Victory Through Alignment

IN CHRIST

28  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
29  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. —Matthew 11:28 - 30

Victory in Christ?

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. —2 Corinthians 2:14

King Asa: A Pattern For Victory

7  Therefore he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered. —2 Chronicles 14:7

9  Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. 
10  So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
 11  And Asa cried out to the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!”
12  So the Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 
13  And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar. So the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover, for they were broken before the Lord and His army. And they carried away very much spoil. 
14  Then they defeated all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord came upon them; and they plundered all the cities, for there was exceedingly much spoil in them.
15  They also attacked the livestock enclosures, and carried off sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem. —2 Chronicles 14:9 - 15

Victory Through Alignment

…O Lord, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!” —2 Chronicles 14:11d

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in themAnd walk among them. I will be their God,and they shall be My people —2 Corinthians 6:16

1. Alignment in Christ through dying to self.

I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in
Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. —1 Corinthians 15:31

9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed - 
10  always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 
11  For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh —2 Corinthians 4:9 - 11

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. —Galatians 2:20

He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. —Matthew 10:39

23  Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 
24  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 
25  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? —Luke 9:23 - 25
2. Alignment in Christ through burying the old me.

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. —Colossians 3:3

24  And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 
25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. —Galatians 5:24 - 25

22  that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 
23  and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 
24  and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. —Ephesians 4:22 - 24

3.  Alignment in Christ through walking in a resurrection lifestyle.

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies 
through His Spirit who dwells in you. —Romans 8:11

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. —1 Corinthians 1:11

1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 
2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. —Ephesians 5:1 - 2

Let this mind be in you which was
also in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 2:5

4  But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 
5  even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 
6  and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. —Ephesians 2:4 - 6

4. Alignment In Christ through walking in victory!

12  So the Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
13  And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar. So the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover, for they were broken before the Lord and His army. And they carried away very much spoil. 
14  Then they defeated all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord came upon them; and they plundered all the cities, for there was exceedingly much spoil in them.
15  They also attacked the livestock enclosures, and carried off sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem. —2 Corinthians 14:12 - 15

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome —John 16:33

3  For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 
4  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. 
5  Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? —1 John 5:3 - 5

13  And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 
14  having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 
15  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. —Colossians 2:13 - 15