The Genius of Whaleville, SC Victory

God cannot make us believe what we will not believe. Some people, when they are asked to let go, do let go. But with others, they may say they believe, yet they will wait and see. It is indeed important to yield, although the most essential thing is believing that the Lord Jesus is now living out His victory in us. Yield, and also believe. By believing what God says about Christ dying on the cross for us, we receive eternal life. Likewise, by believing that the Lord Jesus lives in us, we receive the life that wins.

I know the failure of many lies just here: they cannot believe that the Lord has already taken up His dwelling place in them, and thus they will not believe the Lord overcomes for them. Once I asked a sister if she had let go of herself. She said she had. “How did you let go?” “I told God I am utterly helpless, so I will give up trying,” she replied. She then told me her prayer to God: “Hereafter, O God, I commit my all to You, be it victory or defeat.” “Do you have victory?” I inquired. “I dare not say I do,” she answered. “Why not?” “Because I do not feel I have overcome, nor have I seen any effect.” I therefore said to her, “If you believe in God’s fact and believe that the Lord Jesus who lives in you is victory, you should right away believe you have the victory. But if you look for results, you will never have it.”

To receive the grace of victory is the same as to have received at conversion the grace of forgiveness. Do you not tell a sinner that because Jesus has died on the cross for him his sins shall be forgiven as soon as he believes? And if he believes, his sins are remitted. So you ask him if he believes, and he says he does. You then ask him if his sins are forgiven. He says no. Why? Because he has heard people say that if sins are forgiven there will be joy and peace; but he still does not have this joy and peace. He goes on to tell you that he is determined to pray until he obtains joy and peace, and only then will he dare to say that his sins are forgiven. Now if you hear such a response, will you not tell him that even if he prays for a whole year waiting for joy and peace, he will not have these feelings? When will he have both joy and peace? You will doubtless tell him that only when he believes will he have joy and peace. The same is true with respect to victory after forgiveness. As you fulfill the condition for victory by yielding and letting go of yourself, you should at once believe that now you have the life that wins. For the Son of God is waiting to live out His victory in you. Believe, and the result shall follow. Wait for the result, and you will never have the victory.

In the event you are waiting for the result before you dare to say you have the life that wins, then in reality what you believe is your own experience rather than the word of God. But as soon as you believe in God’s word, then the experience, feeling and victory will follow. Paul did not say, “I feel I have overcome.” What he declared was that “that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God.” In spite of your feeling cold and unexcited, you may still thank and praise God that “that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God.”