Mark 11:22
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
The victorious Christian life is never lived by accident; it is lived on purpose. You can be saved and not live a victorious life, or you can be saved and live the victorious life. I would rather have the ingredients in my life to live that victorious life than go through this life on earth as a believer and never enjoy the victory that God wants me to enjoy. I find seven ingredients are necessary for the believer to live a victorious Christian life.
Faith is the first ingredient. Everything starts with faith. It requires faith to be saved, and it requires faith to be victorious in your Christian life. Jesus told the disciples, Have faith in God. It is possible to live your Christian life without faith, but it is impossible to be saved without faith. Therefore, because you are saved, you have faith that you can live by, but you must choose to live by faith. You will never live by faith without spending much time in God’s Word. The Scriptures teach that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17) The foundation of all the ingredients you need to live the victorious Christian life is grounded in faith.
A fear of God is the second ingredient. You will never live a holy life without a fear of God. A fear of God warns you of what God has the power to do to get you to live your life to glorify Him, but it also challenges you to see what His power can do through you if you will live a life of faith.
Trust is the third ingredient. You must have trust that God is working through your life when you don't understand what He is doing in the hard times. It takes trust to have faith. Trust will say God is mixing the distasteful ingredients in my life with the good to make something good come out of my life. Trust God, you will never regret it.
Forgiveness is the fourth ingredient. Forgiveness is necessary because you will experience many hurts in life. Forgiveness gives you the ability to be a great testimony to those who have seen you hurt. Forgiveness exposes your faith in God to others, but bitterness, the opposite of forgiveness, hides that faith. Forgiveness allows you to take the bitter things of life and turn them into your story of God’s grace so you can help others.
Vision is the fifth ingredient. Vision is the catalyst of faith. Vision allows you to see what God can do if you will trust Him to act by faith. You will spiritually die without a vision. A great vision for God is necessary to start with little and never quit until God makes your vision become a reality.
Prayer is the sixth ingredient. Nobody lives a victorious Christian life without a healthy prayer life. Don't just have a prayer time, but fill your life with prayer. Prayer strengthens all the previous ingredients that we have discussed. You will find these previous ingredients lacking if you don't spend much time in prayer.
The power of God is the seventh ingredient. Nothing is done without God’s power. The believer is sure to burn out if they try to do God’s holy work in their own power. Burnout is not the result of giving too much time to God’s work; it is the result of doing God’s work without His power. You will miserably fail and become discouraged without the power of God. Every hour that you live, you need to beg God to give you His power so He can do His work through your life.
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