Friday, March 26, 2021
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39
True Identity
There is a tendency for us to come running to God in the midst of trouble and see if He can straighten things out. God's way is to "straighten us out". Life, and Satan, have a way of making us feel like anything but conquerors. We may even become disillusioned because our “Christianity” has not paid the dividends that we feel it should. We can easily forget the power of Romans 8:
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you[b] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:2-4
When we live in the power of Romans 8, we are delivered from the law of sin and death through Jesus Christ to fulfill the purpose of God – daily BY the Spirit of God. The Law of Sin and death reminds us of our sin and the separation from God that results. The Law of the Spirit supersedes these laws. This is the Law that the Christian lives under because of Christ's gift – because of their heritage.
Living a Conqueror’s Life
To live as a conqueror means to live intentionally and with determination:
· In His power and not our own - v.4 - "who do not walk according to the flesh"
· According to His will and purpose - v.5 - "but according to the Spirit"
· Focused on Him and not ourselves - v.6 - "but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace"
This does not mean that we will not experience death, weakness, suffering, grief or sorrow. BUT... there will be NO PERMANENT DESTRUCTION. HOPE is the key for the Christian. Hope is not wishing. It has a reason... the resurrection and victory of Jesus Christ. Our power to stand is equal to our FAITH. Hope cannot be in what is seen or that is not hope. A person of strength is a person of faith.
Living a conqueror’s life means living victorious rather than defeated. I’ll be honest, most days I get out of bed already feeling defeated. Before my feet hit the ground, I have already failed at something – usually that I didn’t get up early enough to do all I want to do before work. Getting out of bed with that defeated mentality makes it hard to switch to living victoriously the rest of the day. And then Satan wins because that is exactly what he wants. Every chance he can get he will attack at our weakest points. He never wants us to feel victorious in any way. If we are defeated, beat down, feeling like a failure, then he continues to pick away at those thoughts and feelings and adds unworthy, useless, irresponsible, fat, ugly, and the list could go on for pages. He knows how to bring a conqueror down, but we cannot let him. We have to hold tight to the heritage we have been given – a conqueror’s heritage. Our feelings will not help us. We must rely on our faith in times of feeling victorious and mostly, in times of feeling defeated. It is this faith that will protect us from Satan’s lies.
When you remember your heritage, remember that you are a child of God with all rightful privilege. A prince walks like a prince! We walk different when we remember who we are. Your Father is the King of Kings and because of His great love for you and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are more than conquerors in Him.
