For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. — Hebrews 4:15
Behold, I have given you authority to walk on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. – Luke 10:19
He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. – 1 John 4:4
If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who dwells in you. — Romans 8:11
The other day, I was talking with a friend who has become an instrumental part of my spiritual journey, and he said something that struck me: “Sometimes we live as though sin is inevitable. We sin, repent, sin, and repent, until it becomes a cycle of continual defeat.”
But what if that isn’t the life Christ had in mind? Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Paul wrote that we are either slaves to sin, which leads to death, or slaves to righteousness, which leads to life. (Romans 6:15–23)
This isn’t a message to “try harder not to sin.” It is a message that the power of Christ, working through the Holy Spirit, has set us free from sin and death. Sin no longer has power over us. We are no longer slaves to the carnality of empire culture; we are partakers in and servants of the kingdom!
Jesus was tempted in every way that humanity is tempted, yet He remained without sin. (Hebrews 4:15) We have also been given the promise that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us! (Romans 8:11)
Christ has not only forgiven our sins and weaknesses; through His death, burial, and resurrection, He has also overcome them. We are called to live—and to live abundantly—not by our own efforts, but by the gift God has given us. For it is God who works in us both to will and to act according to His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)
Often, we walk in only half of the promise. We truly believe that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, yet we struggle to believe that He has also set us free from them. We live in the kingdom of forgiveness while failing to walk in the power of that same kingdom.
Throughout all four Gospels, Jesus declared, “The kingdom has come upon you.” This is not only a kingdom yet to come; it is the kingdom that has come upon us now. We may walk in the false identities of defeat, weakness, and fear, but God is calling us into our true identity as more than conquerors. (Romans 8:37)
So, should we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and get to work? No. That is the mentality of empire: work harder, do more, and keep grinding. God gives us a simpler message: abide in Me as I abide in you, for a branch cannot bear fruit by itself. (John 15:7)
God promises that He is the one who works in us both to will and to act. Notice that it says both: God not only places the desire within us, but also gives us the power to carry it out. (Ephesians 2:10)
The whole kingdom is built upon abiding in the God who is building His kingdom through us and for us. God does not need our help; rather, He blesses us with a kingdom in which His yoke is easy and His burden is light. (Matthew 11:30)
We no longer have to live in a continual cycle of defeat. Instead, we can walk in the full power of the kingdom now while dwelling in the intimacy of the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth. Our walk is a lifelong journey through which the Holy Spirit Himself teaches us what it means to abide in Christ and walk in the power of the kingdom. May I remain on my knees, continually asking God to reveal these truths to me, because without His power working through me, I am a slave to the empire of darkness.
