We Are Overcomers

“I am an overcomer and I overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony.” Declaration of Revelation 12:11

A few years ago, I received a letter in the mail from my grandmother. Attached to the letter, was three full pages of bible verses written as declarations. As I read through the pages, the declaration above stuck out to me. “I am an overcomer”…when I read this statement, my face shifted into a huge smile. Even today reading it, great hope and joy rush through my veins. It makes me reflect on the different things God has brought me through, and that without Him, my life would be empty and hopeless. Praise Break: “Thank You Jesus for saving me, and never giving up on me. Thank You for Your Spirit being present in my life everyday, and in the lives of Your children. We are lost and empty without You!”

I often sit back, and think about where God has brought me from: the circumstances, the mindsets, the places of loneliness, hopelessness, emptiness and pain. I think about the situations I allowed myself to get involved in, and I am constantly reminded of how I have been greatly changed through God’s love. Over the years, I have learned more and more about how unconditional and unfailing God’s love truly is. He never abadons us, no matter how many mistakes we make. His promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us is real; my life is a living testament of that.

“Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:8NKJV

Such a simple verse, yet it holds such a heavy truth. It has taken me a very long time to accept that His love never leaves me, and there are still some days that I struggle with this truth. It is so easy to get caught up in the fragility and feeble love that we as people give to one another. In the world we live in, it’s easy to lose touch with God’s never ending, unquenchable, non-refundable love. I mean, who really wants to love someone who fails every day? Only God! Even as I type this all I can say is, “Thank You Jesus”. But that’s the incredible beauty of His love. He knows our faults, and He knows all too well the sin nature that has been attached to us since the womb. This is why He sent His Son Jesus Christ.

“ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17NIV

He knew perfectly well that the only way for us to get it together was for His Son to die a horrific death for the penalty of our sins. Without His sacrifice, we would be fully condemned, and headed to hell with no way out.  Now, absolutely nothing can separate us from His love.

“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.” Romans 8:35-39 NIV

I used to allow my mistakes from my past control me. It kept me locked up in an impenetrable prison of condemnation with a tightly wrapped mussel over my mouth. I would allow my insecurities and the opinions of others to tear me down in to tiny fragments. But one day, through Christ, freedom came! He broke down the walls of condemnation that surrounded my life, and He tore the mussel from its straps. He loved me beyond me, and showed me that my past was a testimony of His grace and mercy. He gave me my voice back, and my reason for living.

Did you know that this isn’t something just for me, but for you as well? That He wants to rescue you from the imprisonment of sin and condemnation? That He wants to deliver you and love you beyond all reasonable understanding? Accepting Him as your Lord and Savior means that He takes all that has happened, and all that is still to come in your life, and molds it together for His glory. The devil will try to tell you that this just isn’t true, and that His love could never cleanse you and set you free. But the devil is a deceiver and that is all he knows how to do. The devil has only come to steal, kill, and destroy, so of course he wants to keep us trapped in wrong thinking and keep us locked away from all truth!

“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD . “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” Isaiah 1:18NLT 

Jesus loves you, and wants to purify you in every area that needs it. This is such an amazing truth that I have to consistently remind myself of. He knows our past, and loves us anyway. He knows our faults, and they only make Him want us more so He can smooth out those rough edges to fashion us into the image we were originally supposed to be made in…His image!!!!

 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26 NKJV

It’s time to begin seeing our past and life’s circumstances from a new perspective. We are overcomers through Christ Jesus, and because of this, our testimonies help others overcome the obstacles blocking them in.  We can no longer allow ourselves to be trampled and beaten down because of where we have been. But instead, look to Christ and allow it to be a testament of who God really is. No matter the mess ups and mistakes, never let them keep you from a relationship with Christ because it is in repenting for our mess ups that we are able to experience His unfailing, never-ending, irrefutable, unrestricted love.  He has made you new, so live in it and rejoice!

 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV