More Than Conquerors

"Amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him who love(s) us."
                                                                 Romans 8:37




Sometimes life can hit really hard and it would seem that we are no match for all the warfare and opposition that stands against us. We can be living our lives and suddenly we feel bombarded by circumstances that are overwhelming and intimidating. We scramble for solutions to our dilemma but, at times, that can be elusive at best. If we are really honest with ourselves, we realize that the giant that stands before us is far too big for us to conquer on our own.

With knees knocking we have to choose whether to flee or stand to overcome that which is much bigger than our ability. Fight or flight. Upon deeper introspection we find that we have an ally that has already overcome our giants. He has already overcome the world and every problem contained within it. The question comes down to whether or not we will truly believe that he stands ready to fight on our behalf.

This becomes an even more daunting decision if we have a personality that is non-confrontational and non-aggressive. And yet, somehow God gets even more glory when this is the case. Enter Elisha. It would have made far more sense for God to have called Elijah known as the "son of thunder" to confront the enemy armies that threatened Israel but instead He chose the quiet farm boy named Elisha. And it was through this unsuspecting witness  that God showed Himself strong to King Joram and the people of Israel during a time of a severe famine.

Elisha came to the king with a message. He said, "Tomorrow about this time..." (2 Kings 7:1). He went on to explain that food would become available again and the inflationary prices of this food would go away. An officer of the king scoffed and mocked Elisha at his proclamation. Instead of his faith being ignited at the miracle God would bring to the Israelites, his heart was hardened and he ridiculed the prophet of God.

Even though the circumstances for the Israelites were extremely dire and there were many on the verge of death, God still had a plan. And for those who believed, there was blessing and victory right around the corner. The only one who missed out on this blessing was the king's official that had hardened his heart. Instead of conquering and witnessing the miracle of God, he was trampled to death in the excitement of those who did believe.

The commotion occurred when the people of God realized that the Syrian army had fled because of a sound that God had let them hear which mimicked the sound of a vast army coming against them. They not only fled but they did so with such speed that they left all their food and valuables for the Israelites to appropriate. God honored the word that Elisha had spoken and He provided for the starving, beleaguered Israelites that would have been so easily defeated by the Syrians. They were spared and they were blessed. They were "more than conquerors".  God fulfilled His promise then just as He does for us today.

We also have an adversary today that is just as real as the adversaries the Israelites faced. His job is to "steal, kill, and destroy" (John 10:10). And that is what he attempts to do on a daily basis. The apostle, Paul, listed some of the hardships of believers as: trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, and sword (Romans 8:35-39). Paul exhorts us to stand firm in our faith when the attacks come against us and assures us that through Jesus we have God's promise of love and protection.

So often, we think that to overcome means that we escape the attacks and opposition, but this is not the case. We are "more than conquerors" in the midst of them. Our victory is not circumstantial or positional. It is relational. As long as we are attached to Christ and the victory He obtained through the Cross and His resurrection, we, too, are victorious.

It is in our yielding to the Lordship of Christ that we see the victory manifested on our behalf.  Paul tells us that our purpose is that we "may know Him [progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly],that we may come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection and that we may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] unto His death" (Philippians 3:10).

Submission and resurrection power go hand in hand. We submit when circumstances are good and we submit during the onslaughts of our enemy. As we do, we will see God show Himself strong on our behalf. The literal translation of 1 Corinthians 15:57  is, "But thanks be to our God who keeps on giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

If today you are feeling less than "more than a conqueror", let me assure you that God is with you and He is fighting on your behalf. No sin of ours nor any attempt of the enemy can steal God's love and protection from your life. We can face our giants and our trials with confidence because we know that God is with us and He is for us.

Here are the lyrics to Rend Collective's song, entitled "More Than Conquerors":

                                                When my hope and strength is gone
                                                You're the One who calls me on
                                                You are the life
                                                You are the fight
                                                That's in my soul

                                                Oh, Your resurrection power
                                                Burns like fire in my heart
                                                When waters rise
                                                I lift my eyes
                                                Up to Your throne

                                                I will sing into the night
                                                Christ is risen and on high
                                                Greater is He
                                                Living in me
                                                Than in the world

                                                No surrender, no retreat
                                                We are free and we're redeemed
                                                We will declare
                                                Over despair
                                                You are the hope

                                                Nothing is impossible
                                                Every chain is breakable
                                                With You, we are victorious
                                                You are stronger than our hearts
                                                You are greater than the dark
                                                With You, we are victorious

