Are You Ready to Live in Total Victory?
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Have you ever wondered why some Christians seem to walk in freedom while others spend years fighting the same battles?
We all want victory over sin, temptation, fear, and the attacks of the enemy.
But many believers settle for surviving instead of overcoming.
The good news is that Scripture doesn’t call us to a life of constant defeat.
God desires His people to walk in victory.
So what keeps us from experiencing it?
One of the clearest answers comes from the life of King Hezekiah.
Total Victory Begins with Total Obedience
Many Christians believe grace means God simply overlooks sin.
But Romans 6 teaches something very different.
God doesn’t call us to manage sin.
He calls us to die to it.
The Christian life isn’t about becoming comfortable with compromise.
It’s about becoming more like Christ.
How to Live in Total Victory
Judah Had One Problem
King after king ruled Judah.
And the story repeated itself.
“They did evil in the sight of the Lord.”
Some kings removed idols.
Others removed some idols.
But almost every king left something behind.
The high places remained.
The people continued dividing their hearts between God and idols.
Then everything changed.
A new king came to the throne.
What Made Hezekiah Different?
Unlike the kings before him, Hezekiah didn’t settle for partial obedience.
He destroyed the high places.
He tore down the idols.
He even destroyed the bronze serpent Moses had made because the people had begun worshiping it instead of God.
He understood something many Christians still struggle to learn:
God doesn’t want part of our hearts.
He wants all of them.
Whenever we move toward wholehearted obedience, we shouldn’t be surprised when spiritual warfare increases.
That is exactly what happened to Hezekiah.
Radical Christian living will be met with spiritual warfare
And just when we begin to make steps in our life to eradicate sin and live radical lives for Jesus, the enemy comes calling.
The King of Assyria came calling on Judah’s door.
Assyria was the world power at that time, and they were a force of terror, conquering nation after nation. And yet, Assyria was no match for God.
The army came marching against Jerusalem, but they never made it.
Overnight, the angel of the Lord slaughtered 185,000 Assyrians. Sennacherib went home defeated, and the land of Judah was spared.
The Assyrian army of terror was no match for the God of Israel, who rained victory down on the land of Judah as a blessing for their total obedience to His Word.
Total victory is preceded by total obedience
And the same is true for us today.
If we want to live in total victory, we must be prepared to first live in total obedience.
I don’t believe for one moment that King Hezekiah’s campaign to completely eradicate idolatry from the land of Judah was met with praise and adoration.
I am certain that when he began to destroy the altars and high places, the people were angry.
Even more so when he destroyed the bronze serpent made by Moses, because not only was this an idol to them, it was also a relic. It was something that had been with them for centuries and commemorated a mighty act of God.
But he knew that if he didn’t destroy it, the land of Judah would continue their worship of the serpent as a god.
The key to total victory
Dear sister, if you want to live a life of total victory, you must first be willing to take the first step in total obedience.
But don’t stop at the first step!
Many Christians make the first step to total obedience, and walk in it until they come upon an area of secret sin in their life that they enjoy.
Many Christians obey God until obedience becomes expensive.
We gladly surrender obvious sins, but then God points to something we secretly enjoy.
- An unhealthy relationship.
- Bitterness.
- Entertainment we know dishonors Him.
- Pride.
- Control.
- Fear.
Like Judah’s kings, we leave the high places standing.
Then we wonder why victory seems so elusive.
Just like the other kings who left the high places or golden calves, they skip over those areas of their life and refuse to move forward in total obedience to God, and then wonder why they still live in defeat.
Total victory requires total obedience, and total obedience requires doing the hard part of letting go of secret sins and guilty pleasures that hold you back from enjoying the fullness of God’s blessing in your life.
What Are Your High Places?
Ask yourself today:
- What area of my life have I refused to surrender?
- Where have I settled for partial obedience?
- What “high place” have I allowed to remain?
The road to victory doesn’t begin with defeating the enemy.
It begins with wholehearted obedience to God.
Because total victory always follows total obedience.
