How We Overcome
ESTHER FLEECE ALLEN
Listen to this devotion
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37 (NIV)
I’d
been in a spiritual wilderness season for quite some time. Having
resigned from my job, I walked by faith, but as the days, weeks and
months went on, God felt more and more distant.
I wasn’t
hearing His voice clearly, and I wondered if I’d misstepped or made a
mistake. After year three of unanswered prayers with hope deferred and
no job in sight, I asked myself, Would this heart-sick feeling stick
with me the rest of my days? Would “Defeated” be my new name?
We will not feel like conquerors every day.
In
the seasons and years we feel weary, unseen and tired, it’s important
to not rename ourselves in the middle of a storm. We’re meant to be more
than conquerors, and “Overcomers” will be a part of our new name — if
we don’t give up.
I never felt like the phrase “more than
conquerors” applied to me. After being abandoned by my biological
parents, losing extended family members, facing financial independence
as a teenager and being unsure where I would lay my head at night, I
certainly didn’t feel like “more than a conqueror.”
And I know I am not alone.
To
the woman facing an unwanted break-up, a betrayal or the death of a
loved one — I’m sure you don’t feel like you’re overcoming, either.
But
let’s not miss the questions that precede calling us conquerors. The
Apostle Paul asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword?” (Romans 8:35, NKJV) We’re told we can be more than
conquerors in the midst of these hardships and evils — right smack-dab
in the middle of a trial.
Being more than a conqueror means
whatever the enemy intended to use to take you out — whatever was meant
to destroy you — did not in fact destroy you, and it’s now being used
for God’s glory.
It means we don’t rename ourselves in the
seasons we feel forgotten and forsaken. It means we persevere to the
other side of the trial and wait, expectantly, for our new name.
Our
stories are important. They’re part of our testimony about what God has
done for us. But there’s a second part to our stories. How are we
overcoming? How are we being made new? What’s God doing inside of us,
not just yesterday or last week or 10 years ago, but today? Do our
stories show God’s ongoing faithfulness?
I used to see myself as an orphan, but now I know I am an adopted daughter.
I am more than a conqueror.
I used to label myself forgotten, but now I know I am chosen by God and included.
I am more than a conqueror.
I used to feel unwanted, but now I know God went to great lengths to save me.
By His power, I am more than a conqueror.
When
we stay in our old names, identifying with our old stories, we make the
name-changing process about us. Yet this overcoming process is not
about us; it’s about God revealing His name to the world. God will
reveal Himself through our stories and the people we become. But the
trial is not supposed to be the end. The persecution, famine and
distress are not our destiny, nor are they our final destination.
In
Romans 8, Paul says our present sufferings are not worth comparing with
the glory that will be revealed in us (v.18). He explains that even
creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be
revealed (v.19). If creation is excited to see God revealed through you,
imagine God’s delight in bringing about this overcoming process in you!
Romans
8:37 declares that one of your new names is “more than a conqueror” —
the victory God has for you will be overwhelming! Don’t give up or
rename yourself too soon. Your new name and His name will be on display
as we overcome.
Heavenly Father, thank You for being an
overcoming God! I know I can take heart because You have overcome the
world. Empower me to rise above my circumstances. Help me cast my
anxiety on You because You care for me. Give me Your power to overcome.
Thank You for giving me the victory! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.