                                         Chorus:
                                                We are more than conquerors, through Christ
                                                You have overcome this world, this life
                                                We will not bow to sin or shame
                                                We are defiant in Your Name
                                                You are the fire that cannot be tamed
                                                You are the power in our veins
                                                Our Lord, Our God, Our Conqueror
                                               
                                                
                                               

    

A Perfect Heart Towards God

"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him."
                                                       2 Chronicles 16:9




Sometimes God waits to show Himself strong in our lives. Twenty-four years after God had called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, God appeared to Abraham and said, "'I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless [or perfect]'" (Genesis 17:1). Abraham had walked with God during those years but God waited until the time that Abraham was reaching the climax of his spiritual growth. He waited until Abraham walked in an attitude of perfect obedience, faith, and commitment to God.

God honored Abraham's commitment and he became the father of all who believe (Romans 4:11-12). His obedience and faith is the pattern for us to follow and his patience and faith is sill to be emulated by believers today. God desires that we, too, walk before Him and are made perfect so that through His covenant with us  He will be glorified and multiply us abundantly. The closer we come to the culmination of all the promises of God, the more God calls us to this standard.

The book of Job gives us more insight into what it looks like to have a perfected heart towards God. Job's friends did not have a high opinion of him, but the Lord said, "'Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless [perfect] and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?'" (Job 1:8).

The insight here is that a perfected heart consists of both a right attitude toward God and a right attitude toward evil. There is no compromise or sitting on the fence. This requires a fierce commitment to obedience and the willingness to pay the price for it because it will cost us something.

Please know that God does not require us to have a perfect heart. He requires us to have a perfect heart towards Him. David is the example of this. Morally, David was not  perfect as he had an affair with Bathsheba. However, his heart was perfect towards God and he became the measuring stick for all the other kings that would follow him.

The book of Exodus gives us the first requirement of a perfect heart towards God. We are told that "God spoke all these things, saying, 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me'" (Exodus 20:1-3).

Determining who our "god" really is will determine our destiny. We find this answer by looking at what we fear. If there is anything we fear more than we fear God then that is what becomes our "god". For example, if I fear cancer more than I fear God, then cancer has become my "god".

According to Derek Prince, there are four kinds of fear that are not the fear of the Lord. They are: natural fear, demonic fear, religious fear, and the fear of man. These can actually become deterrents to us walking in the true fear and admonition of the Lord that we are called to.

Natural fear is something that God placed within us to protect us. If we are hiking along a path and a rattlesnake is coiled up right in front of us our natural instinct is to jump backward (and possibly scream very, very loudly). Both fear and pain are two devices that God gives to us to protect us from harm.

Demonic fear is a fear that torments us (1 John 4:18). This is a fear that does not come from God
(2 Timothy 1:7) and its purpose is to harm us. This is a fear that controls and paralyzes us from being who God called us to be and from doing what God has called us to do.

Religious fear is taught by man. Isaiah 29:13 says, "Therefore the Lord said: 'Inasmuch as these people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.'" This involves the fear of doing the wrong religious things. It prefers the status quo and does not acknowledge what God is doing in their midst.

The fear of man is the opposite of trusting in God. Proverbs 29:15 says, "The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe." It is our human tendency to worry about what other people think but the apostle, Peter, tells us that "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).

So, what does the fear of the Lord look like? The two aspects of the fear of the Lord are found in Psalms and in Proverbs:

"Come you children, listen to Me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord."  (Psalm 34:11)

"Then they will call on Me, but I will not answer; they will seek Me diligently, but  they will not find Me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord." (Proverbs 1:28-29)

Thus, the fear of the Lord is taught and we must also choose it. The Holy Spirit will plant it in our hearts and then teach us how to walk in it. As we respond to what we are being taught, we will begin to enjoy God's favor in our lives.

Humility and favor will bring blessings everywhere we go. It will carry with it God's presence and goodness that touches everything and everyone we encounter. It is a joy and a privilege to walk in this level of anointing. It is a blessing and a comfort to know that our heart is undivided.

God is always looking for a people whose hearts are fully His, but He especially is in these days we are living in. He seeks those who have completely made Him their God and have learned the fear of the Lord. This is when He will show Himself strong and manifest His divine favor. Oh, that we may be among those that have perfected hearts towards God!


          "In the light of the King's face is life; and His favor is like a cloud of the latter rain."
                                                                  Proverbs 16:15