Ever been in a spiritual, mental and physical funk? I know, at one time or another, we all have been there. We might have even camped there because it was too hard to take down all the camping equipment and gear to get up and out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am well acquainted with \u201cfunks\u201d! Those were times when I wasn\u2019t hearing God\u2019s voice clearly. My hope was deferred, and I actually got sick and tired \u2013 to the point that I was done with sick and tired. I didn\u2019t want \u201cdefeated\u201d to be my name any longer. That’s when I decided being a conqueror was the team I wanted to be on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being a conqueror is not for the faint-hearted or defeated who give up and throw in the towel. Conqueror is for the determined, the above and beyond thinkers and doers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the seasons and years when we feel weary, unseen and tired, we are meant to be more than conquerors. That\u2019s when \u201covercomers\u201d becomes a part of our new name — if we don\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the woman facing an unwanted break-up or betrayal; to the man who just lost his job or the one who just left the funeral home after the passing of a loved one — the name “overcomer” is not what you think of yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But let\u2019s not miss the questions that precede what the Apostle Paul asks of us. \u201cWho shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?\u201d (Romans 8:35)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he answers the question for us: Romans 8:37 says that \u201cin all things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.\u201d Right in the middle of all those hardships and trials, we are told that we can be more than conquerors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being more than a conqueror means whatever the enemy intended to use to take us out \u2014 whatever was meant to destroy us \u2014 didn’t destroy us at all. It all turned out for God receiving the glory for our determination to be a conqueror!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It means we don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our stories becaome a testimony about what God has done for us. But there\u2019s a second part to our stories. How are we overcoming? How are we being made new? What\u2019s God doing inside of us, not just yesterday or last week or 10 years ago, but today? Do our stories show God\u2019s ongoing faithfulness? Let me tell you my story:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I used to see myself as an orphan, but now I know I am an adopted daughter of Almighty God! I am more than a conqueror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I used to label myself forgotten, but now I know I am chosen by God and a seat has my name on it around the table of God! I am more than a conqueror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul says our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us (v.18). Imagine the delight our Heavenly Father must feel when He sees us graduate from “Overcoming School” and we are awarded with our new title: “More than a Conqueror”!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So let\u2019s soldier up by not giving up and assigning ourselves some “woe is me” name badge! No way, Jos\u00e9! Listen to this song by Matthew West and change those defeated names to the Child of the one true King! Amazing Grace is the song we sing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n