against us; victory over any tongue that rises up against us to condemn us; victory over any sin that threatens to dominate us; victory over any devil that seeks to destroy us; VICTORY, VICTORY, VICTORY!!
Now, that said, let us remember the parallel between the Old Testament (henceforth called OT) economy and the New Testament (henceforth called NT) economy. Let us consider, for example, what Romans 8:3-4 says, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Did you see that? In other words, in the OT, God walked in their midst, but demanded that their camp be holy; in other words, keep the law, and when the law was broken, keep the sacrifices going which kept their sins covered before His eyes. Any time uncovered sin was discovered in the camp, God would turn away from his people.
Now, in the NT, to offer a solution for the sin problem, God sent His perfect, spotless, sinless Son to be the once-and-for-all sacrifice for all who call upon Him in faith and repentance of their sins. At that moment, He not only walks among them, but MOVES INTO their hearts! Now, what the OT could not offer (which was a perpetual cleansing of sin through the pure and living blood of the resurrected Christ), now the NT covenant offers by Christ alone!
Once we are truly born again, we are forgiven of past, present, and future sins, and so He who walks among us, and now lives in us, will NEVER leave us nor forsake us! This is a marvel to consider, is it not? You know what this means, don’t you? This means that the victory God intended for His children under the weak OT economy, is now GUARANTEED through the NT covenant! GREATER is HE who is IN YOU, than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4)! If you have Christ, you HAVE victory. Use it!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
I can get excited about the Lord our God walking among us. I can also get excited about the REASON He chooses to walk in our midst; to deliver us, and to give up our enemies before us! God does not change; He wanted His people to have the victory THEN, and He wants His people to have the victory NOW! Victory over what? Victory over any weapon formed against us; victory over any tongue that rises up against us to condemn us; victory over any sin that threatens to dominate us; victory over any devil that seeks to destroy us; VICTORY, VICTORY, VICTORY!!
Now, that said, let us remember the parallel between the Old Testament (henceforth called OT) economy and the New Testament (henceforth called NT) economy. Let us consider, for example, what Romans 8:3-4 says, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Did you see that? In other words, in the OT, God walked in their midst, but demanded that their camp be holy; in other words, keep the law, and when the law was broken, keep the sacrifices going which kept their sins covered before His eyes. Any time uncovered sin was discovered in the camp, God would turn away from his people.
Now, in the NT, to offer a solution for the sin problem, God sent His perfect, spotless, sinless Son to be the once-and-for-all sacrifice for all who call upon Him in faith and repentance of their sins. At that moment, He not only walks among them, but MOVES INTO their hearts! Now, what the OT could not offer (which was a perpetual cleansing of sin through the pure and living blood of the resurrected Christ), now the NT covenant offers by Christ alone!
Once we are truly born again, we are forgiven of past, present, and future sins, and so He who walks among us, and now lives in us, will NEVER leave us nor forsake us! This is a marvel to consider, is it not? You know what this means, don’t you? This means that the victory God intended for His children under the weak OT economy, is now GUARANTEED through the NT covenant! GREATER is HE who is IN YOU, than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4)! If you have Christ, you HAVE victory. Use it!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill