Overcoming By Faith

Defeat is bitter, it is painful especially if it comes unexpectedly. Victory however is sweet. The world hates to associate with losers but seeks attention of overcomers. The word “overcomer” suggest that there is a battle, because it is someone who has won at least a battle that is referred to as an overcomer. No one can be described as an overcomer when he/she has not fought a battle.

The world we live in is a world of conflict, it is a world of battles, a series of battles that never ends. One victory or defeat leads to another battle and the cycle goes on till death. The only way anyone will be free from battle, is for such a one to pray for death, but as long as there is life battle continues. These battles feature in all areas of our lives –

 To have a successful marriage there is battle to fight

 To break away from poverty there is a battle to fight

 To have children there is a battle to fight

 To grow spiritually there is a battle to fight

 To live a victorious Christian life there is a battle to fight

 To succeed in business there is a battle to fight

 To live a life of financial comfort, there is a battle to fight and the list goes on

Why all these battles, because there is an adversary of our soul who is determined to contest every blessing of God in our life. This adversary is the devil and he carries out his evil agenda through his demonic and human agents. These demonic agents include principalities and powers, territorial spirits, powers described as spiritual wickedness in high places and many others (Eph. 6: 12). The human agents used by the devil to fight against us can be anybody and that includes close friends and relatives. Many of us I am sure will have heard a lot of true stories that confirm this statement of Jesus and no doubt some of us will have personal stories of our own.

Overcoming life’s battles is very important because to be defeated is to be a failure in life. If victory is that important, how then do we overcome?

The bible teaches us that faith is that weapon that guarantees our victory. Heb. 11: 30 -35 gives us an account of the exploit of faith in this regard. The walls of Jericho were very imposing and formidable, we are told that about six chariots can run side by side on the wall, so you can imagine just how wide it was. But as formidable as it was, faith brought it down. When the same Jericho was to be destroyed, it was faith in God that saved Rahab the harlot and her family. The same passage of scripture proceeded to give us a rundown of some notable personalities in scripture such as Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and so on and their exploits through faith. According to scriptures, through faith these men –

 Subdued kingdoms

 Worked righteousness

 Obtained promises

 Stopped the mouth of lions

 Quenched the violence of fire

 Escaped the edge of the sword

 Turned to flight the armies of the aliens and so on

The testimonies of these men makes something very clear to us – which is that, faith amongst other things is a weapon and as a weapon it is versatile – it can serve as an offensive weapon when necessary, which was the way David used it in his fight against Goliath and it can serve as a defensive weapon as well as it was used by Rahab.

If it did so much exploits in the life of others then it can do so much in your life as well. These men were ordinary men who achieved extra ordinary results in the battles of life and that can be your testimony as well if you will apply faith as they did. When you look at just how big their achievement was, you may be led to think that they probably had a large dose of faith and here you are your own faith is little, but Jesus assured us that the faith we need to achieve extra ordinary results is not big at all, he described it as mustard seed sized faith. If we have faith the size of a mustard seed then we can achieve same result like them and even greater results through the help of the Holy Spirit, because Jesus assures us further that with a mustard seed sized faith, nothing shall be impossible to us.

You however need to know that the devil also is aware of just how potent your faith in God can be as a weapon against him and his activities against you and against others and so he will seek to opportunities to weaken and to eventually kill your faith just as he tried to do with Apostle Peter and with Peter he would have succeeded but for the prayers of Jesus for Peter. This is why it is important that you cherish your faith and guard it jealously. Do not give room for faith killing agents such as - doubt, unbelief, negative confessions, negative news and so on to access and to gain ground in your life.

So you if you are born again then you have the faith you need to conquer the battles in your life and to accomplish great things for God like these men. You also like this men can become one of these generations’ heroes of faith through the achievement of impossible results. Certainly you can and you should. Go for it. Shalom

PRAYER:

1) Oh Lord, thank you for making faith available for me as a weapon, thank you for the victory that this weapon has given to me in the past even without my knowing it.

2) Oh Lord through the help of your Spirit, please teach me how to properly use this weapon to achieve amazing victories in life’s battles in Jesus name.

3) Lord with these weapon of faith at my disposal, I will never be a loser in the battles of life anymore. The last battle I lost will the last battle I will ever lose in Jesus name.

4) Father, knowing that faith is so potent as a weapon of warfare, help me to consistently invest in all that is necessary to grow my faith in Jesus name.

5) Lord, regardless of the level and the intensity of attack against my faith, my faith will not fail in Jesus name.