Pity Party or Victory?

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. Romans 8:35-37 Its amazing to me how, at times, when reading through passages of the Bible some words that should be examined seem to go in one eye and out the other and at other times something jumps right out at you and screams for more examination. Such is so for me with this passage, in particular “we are more than conquerors”. I read this the other day and thought what does it mean to be more than a conqueror? I had no idea, so it was time to do some digging.

I came upon this verse; Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. Luke 22:31 It is obvious that one of Satan’s desires is to separate us from the love of our Lord by using  the circumstances of our lives. If we focus horizontally and start thinking that we are going through our trials by ourselves and get all “poor me”, Satan has the victory. And, as Paul uses the word “separate” in the Romans 8 passage, he describes several earthly scenarios that bring to the table more than say…..something like having a bad hair day. But, right now in our bubble it can mean recession, joblessness, family/marriage problems, sickness, and even an uncertain future in an increasingly violent and perverse world.

So in all these things, how can I be more than a victor? Well, after some searching I found out that the NIV translation which I use is somewhat misleading. The NAS translation says; “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” which uses a compound Greek word meaning to over conquer or to conquer completely without any real threat to personal life or health. Ah-ha! There it is again! It is He that does it not me, me, me. When I am in control there is trouble and chaos. When God is in control, our troubles are conquered completely and there is peace.

The comparison of God in control and me, myself and I in control, reminded me of when I was in the Navy stationed in the Philippines at a weather facility. A typhoon (what they call a hurricane over there) was going to pass directly over our base. We (some friends and I) spent a couple of hours outside behind a small block building amid the chaos and noise as we watched debris fly by. It was humbling as I stood behind the shelter of this small block building, thinking if I stepped out into the wind, my life could be instantly snuffed out. Then in amazement, as the eye of the storm approached, the wind disappeared and our world became almost eerily quiet. And just like you might see in a movie, there were a flock of birds flying overhead in a beautiful, peaceful  blue sky.

So, to be more than a conquer, means that we are not limited by what stands in our way and we have power beyond the limits that Satan has. He is limited in his power and what he can do, but we are not limited as to what we can do through Jesus Christ. When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge. Proverbs 14:32 We are also beyond the limit of death.  Those who are in Christ are not limited to just this life but we transcend this life with a new eternal life in Heaven. The work is done, our hope is in Jesus. What an encouragement!

Vertical focus, not horizontal!

WHO AM I ………. REALLY

One morning this past week as I was praying about some struggles I was going through, I thought; “precisely, who am I in Christ, and if that’s who I am, is that how I am living?”  I started digging.

In Christ, I am accepted:

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, John 1:12 I am God’s child
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Faith Walk

Interim—a temporary or provisional arrangement.

We as a church family are in an interim period or temporary arrangement. We can find times in the bible where the formation of the early church had times for going apart, for withdrawal, rest, renewal, regrouping and then beginning again. The Christian concept of death and resurrection speaks powerfully to periods in our lives when, individually or collectively, we need to say “good-bye” to the old and “welcome” to the new (in all phases of our life). The interim period is a time of grieving and letting go of what has been and then renewing our faith, beginning to open ourselves to a new future.
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STAYING CURRENT

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5

For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 8:13

I was speaking to a young man in our congregation the other day and he asked me if I had read “The Mortification of Sin” by John Owen. I immediately thought mortified, (i.e. “I was mortified”) doesn’t that mean humiliated?
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WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT

The good Lord chose to bring my sisters only child, Reid (24), into His presence May 17th. It was totally unexpected and a shock to everyone who knew him. The sadness brought on by this void in our lives will only be softened by time, the knowledge that God is in control, and that Reid is in the presence the Lord today and forever.
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