We Are Overcomers in Christ

1 John 5:4-5 NKJV:  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

When we receive Jesus Christ into our hearts not only are our sins forgiven, but we are made new.  We are a child of God starting out on a new life.

2 Cor 5:17 NKJV:  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

As a Christian we must believe what God says we are.  He created us and knew us even before we were conceived.  His words are the truth we should be clinging to no matter what the world wants to say about us.  God does say we are overcomers.  Not only the first verses I listed above say it, but also 1 John 4:4 NKJV:  You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

God gave us the power to overcome Satan and anything that would distract us from being what God intended us to be.  This power indwells within us as the Holy Spirit, our counselor and helper here on earth until Jesus returns.  If we stick to God's truth, His Holy Word, the Bible, then we will indeed overcome no matter our circumstances.

So we come back to choices again.  Satan cannot do anything to us unless we allow him to.  We must believe that with God's Holy Spirit indwelling us we can win over Satan just like Jesus has.  How does the Bible tell us we can beat this greatest adversary?

James 4:7 NKJV:  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

1 Peter 5:8-9 NKJV:  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

If Satan can get you distracted from focusing on Jesus and the Word, he will pull you off track.  So stay focused on what God says.  The world is not for Jesus.  They want to see Christians fall.  They will try to make you feel like your acceptance of Jesus is the wrong idea.  Stay focused on Jesus.  Peter even walked on water while focused on Jesus.  As soon as he got distracted by the world around him, he began to sink. 

Our circumstances and our past do not determine our future.  God has already made our future.  All we have to do is believe that Jesus is the way, the light and the truth and follow Him while telling the devil to take a hike.

God Wants You

Sadly most of us don't get it that God wants us in a relationship with Him.  Until we see an inkling of what He is really like and understand Him, it comes across as Him giving us a rule book and then wanting to punish us whenever we mess up.  To confuse matters worse I have met Christians that made me feel Bible thumped.  That it was God's way or the highway.  This is the truth, but does not express anything about the loving relationship God uses to teach us why His way is better.

First, God starts off by giving.  For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16 (NIV).  Many people know this verse so well that the depth of it may be lost.  If we read on we learn more of what God intended.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. John 3:17-18 (NIV).  The last part is the truth that feels more like a good ole Bible thump, but Jesus came to give us the chance to be reconciled once more with God.  If God did not love us, why would He bother sending His Son here in the first place?  He could have definitely changed the world to something else in the blink of an eye with one voiced command.

To push this show of love further Jesus died on the cross for us.  He was cut off from the Father as He took on all our sins as He became the final sacrifice of blood atonement required by God.  Now He is risen up to heaven again to be our advocate before God's judgment seat.  And until His return we have the Holy Spirit as a counselor until we also get to go home to heaven.  Why would Jesus bother doing this if He did not love us?  Sure it is sometimes a tough love, but I honestly would be worried if I wasn't corrected when found doing a wrong.  How else do we learn?  If we had to learn about life and love without guidance, where would we be?

Yes, God has rules, but so do our earthly parents.  There are some things in the natural realm of this world that are the law regardless of what we think of it.  Gravity makes us fall.  Fire burns.  Lack of oxygen makes us suffocate.  These are things we take for granted as unchangeable truth.  God is also unchanging so His laws won't change either.  His laws are not there to condemn us, but to convict us into realizing our way led into something bad.  And just like with real parents, God is waiting for us to voice our confession about it and He will help us through the Holy Spirit to learn how not to do it again.  He knows everything about us even before we do it, but His love allows us to have the chance to confess and make things right again.  He doesn't mind that we fall down a few times in the learning process.

God has a reason for His laws so that we may know light from dark, good from evil.  We may not get it all at once, but life is a learning process, a growing process.  Step by step we learn and slowly unravel the awesome mysteries of God and His creation.  We have the choice to walk with Him in a loving relationship or go our own way.  I'm finding the adventure of this life far more fulfilling with Him than without no matter what the circumstances are.