Overcomer You

“Ah!” His disciples said. “Now You’re speaking plainly and not using any figurative language. Now we know that You know everything and don’t need anyone to question You. By this we believe that You came from God.”
Jesus responded to them, “Do you now believe? Look: An hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
(John 16:29-33 Holman Christian Standard Bible ©®)

We are easily confused by battles and victories and overcoming as those concepts relate to our spiritual lives and to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said that He had conquered the world. He had not been to the cross or to the grave. He would soon be chained and tortured to death by entities representing two ungodly worldly governments – Israel and Rome.

In the Revelation of Jesus that John saw, he heard Jesus promise certain rewards to people who “overcome.” The last enemy to be overcome is death, but Jesus already has the keys to death and to the grave. Is it done? Does it need to be done? Do I need to do it? Does He need to do it?

The warfare in which we have been tossed won’t end soon. Every advance is a victory, but not the final victory. Every loss can be a gain, if it becomes an education on overcoming that we use well on another day. Education is very expensive. Each day of our lives in Christ will present us with a taste of the warfare His enemies intend against Him. Submit yourselves to God, and resist the devil. Do both of those things, and you, too, will conquer the world, by standing up in His victory.

Some people are still fighting the cold war. Some people are still fighting the US civil war. Some people are still fighting with their former identities. Find the victories Jesus has won, and stand in them. Forget all the human conflicts. Ask Jesus where each next footstep goes. Leave each battle field when the Spirit says walk on. Overcome the world by being in Christ and having Christ formed in you. The future is much more valuable than all the past.