Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon fought, and his angels, but he did not prevail, neither was there place found for them in heaven any longer. The great dragon also was cast down, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the entire world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And then I heard a mighty voice in heaven saying, ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ, because the accuser of our brothers is thrown down, the one who accuses them day and night before our God. But they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb and through the word of their testimony . . . ’”
Revelation 12:7-11
On the day of Pentecost, when the Devil was first cast out of heaven, the inhabitants of the world were absolutely helpless against his cunning deceit, but God, in His great love, sent us His Spirit to “guide us into all truth” and to make us free from Satan’s craftiness. There are two essentials to overcoming the Devil, and John told us what they are when he wrote, “they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb and through the word of their testimony.” Satan has beguiled the whole world, as John noted in the verses above, and without these two essentials of spiritual life, we cannot hope to escape the suffocating spiritual darkness that covers mankind.
The Spirit of God, as the Bible makes abundantly clear, is the “blood of Christ”. It keeps the body of Christ alive just as natural blood keeps our natural bodies alive, by distributing life to the members of the body. This life-giving blood of the Lamb, the holy Ghost from heaven, is the first of these two essentials. We must have the holy Ghost if we are to have any hope of escaping the snare of the Devil.
But the blood alone will not suffice. There is a second essential referred to in the above section of Scripture. It is “the word of their testimony”. Please note that John does not say simply “their testimony”, but “the word of their testimony”. In other words, simply having a testimony will not give you victory in Christ. You can have the most wonderful, amazing, and thrilling testimony the world has ever known, and yet live a defeated, frustrated life, confused and used by Satan at his will. You must tell your testimony for it to do you or anyone else any good at all. We do not overcome Satan just by having Jesus do something for us; we must add to that something the confession of it, in order to overcome the world.
Another way of saying “tell your testimony” is to say “confess Christ”. If what you talk about when you tell your testimony is really what Jesus has done, then you are not just talking about yourself when you testify; rather, you are confessing before men what Jesus has done. And it is what he does that overcomes the world. He overcame the world when he was on earth by confessing before men what the Father taught him and gave him. Now, you are required to let that same Christ overcome the world in you. Confess him before men; tell of his wonderful works in your life; proclaim what he has said and done for you.
Don’t be found at the coming of the Lord with a testimony never told. You do not want to be condemned by the Lord for hiding the talent he gave you and then offering it, unused, to him when he returns.