There are beliefs that do not represent God’s truth. They stem from personal experiences rather than the Word. They may originate from tradition and religion instead of the Word. You may not realize they are false because you are unfamiliar with the Word. A lack of understanding of the revelation of the Word of God can lead to your downfall (Hosea 4:6).
Your heart is where you truly know that something is true. We should meditate on God’s Word until our perspective aligns with God’s understanding and becomes “knowing” with everything within us. Until the information the Word provides in our heads becomes God’s revelation in our hearts, we will not fully believe it. The Holy Spirit’s revelation cannot transform us until it is applied by faith in our lives. When we live by the revelation of God’s Word, we acknowledge its truth. We become a living sacrifice, transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit to conform to His truth (Romans 12:1-2). We have a relationship with Jesus in which God’s truth dominates our lives. His truth becomes our identity—the authority by which we exist. Information becomes revelation, so it can lead to our application, allowing us to wield the authority with which we reign in life over the flesh and the lies of the wicked one (Romans 5:17).
Without knowing the Holy Spirit’s perspective of God’s truth, we will succumb to the flesh and the devil’s tricks. Jesus has destroyed the works of the devil. Satan is a defeated foe with only the power we grant him. But if we don’t know this truth in our minds, wills, emotions, and hearts, we are just waiting to be led to the enemy’s slaughter.
God wants you to know that you have a life that the devil cannot touch. 1 John 5:18 states: “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him” (1 John 5:18).
The power to resist the enemy is found in submitting to God’s truth (James 4:7). To submit to God’s truth, you must “know”—you must be absolutely convinced that His Word is absolutely true, no matter what you see or experience, and has the power to change you. The key to preventing sin and the enemy from destroying your life is the knowledge that comes from the revelation and application of God’s truth that sets you free (John 8:32).
Look at 1 John 5:18. What keeps the enemy from touching us?
“We KNOW,” John writes, “that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.” “KNOWING” comes from the revelation of truth and its application by faith in your life. Am I absolutely convinced of what 1 John 5:18 says—when I am born of God, I do not sin? When I “know” it is true, the enemy has no power to influence my thoughts or stir the desires of my flesh. I can walk in the Spirit, denying the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16) because I know I am dead to sin with every ounce of my being.
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2).
If I am dead to sin, how can I who died to sin remain in it?
“Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:11).
If I believe deep within my heart that I, as a new creation in Christ, am undoubtedly dead to sin and alive in Christ, I am convinced that if I repent (turn away from whatever claims my flesh), I have God’s power to overcome. The Holy Spirit assures me that if I fight sin with my flesh, sin will only defeat me. Only Jesus conquers sin in me. When I live my life from that place of “knowing” that the righteousness of God is alive in me through my relationship with Jesus, I live in submission to God. I resist the devil. He cannot touch me. He must flee. He cannot pull me from who I am in Jesus.
Years ago, when I first chose to believe 1 John 5:18, telling me that I, as a born-again believer, was dead to sin, it made me uncomfortable and challenged my religion. How could I even think of myself as being dead to sin? That would mean I had no sin. But I knew better than that. I did have sin. As a believer, I still fought sin all the time. This verse went against my religion, which told me to pull myself together and just quit sinning. Do this and you won’t sin. Just work to get over this, and it will go away. None of that worked. I remained frustrated, defeated, and unable to let go completely of what was destroying my life.
The Holy Spirit never gave up on me. He kept reminding me that I was dead to sin. So why was I still struggling so hard to overcome? One day, I realized I still viewed myself without the righteousness Jesus had died to give me. Even though Jesus had saved me from my sin, I still considered myself an unworthy sinner in my mind and believed it in my heart. However, Jesus regarded me as worthy of His love. I had been made righteous by the shedding of His precious blood. I should indeed be dead to sin and alive to God. The Holy Spirit finally convinced my heart that I was not allowing Christ to live in me. I had felt too unworthy and remained in debt to a sin no longer held against me. But now I suddenly “knew!” I reckoned myself indeed dead to sin and alive in Jesus! And in the “knowing,” I became free. The knowledge of the truth set me free.
For years, I had been trapped on the sin-bearing, debt-laden side of the cross, never allowing myself to be crucified with Christ and then to enter into new resurrection life in Him. Now, I suddenly knew in every part of my being that my old, dead, sinful nature held no power in my life. It was crucified with Christ. I understood that my life in this flesh could only be lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
Jesus did not die on the cross so that I would continue in sin. He died to free me from sin’s power. Instead of struggling to overcome my sin, when I “knew” in my heart that I was, indeed, dead to sin, Christ’s righteousness became my identity; I overcame sin because Jesus overcame it for me.
When we allow our thoughts to be captured by the “obedience” of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), we resist the temptations of the flesh and the tricks of the enemy because we are submitted to Christ’s “obedience” on the cross for our sins. Yes, we are called to be obedient to the faith. However, it is not our obedience that changes us. Everything we do in trying to change ourselves only frustrates and defeats us. Our obedience cannot change anything. Our obedience should stem from the change that Jesus has made in us. It is His obedience in taking our sins to the cross that transforms us. I will always reckon, agree, and acknowledge that I am indeed dead to sin and alive in Christ Jesus, my Lord. Each day, “knowing” this truth transforms my life, overcoming my flesh and setting me free from the wicked one.
Whatever plagues and curses your life—spiritually, mentally, emotionally, or physically, you long to be free. Jesus crucified those curses (Galatians 3:13). It is the knowledge of God’s truth that restores you and sets you free (John 8:32). And if Jesus makes you free, you are free indeed (John 8:36)! Don’t give up! Get into the Word and be informed. Seek the Holy Spirit’s perspective, and hear what He says about what you have read. Then take what He has shown you by faith as absolute truth in your life. God’s Word will challenge any unbelief and change you until you “know” you are free. You will be transformed by the supernatural power of God from the inside out. If you remain in Him, never moving away from knowing your gift of righteousness in Him, the weight will be forever gone. All sin and all of its fruit will be dead, and you will reign in life through the new life you have received in Jesus Christ.
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