Conquerors’ faith!
Verse for Today: September 10, 2013
Romans 8:37 – No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
God’s children face formidable enemies and hindrances in their Christian life. These roadblocks come ultimately from the enemy of our souls. He uses temptations to make us fall away. He also uses discouragements and hardships to stagger our life of faith. When troubles of various kinds, persecution, famine, danger or even martyrdom bang at our lives, we get perplexed. The heat of such hindrances often tempts us to choose the path of least resistance. A person with deep love and gratitude to God will sharpen his commitment to overcome such hindrances. When we ask the Lord, He will give us the strength to resist the hindrances and become victorious. Our Lord has given us His whole armor to fight the enemy and his wiles. Our life of prayer helps us to depend on His energy to fight and overcome. As we love our Lord better every day, our love and devotion to Him will compel us to fight the hindrances to keep going. Thus when we engage in spiritual warfare, we are made to conquer the hindrances by the Lord through His power that is poured into our hearts. We must, on the one hand, have commitment, loyalty and love for the Lord. Greater our commitment and loyalty to our Lord, greater will be our willingness to fight to overcome the hindrances. When our love and gratitude to the Lord are at its peak, we will be willing to go to any height to resist the hindrances and temptations which try to pull us back from our pathway of faith. Our ardent love and devotion to our Lord will always be challenged by the enemy, but we are already made more than conquerors to enjoy victory by faith.
Dear reader, are you facing temptation and resistance in your devotion and loyalty to the Lord who suffered the utmost to save you from the clutches of sin and Satan? These enemies of your faith come in different degrees when you are most vulnerable through subtle life experiences. You might face tests from the Lord who examines your life of faith to see if you are ultimately committed to Him as in the case of Abraham. You might be tempted like Joseph or Daniel to fall in line with the world and flesh. You might face the temptation to become rich like Demas, Gehazi or Balaam. You might face stiff persecution as in the case of Apostles Paul, Peter and James. It is at these junctures of life that you must resist the hindrances to fall away. You must show your ardent love for the Lord by your willingness to sacrifice anything for Him. No matter how tough the persecution, your love for the Lord will help you to overcome it through renewed devotion and commitment. You will have to make tough choices to follow Jesus no matter what the loss might be. When Jesus gave up all of heaven to save you, it is only natural for Him to expect you to be willing to give up anything that this world offers. Our victory against hindrances will come from the Lord who gives us His power and strength along with His whole armor. We must learn to use the spiritual weaponry and fight every temptation and attraction which tempts us to quit. We are already made conquerors over all the hindrances, but it is our prerogative and privilege to appropriate this victory by faith. We are declared victorious, but we must live as victors by faith every step of the way as we are compelled by our Love for Him.
Romans 8:31 – What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Thought for Today
Our tenacity to resist anything that the world confronts us with depends on the depth of our love for the Lord.
Prayer for Today
Dear Lord Jesus: Give me your strength to overcome all hindrances and temptations that stand on my way to live as a conqueror today. Amen!
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