The Christian life is about victory. Victory implies struggle, battles, and warfare. Without an enemy there is no victory. We have an enemy, and he has troops. We also have a commander and allies. The wonderful truth about this war is that the outcome has already been determined and the gift of victory is already the personal possession of every child of God. If you are going to fight a war, that is the kind to fight! Because victory is our subject, there are certain areas, which necessarily come under consideration. Our enemy is a prime consideration, but we must not become preoccupied with him. The demons must not escape our notice, but we cannot become sidetracked into total demon-consciousness. The angels have been terribly overlooked, but we must not overcompensate to the point of worshipping them. Our study must begin with Jesus, end with Jesus, and be pervaded with Jesus. He is the VICTOR and has vanquished the foe! The announcement has already been made and has become reality in heaven. We are set in the world to be the means by which the Holy Spirit produces in terms of reality in the earth that which is. Already true in heaven. There is not even room for a shadow of a doubt as to our VICTORY. IT IS OURS NOW! In that pre-incarnate announcement in Isaiah 61, the Messiah declared, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD GOD IS UPON ME; BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH TIDINGS UNTO THE MEEK; HE HATH SENT ME TO BIND UP THE BROKEN HEARTED, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES.” He PROCLAIMS liberty because he has already PROCURED liberty!
When I was a lad, many of the sophisticated toys of today were not at my disposal. I found a favorite toy in a little piece of metal shaped in the form of a “V.” It was a magnet and attracted anything that corresponded to its likeness. One day Dad assigned me the task of picking up nails and other pieces of metal which would cause punctures and flatten tires on the automobile and farm equipment. I found that when I tied a string to the magnet and drugged it through the dirt, it would pick up the nails and metal. This is a crude way of illustrating a simple spiritual tool like VICTORY.
Victory in Christ is like a magnet. It attracts its likeness. As I think back over volumes of reading, hours of interviews, hundreds of tracts, days of deliberation, occasions of counseling, mountains of magazines, and manuscripts, and letters of testimonies, I am overwhelmed. I cannot know in my own mind which information is necessary and which is superfluous or spurious. Thus, my prayer has been and is that the Spirit of God will inspire me to drag the magnet of VICTORY THROUGH JESUS across the mountain of material which faces me. It has been delightfully workable. Frustration has lied! Joy has arisen! The magnet of VICTORY has been exposed to every piece of material. That which did not respond to the magnetism was left alone. That which did respond, stands as the final result…the volume which faces you. “THIS IS THE VICTORY WHICH OVERCOMES THE WORLD, EVEN OUR FAITH” (1 John 5:4)
Continuing victory will involve knowing and applying the truth about our adversary, the devil, his agents, the demons, our allies the angels, and our authority, Jesus Christ, the Lord!
JRT (From the Introduction to Victory Over the Devil)
The Devil
Men don’t believe in the devil now, as their fathers used to do,
They have opened the gates of widest creeds, to let his majesty through,
And never a sign of his cloven hoof, or dart from his fiery bow,
Is seen in all the earth today, for the people have voted it so,
But who is mixing that deadly draught, that poisons heart and brain,
And loads the bier of each passing year, with ten hundred thousand slain!
Who blights the bloom of the earth today, with the fiery breath of hell’!
If the Devil isn’t and never was, Won’t somebody rise and tell?
Who dogs the steps of the tolling saint, digs a pit for his feet,
And sows the tares in the field of time, wherever God sows wheat?
The skeptic says that the devil’s dead, and of course, what he says is true!
But who is doing the awful work that the devil alone can do?
If there isn’t a devil, whence all the sin, and the jarring and hideous sounds
That are heard in senate and mart and home, to earth’s remotest bounds!
It may be true what the scoffer says, that the devil is dead and gone,
But sensible folks would like to know, WHO CARRIES HIS BUSINESS ON?
F. C. VERNON-HARCOURT
From my book, Victory Over the Devil.
JRT
They have opened the gates of widest creeds, to let his majesty through,
And never a sign of his cloven hoof, or dart from his fiery bow,
Is seen in all the earth today, for the people have voted it so,
But who is mixing that deadly draught, that poisons heart and brain,
And loads the bier of each passing year, with ten hundred thousand slain!
Who blights the bloom of the earth today, with the fiery breath of hell’!
If the Devil isn’t and never was, Won’t somebody rise and tell?
Who dogs the steps of the tolling saint, digs a pit for his feet,
And sows the tares in the field of time, wherever God sows wheat?
The skeptic says that the devil’s dead, and of course, what he says is true!
But who is doing the awful work that the devil alone can do?
If there isn’t a devil, whence all the sin, and the jarring and hideous sounds
That are heard in senate and mart and home, to earth’s remotest bounds!
