Luke 22:31-34
Christians are often defeated by something they do – Peter stood too close to the enemies of Christ’s fire to be warmed and it all went downhill after that. Many, however, are defeated due to lack of things they fail to do or keep.
Lack of making/keeping Him Lord Acts 2:36
Jesus is our Savior; He died to pay the penalty for our sin. Scripture says that He is the propitiation for our sin. This means that His sacrificial death was satisfying to God. In order for a sacrifice to be accepted of God it had to be without spot or blemish. Jesus lived the perfect life that we all wish we could live but cannot and do not. We often use that expression when we do something wrong, “Well, I’m not perfect.” Or “Nobody’s perfect.” But Jesus was perfect otherwise His death would not and could not have been acceptable to God for the penalty of our sins and the sins of the whole world.
But Jesus is also our Lord. This term “Lord” means owner, ruler, proprietor, etc. You have heard the expression, Lord of lords because He is Lord of all lords. He is the owner of this world and one day He will sit upon His throne and rule this world under God the Father’s direction.
Christians are often defeated because they have not officially made Jesus Lord of their life. They may say they have accepted Him and Savior and Lord but they have never had a coronation service in their life to officially make Him their personal Lord. This occurs when we surrender all of our self to Him. Let Him take full control of our life. In Eph 3:17 Paul prays that the Ephesians would allow Christ to dwell in their hearts by faith. They were already Christians, so Christ was living within. Here the word dwell means to inhabit, take full control, make completely at home. If someone is completely at home then there is no area that is off limits. Too many keep Him out of certain areas of their life because they want to control it.
Love for other Christians 1 Jn 4:7
Love for other Christians is an indication we are Christian – it is proof of our salvation 1 Jn 4:8 .God works in us to eliminate prejudice or problems we have or had with other Christians. Love covers a multitude of sins and failure to love as we should grieves the Spirit. The lack of love hinders fellowship and also the “work together” that is needed in the church. If we fight against God’s efforts to bring us into fellowship with other Christians we open the door for the enemy’s attacks.
Lack of keeping His commands Jn 14:21
There’s closeness with Him. We lose that closeness when we are disobedient to His word and commands. Jn 14:23. If we lose that keen edge on keeping and obeying His word we lose the closeness in fellowship with Him and it is easier to drift away from Him.
Lack of pursuing His challenge Rev 3:8
God challenges us to be His witnesses in this world. We are His ambassadors to bring people to a relationship to/with Him. We cannot force them but we are to live exemplary before them and be His mouthpiece. If we turn from Him, we turn from obedience.
God opens doors of opportunity (challenges) to serve Him and help others, and if we turn away or refuse the challenges then it is easy to turn away from our Christian walk. Sometimes we think it is too difficult or we do not have enough grace or we don’t see results and we fail to pursue the open door. He never promised it would be easy, only that we would be rewarded and blessed.
Lack of leaning on Him Jn 15:5
Too often we try to use our own strength in obeying, serving and loving and we fail. If and when we do have some success we sometimes get proud and God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. When our own strength fails we get discouraged and give up.
Defeat for a Christian is not normal, but abnormal because we are children of the King and if we do fail there is grace and forgiveness, but we should always strive to succeed.