How do we get Jesus' victory and power in our own lives? How do we appropriate His resurrection and newness of life?
First, let me ask you: How do you know you are saved? It is by faith, of course. The knowledge of our salvation comes by our faith alone in God's Word.
Likewise, we are to take up the cross, embrace it and receive victory by faith in the overcoming power of Jesus' shed blood. We must admit, "God, I have no power. I do not have the ability to deliver myself or crucify myself or have any power over sin. I give up all my own efforts to die to sin."
By faith, we are "in Christ" — and we are to enjoy the benefits of all He has accomplished. You see, from the very moment we were born again, we have been in Christ — and that means we entered into everything that happened to Christ. This includes His victories as well as His crucifixion. If we agree with God's Word that our sins are exceedingly wicked, we must also agree with the good things the cross offers. They are ours — because Jesus accomplished them all for us.
God's Word says that once we embrace the cross, we are crucified with Christ and resurrected with Him into newness of life. We are set free! We can yield our bodies to the service of the Lord and offer our members as instruments of righteousness.
At times you may stumble because of unbelief, but you can hold on to the truth that ultimately victory is yours, because you cry, "Lord, I'm going to trust You until victory comes."
I thank God for the cross of Christ and I thank God for its crisis. I know by experience that the greatest "grace preaching" in the world is the preaching of the cross. Have you had your crisis of the cross? What about that one stronghold you long to be delivered from?
There is deliverance for you today but it won't come until you kneel before Jesus and have your crisis at His cross. There you must agree with His word: "I can no longer continue in my sin, not for another hour. God, I bring it to You now!"
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David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.