It may be true what the scoffer says, that the devil is dead and gone,
But sensible folks would like to know, WHO CARRIES HIS BUSINESS ON?
F. C. VERNON-HARCOURT
From my book, Victory Over the Devil.
JRT
God's Miraculous Plan of Economy
There is a plan of economy which is eternal. It is a plan for all men and all seasons, and it involves all the commodities of life. That plan of economy is the will of God. G. Campbell Morgan said, “The one and only life that sets a man free from the forces that blight and destroy is the WILL OF GOD. Show me a man who lives for one day wholly, utterly, in word and thought and deed in the will of God, and I will show you a man who is antedating heaven, and who for that day reaches the plane of life which is at once broadest, freest, and gladdest.” The Word of God is given us that we might know the truth…not that we might have another theory with which to compare already existing ideas. The truth that the Bible reveals is the will of God.
The plan of economy presented in the Bible is stable and workable. It will work in good times and bad among people of all classes and races, young and old. It will still be in effect when the stars begin to fall, and a hundred million years from this very moment will still be standing. Such a plan deserves the consideration of every reasoning person today.
In these days when every magazine, newspaper, and television newscast is headlining the present economic disaster around the world and heralding the possibility of the collapse of the whole economic system, surely it is time to view the plan of economy that was in force when civilization saw its first sunrise and will be in force after the last sunset!
There is a plan of economy presented in the Bible which is not affected by recession, depression, spiraling inflation and dollar devaluation. It is God’s plan! It involves the management of all the affairs of man in this world and all the commodities of life. This is not a volume about money alone, because economy involves much more than money. It includes all the products with which man deals during his life—and after. A plan of economy that does not include the view of eternity is indeed incomplete! This plan takes into account time and eternity. It reckons with all earth’s treasures, resources, and capacities and man’s role in relating himself to them. It includes the eternal purpose in the mind of God as he created all that is.
Man’s economic systems are collapsing because he has been selfish and shortsighted and has failed to include in his economic principles those matters vital to its permanency. He has not reckoned with his responsibilities to the God who made all things, as well as himself, nor has he reckoned with his relationship with the whole human family. He has trafficked to his immediate advantage with divinely-given privileges, and the result has been the destruction of resources necessary to the whole human family.
The price for man’s crimes is high. The whole balance of economy is out of order. There is too much here and not enough there. Greed reigns, and war rages. The confusion and consternation among nations are but a magnification of what is going on in the hearts of men. The “evil day” has always come when the deceit of man’s systems has finally cornered him…when his violations of divine rules of economy have finally apprehended him. That day is near again! When it came the nation fell, the enemy took over, the famine came, the siege was executed …and whatever else happened that needed to happen to remind people that God was still in charge and demanded attention.
Long-standing rules on which we have based our world economy have at long last proved invalid. Shortages in all commodities are threatening. For the first time man can remember, famine is conceivable in every part of the world.
Surely it is high time to ask, “Does the God of heaven have anything to say to this turbulent, torn-up generation?” Of course he does! He has always had something to say, and he has always been saying it for those who listen. He does have a plan for your life! It is all-inclusive of every relationship, commodity, capacity now and later. It embraces what you are and all you will ever be. It includes your time, your concern, your love, your emotional and mental capacities, and your spiritual gifts.
It is God’s miraculous plan of economy. Miraculous? Certainly! Because it is God’s plan and because its workings cannot be explained by the rules of earth. The prayer of the author is that the reader will find it impossible to respond with a casual shrug of the shoulders to the message of this volume. I pray that it will result in whatever changes in the reader’s life-style are necessary to adjust him into God’s plan of economy. I pray that the message of this book will endanger and imperil any lifestyle which disregards the will of God as man’s supreme goal and cause an encounter which will result in your getting in on God’s way of doing things!
JRT
The plan of economy presented in the Bible is stable and workable. It will work in good times and bad among people of all classes and races, young and old. It will still be in effect when the stars begin to fall, and a hundred million years from this very moment will still be standing. Such a plan deserves the consideration of every reasoning person today.
In these days when every magazine, newspaper, and television newscast is headlining the present economic disaster around the world and heralding the possibility of the collapse of the whole economic system, surely it is time to view the plan of economy that was in force when civilization saw its first sunrise and will be in force after the last sunset!
There is a plan of economy presented in the Bible which is not affected by recession, depression, spiraling inflation and dollar devaluation. It is God’s plan! It involves the management of all the affairs of man in this world and all the commodities of life. This is not a volume about money alone, because economy involves much more than money. It includes all the products with which man deals during his life—and after. A plan of economy that does not include the view of eternity is indeed incomplete! This plan takes into account time and eternity. It reckons with all earth’s treasures, resources, and capacities and man’s role in relating himself to them. It includes the eternal purpose in the mind of God as he created all that is.
