Derek Prince - He Who Does The Will Of God Lives Forever
This is an excerpt from: You Can Come Through Victorious
But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore my beloved brethren we are steadfast, immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. Amen!
I wonder if you’ve been in a situation where it took all your strength to force those words out of your mouth. We are steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. I’ve been in a place where it took all my spiritual strength just to say those words, because the pressures were so intense. And all the evidence of victory was absent. But it’s still true because it’s the word of God. Amen. Now our theme tonight as announced, is How to Come Through Victorious. Not just to squeeze through, not just to survive, but to come through victorious. You might say, Well, what have we got to come through? I’m going to remind you of just a few of the passages that we’ve been looking at together, just to give you a little glimpse of what we have to come through.
You may recall that I spent a good deal of time in Matthew 24. In verse 8 we had that word, all these are the beginning of sorrows, or birth pangs. Then the following verses say this: Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And when I read that to Christians, I always ask, Who is you? Do you remember the answer? You is us, that’s right. And then many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will arise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. That’s what we’re going to be coming through, you understand? It’s not a little to come through that victorious.
And then in 2 Timothy 3 I read a few verses there. But know this, that in the last days fierce times will come. We’re going to come through fierce times. Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. That’s what we’re going to have to come through. And then another Scripture that I didn’t read, but I will read now is in Romans 8. Just two verses, 36–37: As it is written: for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. And the next verse says: Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
So we have to be able to say the positive as well as the negative. We are being killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. That’s we, it’s believers. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. I asked the Lord once what it was to be more than a conquerors. I felt the answer He gave me was: when you go into a trial you emerge from it with more than you had when you took in. That’s to be more than a conqueror. Not only do you emerge victorious, but you emerge with spoil. And that I believe is God’s provision and standard for us. Now, how can we enter into this life of victory, of fulfillment? I want to read 1 John 2. Verses 15 through 17. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
You see, there are two things that are mutually exclusive. You can have the love of the Father or the love of the world, but you can’t have both. Because they don’t mix they’re like oil and water. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world. John uses the phrase 'the world' about ten times more than any of the other gospel writers. If you read it, you need to ask yourself what is the world? The world is not necessary an assortment of wicked people. This is my definition of the world: The world is all those who are not under the righteous government of God’s appointed ruler Jesus Christ. All those who are not under His rule are the world. You may say, Well, there’s some really good people out there, nice people. Certainly there are. But you just challenge them with one thing: Are you willing to make an unreserved commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and you’ll find out how nice they are. They’re nice in everything, except that. That is the world.
Now the next verse, John says: The world is passing away, and the lust of it. All the things that the people of the world are scrambling for and craving and desiring and fighting for are all passing away, they are impermanent. Then he comes to the Scripture that I want to deal with: but he who does the will of God abides forever. That is the key to emerging victorious. He who does the will of God abides forever. In other words, you have to align yourself with the will of God. When you align yourself with God’s will, you are as powerful and undefeatable as the will of God itself. That is the only key not merely for survival, but to victory, and to emerging with spoil - is to align yourself with the will of God. To do that you have to find out what the will of God is.