An Overcoming Life

The LORD is the strength (and the joy) of His people.

Psalm 28:8

"God does not give us an overcoming life--He gives us life as we overcome." wrote Oswald Chambers in his world-renowned devotional, My Utmost for His Highest.  And yes, he italicized the phrase, "as we overcome." 

God calls His people overcomers.  In the Biblical sense, to overcome is explained in Ephesians 6:10: "Be strong in the LORD and in His mighty power." We are to obey what He commands, resist temptations, and keep standing in faith. No matter how brutal, how devastating the storms that come, or how long they last, God is greater.  To be an overcomer, there is always something we have to do to overcome whatever has come against us.  

Oswald Chambers puts it like this: "We cannot do the things we long to do so our tendency is to think of our dreams and aspirations as dead. But God comes to us and says, 'Arise from the dead.' When God sends His inspiration, it comes to us with such miraculous power that we are able to 'arise from the dead' and do the impossible. The remarkable thing about spiritual initiative is that the life and power comes after we 'get up and get going.'"

Here are a few Biblical examples:

In John 4:8, we're told of the story of the invalid who had been lying at the pool for 38 years waiting to be healed!  Jesus came upon Him and told him to, '"Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.' At once the man was healed; he picked up his mat and walked."

In Exodus 14:16 God told Moses to raise his staff and stretch out his hands over the Red Sea to divide the water for the Israelites to safely pass on dry ground. When they were safely on the other bank of the sea, God closed up the waters and drowned the enemies of His people.

In Mark 5:25-34, the woman with the issue of blood heard about Jesus and with great faith, was willing rise up and push her way through noisy crowds to get close enough to Jesus to touch His garment. She believed if she got that close to Him, she would be healed. And she was completely healed.

Oswald Chambers writes, "Our Lord said to the man with the withered hand, 'Stretch out your hand' (Matthew 12:13). As soon as the man did so, his hand was healed. But he had to take the initiative. If we will take the initiative to overcome, we will find that we have the inspiration of God, because He immediately gives us the power of life."

This is love for God: to obey His commands...for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is it who overcomes the world? Only He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." 1 John 5:3-5

Polly💖