Man’s economic systems are collapsing because he has been selfish and shortsighted and has failed to include in his economic principles those matters vital to its permanency. He has not reckoned with his responsibilities to the God who made all things, as well as himself, nor has he reckoned with his relationship with the whole human family. He has trafficked to his immediate advantage with divinely-given privileges, and the result has been the destruction of resources necessary to the whole human family.
The price for man’s crimes is high. The whole balance of economy is out of order. There is too much here and not enough there. Greed reigns, and war rages. The confusion and consternation among nations are but a magnification of what is going on in the hearts of men. The “evil day” has always come when the deceit of man’s systems has finally cornered him…when his violations of divine rules of economy have finally apprehended him. That day is near again! When it came the nation fell, the enemy took over, the famine came, the siege was executed …and whatever else happened that needed to happen to remind people that God was still in charge and demanded attention.
Long-standing rules on which we have based our world economy have at long last proved invalid. Shortages in all commodities are threatening. For the first time man can remember, famine is conceivable in every part of the world.
Surely it is high time to ask, “Does the God of heaven have anything to say to this turbulent, torn-up generation?” Of course he does! He has always had something to say, and he has always been saying it for those who listen. He does have a plan for your life! It is all-inclusive of every relationship, commodity, capacity now and later. It embraces what you are and all you will ever be. It includes your time, your concern, your love, your emotional and mental capacities, and your spiritual gifts.
It is God’s miraculous plan of economy. Miraculous? Certainly! Because it is God’s plan and because its workings cannot be explained by the rules of earth. The prayer of the author is that the reader will find it impossible to respond with a casual shrug of the shoulders to the message of this volume. I pray that it will result in whatever changes in the reader’s life-style are necessary to adjust him into God’s plan of economy. I pray that the message of this book will endanger and imperil any lifestyle which disregards the will of God as man’s supreme goal and cause an encounter which will result in your getting in on God’s way of doing things!
JRT
After the Spirit Comes
God is omnipresent. His Spirit is everywhere. Technically he cannot go or come anywhere. He is already there!
But there are times in the affairs of men when conditions are met In the spiritual realm and the Spirit of God moves in a fashion long remembered. There are times when the Holy Spirit, who has been there all along, manifests himself in people who come to blessing through brokenness. It is as if the Spirit has just come.
There seasons in the lives of people who have been indwelled with the Spirit all along when the Spirit resident becomes the Spirit reigning. Jesus moves from a peripheral role in the life to a prominent role. It is as if the Spirit of God has only recently begun to move.
There are eras in the life of the church when there is a spiritual breakthrough and the blessed Spirit of God finds freedom in movement and manifestation. While he has been there all the time, it seems that he has just come.
In all of these instances the Holy Spirit is no more present and no more powerful than he was before. And in the event of a phenomenal spiritual awakening, it isn’t even that the Spirit is moving in a more decisive fashion. I am convinced that the Spirit is always on the move. The Bible never reveals him in a static position. But when folks decide to obey him and follow his leading, it seems indeed that he is moving more than ever!
So After the Spirit Comes is a description of that time which follows close to those times, seasons, and eras which mark the manifestations of the moving of the Holy Spirit.
God never leaves his children without direction and instruction. The Bible is filled with information from real-life experiences of the heroes of our faith-these are valuable to us in times like these. The prayer of the author is that this volume will relate the wealth of biblical material to situations and needs today in such a manner as to facilitate lasting victory After the Spirit Comes.
But there are times in the affairs of men when conditions are met In the spiritual realm and the Spirit of God moves in a fashion long remembered. There are times when the Holy Spirit, who has been there all along, manifests himself in people who come to blessing through brokenness. It is as if the Spirit has just come.
There seasons in the lives of people who have been indwelled with the Spirit all along when the Spirit resident becomes the Spirit reigning. Jesus moves from a peripheral role in the life to a prominent role. It is as if the Spirit of God has only recently begun to move.
There are eras in the life of the church when there is a spiritual breakthrough and the blessed Spirit of God finds freedom in movement and manifestation. While he has been there all the time, it seems that he has just come.
In all of these instances the Holy Spirit is no more present and no more powerful than he was before. And in the event of a phenomenal spiritual awakening, it isn’t even that the Spirit is moving in a more decisive fashion. I am convinced that the Spirit is always on the move. The Bible never reveals him in a static position. But when folks decide to obey him and follow his leading, it seems indeed that he is moving more than ever!
So After the Spirit Comes is a description of that time which follows close to those times, seasons, and eras which mark the manifestations of the moving of the Holy Spirit.
God never leaves his children without direction and instruction. The Bible is filled with information from real-life experiences of the heroes of our faith-these are valuable to us in times like these. The prayer of the author is that this volume will relate the wealth of biblical material to situations and needs today in such a manner as to facilitate lasting victory After the Spirit Comes.
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