Peter writes that Christian believers “have received all things pertaining to life and godliness through faith in Christ Jesus,” but I have not always lived or behaved in a godly (sinless) way since having received the Lord as my Savior. Have you? Perhaps trying is not the answer. One preacher said, “trusting and training” were better approaches to gaining a decisive victory over sin than trying. I’ve not been great at that either. Another preacher said; “Stop trying and start dying.” This approach, of course, is in keeping with the exhortations of Paul who said; “Reckon yourself therefore dead indeed to sin and alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” But, alas, I’ve not been very good at reckoning myself dead to sin either. Can anyone else relate to what I’m saying here and would anyone else like an answer to this troubling dilemma? So what is the answer? I really don’t know, but perhaps if you will let me use you for a moment as a sounding board, we will get somewhat closer to figuring these things out. Want to try?

Paul seemed to have the same kind of frustrations, and his writings on the subject are recorded in Romans 7 and 8. Please read them thoroughly and thoughtfully. Paul tells us that he is doing things that he doesn’t want to do, and not doing things that he does want to do. He goes on to say that the reason he is doing things that he does not want to do is because he has discovered a “law of sin” that is at work in his “members.” He says that He agrees with the law of God and delights in that law in his inner man and that it is therefore not him that is sinning, but rather, a law of sin that is within him! Later, he says that his deliverance from this law of sin that has kept him in this body of death has been found through the spiritual revelation of Christ’s accomplished work of substitution on the cross. Christ, who knew no sin, has condemned sin in the flesh through becoming sinful flesh Himself on our behalf, and on the cross, in our stead, He has born the consequences of our sins upon Himself so that we could be free from the power of sin in our lives both now and for evermore. That’s good news!

He continues to say, in essence, that if we walk in the Spirit of this revelation of Christ’s accomplished victorious work on the cross, then we will enjoy the benefits of His righteousness by faith, as opposed to the frustration that comes from our own futile attempts to achieve righteousness through our on efforts in merely attempting to obey a set of rules and regulations.(The law).

So, we see that we are to walk by faith in Christ’s accomplished work on our behalf as it pertains to sin and our deliverance from it. This is accomplished through keeping our minds stayed on Him, and not our sins, which results in our experience of perfect peace.

Does this mean that we are to ignore the law of God that points to our many failings, and to disregard our propensities to sin? No, but it does mean that in the midst of our efforts to adhere to the moral law of God and to resist, renounce, and reject sin, we must always make Christ and His victory over sin on our behalf our priority perception in the midst of our struggles (warfare). Also, we must never attempt to gain right standing with God through any other means (i.e. rules, regulations, law) than through our faith in Christ and his accomplished work. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes.” The better we get at living and walking in this revelation, the more free from sin and it’s consequences we will be, and the more effective in God’s service we will become.

Now, as we learn to “walk by faith, not by sight, calling those things that are not as though they were,” we come to understand that what we believe and what we say needs to line up with each other around the revelations of God’s word. “The word of faith is near you, in your hearts and in your mouths.” “With the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.” Therefore, we must learn to speak out of our mouths what we believe in our hearts regarding Christ’s accomplished work on our behalf, and we must learn to hold fast our profession of faith. In other words, at the point of our greatest temptations, tests, and trials, we must learn to speak out of our mouths what we believe in our hearts. That which is in keeping with the revelations of the Bible regarding Christ’s accomplished work on the cross. i.e. “Sickness and sin, and poverty shall not have dominion over me because I am not under the law but under grace.” “I reign in life by Christ Jesus.” “He who knew no sin became sin that I might be made the righteousness of God in Him!” “He became poor that I might be made rich.” “He was wounded for my transgressions, He was bruised for my iniquities, the chastisement of my peace was upon Him and by His stripes (wounds), I am healed!”

There are those in Christ who have learned to hold fast their profession of faith regarding the accomplished work of Christ on the cross on their behalf and in their stead. Some of these folks have faithfully tried to teach this principle to others in the church and have been wrongly accused and mocked by their fellow Christian believers as the, “name it and claim it crowd.” I can only say that where there may have been immaturity in the appropriation of this grace by some, the ones who have learned and are open to learning this spiritual principle have and are making spiritual progress upon the path of righteousness, and those who refuse to name it, and claim it, won’t ever have it. This is a great pity.

In summation, let me say that I have not yet appropriated this grace of holding fast my profession of faith to the degree available to me or possible for me, but I plan to do so more and more in the future. I truly believe that if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus Christ and His accomplished victory over sin, sickness, and poverty through the passion of His cross on our behalf, we will begin to experience all that He has made available to us through His amazing grace. This diligent and disciplined practice and prayer of intercession will begin to have a positive impact in our lives as we receive greater spiritual, mental, physical, financial, and social blessings, and it will cause us to be a greater blessing to others in all of these areas of their lives too. Let’s learn to say what God says about those of us who are in His Son by grace through faith.

In Christ, we are all prophets, priests, and kings. All of these spiritual offices have to do with, and function in, heart beliefs and mouth confessions. As a prophet, I believe in God’s ordination to speak His oracles for the edification of His church, therefore, I preach and proclaim. As a priest I believe in God’s ordination to intercede on behalf of myself and others, therefore I pray. As a king I believe in God’s ordination to rule and reign in life over all things having to do with this planet and the spiritual warfare in which we are all engaged, therefore, I decree a thing, and it is done. Jesus said: “Whosoever shall say unto this tree, be thou plucked up, removed, and cast into the sea, and doubt not in his heart that the thing he said will come to pass, he shall have what he said.” He also said; “ If you had the faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would say unto this mountain, be thou removed and cast into the sea, and it would be done.” Now, let’s all meditate on that and start diligently practicing it where the mountains of sickness, sin and poverty in our lives are concerned. Let's also remember that; "All of the promises of God are yea and amen to the glory of God." May we all be blessed, be healed, be forgiven, and be prospered in Christ through believing in our hearts and confessing with our mouths the Lordship of Jesus Christ over our lives and over all things in Heaven, on earth, and beneath the earth. Regardless of our circumstances, may our prayers, proclamations, and decrees sound something like this "Lord I thank you that because I'm in Christ Jesus by faith, sickness, and sin, and poverty shall not have dominion over me because I am not under the law but under grace. Therefore let the poor say I am rich, let the sinners say I am the righteousness of God in Christ, and let the sick say, I am healed. Let's start reigning in life by Christ Jesus through believing the good news and by holding fast our profession of faith in both life and in death. After all Jesus said, I am the Resurrection and the Life! He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and he that is lives and believes in me shall never die. Yea and Amen!