Victory Through Intimacy

• 1 John 2:1 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:2 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:3 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:4 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:5 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:6 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:7 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:8 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:9 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:10 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:11 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:12 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:13 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:14 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:15 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:16 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:17 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:18 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:19 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:20 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:21 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:22 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:23 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:24 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:25 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:26 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:27 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:28 (MSG)
• 1 John 2:29 (MSG)

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1 John 2:14 "Your fellowship with God enables you to gain a victory over the evil one." - The Message

Other versions of this verse are very affirming and powerful, but The Message takes a spiritual truth and puts it into invaluable advice. Advice to stay in deep fellowship with God. I love it, because it shows us that to meet our main goal, we must attain a secondary goal, but to attain the secondary goal, we must attain the primary goal.

Let me clarify; why do we not sin? Do we fight to not sin for the sake of not sinning? Not entirely. Honestly, few of us could live that way for long if at all if there wasn't a primary goal that makes that goal secondary. The primary goal for not sinning is to deepen our closeness with God. It is our heart's desire to come close to God, to connect with the Creator, to walk with the Lord, and to know our Savior Jesus more and more. Is that not the purpose of Christianity? Is it a religion or a relationship? So what does sin do? It severs that relationship. While there is no condemnation in Christ, Romans 8, even still our sin pushes us from God. We go into a period of grief, of strife, of becoming puppets of the enemy.

A good truth to remember is that we cannot take ground from the enemy if the enemy has ground in our hearts. To stumble into sin but quickly jump back into the Grace of God by His abounding love and mercy, we can carry on. But to dwell in sin, in darkness as John talks about in 1 John, makes us allies with the enemy. To harbor sin in our lives, hearts, and minds, means the enemy has ground in us, making us full of darkness and useless to the light.

So, there are many reasons we don't want to sin and we want to have victory over the enemy. To do this is by our intimacy with God. Our fellowship. Our close, deep relationship with God. What's interesting is that close intimate relationship with God is our primary goal. So, to achieve the primary goal of close relationship with God, we need victory over the enemy, and to do that, we must have a close relationship with God. Great, a circle!

Oh, but by the blood of Christ can we begin the process. Coming to Christ is the first step into enter a relationship with Him. And as we Christians know, at that first moment, often right after baptism, we are hit so hard. But does the warfare end? No. Do temptations stop? No. So, let's walk through this. Next time you find yourself tempted into anything, seek God. The best ways to come into God's presence consciously is Thanksgiving, worship, and rejoicing.

Thank God for all things, and I mean all things.
Worship Him by knowing Who He is. What He is capable of and what He has already done for us.
Rejoice in the fact that the victory is God's already, He won the battle and paid the price. Rejoice in God for there is so much to rejoice over.

Walk yourself through those three things and what was tempting you will be out of sight. Keep your eyes of Jesus and the temptations and sins would be things in your peripheral vision, maybe slightly distracting, but blurred and incomprehensible. Do this more and more, make bigger and bigger efforts to have a deeper relationship with God, and you'll see a decreased pattern of sin in your life. You'll find yourself stepping into your true identity. You'll see yourself becoming more and more Christlike.

To sum this up; we do not wrestle a negative to achieve a positive. Do not start dwelling on the sin you're tempted into in the false hope that by concentrating on it, you'll figure it out and work some victory over it. It might happen briefly, but not regularly an not for good. Ignore it, move it aside, take your eyes (your mind's eyes) off of it and stare at Jesus. Focus on God. Live in His presence. I guarantee you'll see the works of the evil one crumbling around you.

God bless you beloved of Christ as you make conscious decisions to live in God's presence through thanksgiving, rejoicing, and worship. Amen!

For information about my Christmas novel about the original Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, a devout Christian who gave for the glory of God, visit www.nicholasthenovel.com
For more devotionals/sermonettes visit my blog at codywurban.wordpress.com

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