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Conversion the Secret of Victory
109
Victory Assured Through Christ’s Sinless Life
—The Saviour
took upon Himself the infirmities of humanity, and lived a sinless
life, that men might have no fear that because of the weakness of
human nature they could not overcome. Christ came to make us
“partakers of the divine nature,” and His life declares that humanity,
combined with divinity, does not commit sin.
The Saviour overcame to show man how he may overcome.
All the temptations of Satan, Christ met with the word of God.
By trusting in God’s promises, He received power to obey God’s
commandments, and the tempter could gain no advantage. To every
temptation His answer was, “It is written.” So God has given us
His word wherewith to resist evil. Exceeding great and precious
promises are ours, that by these we “might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust.”
2 Peter 1:4
.
Bid the tempted one look not to circumstances, to the weakness
of self, or to the power of temptation, but to the power of God’s
word. All its strength is ours. “Thy word,” says the psalmist, “have
I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” “By the word
of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.”
Psalm
119:11
;
17:4
.
Linked With Christ Through Prayer
—Talk courage to the
people; lift them up to God in prayer. Many who have been overcome
by temptation are humiliated by their failures, and they feel that it
is in vain for them to approach unto God; but this thought is of
the enemy’s suggestion. When they have sinned, and feel that they
cannot pray, tell them that it is then the time to pray. Ashamed they
may be, and deeply humbled; but as they confess their sins, He who
is faithful and just will forgive their sins, and cleanse them from all
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unrighteousness.
Nothing is apparently more helpless, yet really more invincible,
than the soul that feels its nothingness, and relies wholly on the
merits of the Saviour. By prayer, by the study of His word, by faith
in His abiding presence, the weakest of human beings may live in
contact with the living Christ, and He will hold them by a hand that
will never let go.—
The Ministry of Healing, 179-182
.
Health and Strength to the Overcomer
—When men who have
indulged in wrong habits and sinful practices yield to the power of