May 14, 2021: Many Christians Live a Defeated Life. There is Victory If We Would Learn to Surrender.

At the beginning of our "Christian conversion", our salvation, we have the joy of the Lord in our heart, we begin to run the race and fight the battle of living a good Christian life. But after a while, disappointments and trials seem to get the better of us and eventually we give up and settle into a defeated Christian lifestyle. Why do you think most Christians face these continual disappointments, and what do you think we can do to overcome this defeating cycle?

Andrew Murray says in his book, "Absolute Surrender", that a Christian man or woman, must come to learn the "two lessons" in the Christian walk with God. He says that it often takes a long time to learn the first lesson, that in religion man can do nothing, that salvation is impossible to man. And often a man learns that, and yet he does not learn the second lesson...what has been impossible to him is possible with God.

The following is an excerpt for the book, "Absolute Surrender", by Andrew Murray about learning these lessons:

Just look for a moment at a man who is learning this lesson. At first, he fights against it; then he submits to it, but reluctantly and in despair; at last, he accepts it willingly and rejoices in it. At the beginning of the Christian life the young convert has no conception of this truth. He has been converted, he has the joy of the Lord in his heart, he begins to run the race and fight the battle; he is sure he can conquer, for he is earnest and honest, and God will help him. Yet, somehow, very soon he fails where he did not expect it, and sin gets the better of him. He is disappointed; but he thinks: "I was not watchful enough; I did not make my resolutions strong enough." And again, he vows, and again he prays, and yet he fails. He thought: "Am I not a regenerate man? Have I not the life of God within me?" And he thinks again: "Yes, and I have Christ to help me, I can live the holy life."

A good many Christians are living a defeated life, a life of failure and of sin, instead of rest and victory, because they began to see: "I cannot, it is impossible." And yet they do not understand it fully, and so, under the impression, I cannot, they give way to despair. They will do their best, but they never expect to get on far in their walk with God. Let us look at what the Book of Ephesians says about these important lessons we need to learn:

Ephesians 2: 8-10

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

It is by "grace" the grace of God, that we come to our "salvation" in the Lord. It is nothing we have done or can do to save ourselves. Many Christians come to learn this important lesson early in their Christian walk. But the problem with many of us, we forget what verse 10 says: "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do". Our continued walk with God, after our salvation, is also by God's grace. We must come to learn to fully rest in Him, or you might say, "surrender" every part of ourselves to Him so that He can "complete His handiwork" in us, not us trying to do it for Him.

PERSONNAL COMMENT:

We do not have to live this defeated life anymore. If we can come to understand that "we" can do nothing to live this Christian-Life, it is God who must work it through us. We must come to surrender all of ourselves to our Lord and let Him work out this life through us..."Nothing of us, all of Him".