Zion Gospel Assembly

Pastor's Desk

He Who Overcomes

I have not seen or met anyone till this day who wants to be a failure. In other words, I am yet to find a person who does not want to be successful, who does not want to be victorious, who does not want to be a winner. If we ask any of these people, who in life ultimately became triumphant, almost all of them, if we prod them well enough, will say of stumbling blocks, hurdles, times of hardships, even failures. There might even have been circumstances in their lives when they would have wanted to quit, but they did not. And just because they did not, they are there where they are now. We honor them, shower praises on them because they were victorious where others certainly would have failed. For some reasons, they are a different lot. And in plain and simple language we call them, overcomers.

God made man in His own form and image and put His breath in him so he could be a living being and put all the other living things and the earth He created, under the man so he could rule over them (Gen 1:26). He put man in charge of the Garden of Eden and put in front of him the first test – the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And God planted the tree right in the middle of the garden – so man could see it every time he walks in the garden. Man could not avoid seeing it, looking at it, wondering what the fruit could possibly be like, till one day Satan decided it was the right time to strike – and he got Eve. The devil, in the form of a serpent, succeeded in putting the right amount of salesmanship through to Eve so that curiosity burned inside her and throwing all caution to wind she reached out her hand and plucked the fruit. From that very moment man ceased to exist as what God had created him to be – an OVERCOMER, in this case, an overcomer of temptation.

God could have very well kept the tree out of sight and bounds from man, but that was not God’s purpose of man. He had created man like him and He wanted His handiwork to be a success and not a loser. He wanted him to be an overcomer in everything.

When we think of overcoming our attention immediately turns to the messages to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. The Spirit mention the exact weakness of the respective churches, their present condition and also tells them what will happen if they do not make effort to rectify them. The Spirit then goes on to add the reward for the overcomers.

Christians have certain characters and qualities which are attributed to their name. They are supposed to be strong, persistent, faithful, enduring, loving and self-controlled in their Christian journey. In the Christian way of life, they have to hold themselves against every hardship that comes their way. Battling against all odds, when they achieve what God had planned for them, they are called overcomers. In 2 Timothy 4:7, 8 Paul says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness. Which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day…” He calls himself an overcomer, running, as if in a race trying to achieve the goal that was set before him, in spite of all the hurdles, now waiting for the reward.

Overcoming is the distinct Christian way of life. Christ has called his people, redeemed by His precious blood, to be overcomers. About hardships and sufferings, He says in John 16:33 “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The three main areas where Christians should be overcomers are Sin, Satan and Self. To Cain, in Genesis God says, “…sin is crouching at your door: it desires to have you, but you must master [overcome] it.”

Satan is a defeated foe, who had his head crushed by Jesus Christ at Calvary. Yet he comes against God’s people with evil schemes, and God does not want us to be ignorant of the devil’s schemes – (2 Corinthians 2:11). The verse in Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the full armor of God…” gives us an insight into how to stand against [overcome] those wicked plans. Furthermore, James goes on to add in his epistle in James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil…”

Self is a facet of ourselves, which is carnal- wants and desires (thoughts) of the flesh, that is. Romans 13:14 says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” A Christian should be in control of himself, his emotions and his thoughts - “… and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5). In Galatians 5:16 & 17 Paul speaks of sinful nature and how to overcome it by living in the Spirit.

God wants His people to be overcomers in every way and that is why He gave us an overcomer as our leader – He overcame everything that came His way, so that we have an example to follow. He knew our weakness and our shortcomings. He also knew how helpless we would feel when we came against an overwhelming adversary called death, so he gave His own life and conquered death and in turn making us the ultimate overcomers – even of death.

Revelation 21:7 says, “He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”