Christ follower,

Do you believe you are a Conqueror?  And if that, do you believe you are MORE THAN a Conqueror?

Or are you being conquered?  Conquered by any number of joy limiting, life debilitating things or circumstances?

The Christ follower, by the power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, is MORE THAN a Conqueror.  This is a truth we must believe.  We must “stand fast” and “hold fast” to this truth.  We must not trust in ourselves.  Self reliance will eventually give way to weakness and failure.  Our bodies were not created to endure apart from the power of He who created us.

All people, everywhere, all around the world, face trials of multiple variety.  Some are pride threatening, some are success threatening, some are life threatening.  The difference, dare I say BENEFIT, of the Christ follower is not only the power to Conqueror but to be MORE THAN CONQUERORS.

I have been trying to imagine what it looks like to be a conqueror.  I can’t begin to fathom what it looks like to be MORE THAN a conqueror.

Today I called out to my Heavenly Father.  I confessed my weakness, my exhaustion, my resentment of the rapid pace and perpetual motion of the culture in which I live.  I confessed my fear of the consequence if I were to pause for one second, and my panic over the thought of what I might lose.

And somehow, ever gently and lovingly, my Heavenly Father whispered these words to me:

More than Conquerors

At this moment, I do not feel like a conqueror and I balk at the idea of being more than a conqueror.  I feel much more like a survivor or a weary traveler.  No rest for the weary!  Certainly not a conqueror, even so, certainly never MORE than a conqueror.

Yet the truth says something far different than my human brain is reasoning.

Romans 8:28-39
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:    “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What will it be, Christ follower? Will you rise up this day and take hold of the promises of your Heavenly Father?  Or will you continue striving, struggling, and searching for strength in empty places?

(This entry was inspired by a reading this morning written by George Davison in 1962.  Click here to read the message.)