THE KEY TO VICTORY

• Colossians 1:9b … do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 

 
The prayer of the apostle Paul for the “the saints and faithful brethren in Christ” who were in the city of Colosse is perfect for all of us who love God. Christians who are filled with the knowledge of God’s will no longer have room in their hearts and minds for their own will or the will of someone else. They no longer seek to do what the desires of the flesh dictate, what those around them demand of them, or what the devil likes. It is not just about fully knowing God’s will as an abstract notion, but “in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” When we know what God wants in everything we think, in every reasoning or decision we make, we can live without regret, remorse, guilt, or condemnation. This is the recipe for victory over temptations and everything that can harm us, as well as for the happiness that comes from living an abundant life. And the next verse shows where this filling with the knowledge of the will of the heavenly Father leads to.

• Colossians 1:10-12 That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;  strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;  giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

 
Only when the way we think is centered on the will of God, is our behavior worthy of the name of children of God and can we be pleasing to the Lord in everything we think, feel, say and do. Such behavior produces the most wonderful fruits, which are all good and help us to know the Lord of our lives more intimately.
 
Getting closer to God transforms us into becoming more like the One we follow. The strength that comes from knowing our Creator and spending time in His presence equips us with patience and in time, even with long-suffering. Our transformation can be so radical that we may even rejoice while waiting for the fulfillment of our requests, because we know the One we trust in and we believe that He will do everything we have asked according to His will. Because we know our heavenly Father, we truly know that He loves us unconditionally, and we are grateful that He has given us the same inheritance that He has given to all His children, as we are sanctified through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, the Light of the world.

• Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

 
Let us not forget that through Jesus Christ we have been freed from the power of sin, because He died for the sins of all mankind once for all, and when we received the new birth, through faith in Jesus we also died to sin that we might live for righteousness (Romans 6:5-10,18). We no longer belong to the kingdom of darkness, sin no longer reigns over us, therefore we can choose not to sin. God has brought us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son. This perfect love that the Lord has for us is not based on our performances but on the eternal truth that God is love. Precisely because He has such a great love for people, Jesus paid the price for our sins. He redeemed us, so that we can be the children of God and sin no longer be a wall of separation between us and Him. The blood shed by Jesus on the cross forgave our sins and reconciled us with God, because He was the perfect sacrificial lamb for all the sins of mankind.
 
Let us never forget how great God’s love is and how much sin cost Him. The Lord has prepared everything we need so that we can overcome the evil of this world and rejoice that we are His. It is up to us to know and believe what belongs to us through Jesus so that we can benefit from the blessings of the Lord’s promises. Let us focus our attention on the truth of Scripture, on what pleases the heavenly Father, and as we know the truth, we become truly free. Christians who are free from the fears, condemnations, and lies that come from the evil one are strong in faith and the more they do the will of the heavenly Father, the happier they are.
 
The most common causes of sadness and anger are caused by what we think, feel, or say contrary to Biblical truth, by the lack of confidence that God loves us no matter what we go through, and by false feelings of guilt. Sometimes we suffer because of the decisions, words, or actions of those around us, and since we cannot change these situations, we must learn to change the way we relate to them. If we learn to take every thought a slave into obedience to Christ, we can more easily overcome the consequences of the wrong actions of others. When we think only about the negative aspects of the situation we are going through and especially how we think it affects our loved ones, we cannot have the firm faith that the Lord is working for us and will use all things together for our good. No matter what we are going through, in the Word of God we find the perfect guidance to know how to react to overcome evil with good, to find peace and balance in faith in our Lord and not give in to the pressures of the evil one. The Word of God has the power to calm our minds, take away our pain, and restore our peace. When we come before the Lord in prayer and honestly acknowledge before Him how we feel, what we struggle with and need, the Holy Spirit enlightens us and reminds us of the verses that give us the solution or puts in our mind what we have to do. By knowing the Word of God, which shows us what His will is, we can live to please our heavenly Father, doing deeds that make us worthy of the name of children of God. And this is the path to victory and true happiness!

• Romans 6:4-7,18 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. […] And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 
  

Carmen Pușcaș