June 12, 2021 TO HIM WHO OVERCOMES
Revelation 2:7, 3:21 “He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.” “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
We hear what people say; but much more important is hearing what the Spirit says. God does speak and we can hear what He says. Someone said that only those who are in tune with God hear what He says. I think that is true, but there are occasions when God may speak to one who is lost and has no interest in God. In the book of Revelation, there is much said about overcoming. I’m sure we all agree that we daily face things that we need to overcome-perhaps the day starts with having to overcome the desire to sleep in instead of getting out of bed! I think it is good for us to identity just what it is that the Spirit is telling us we must overcome. I certainly do not claim to know all the Spirit has in mind about that, but I think we can identity some of the things we must overcome. We know for sure that we must be overcomers if we are found to be pleasing to God when we see Him face to face. Books could be written on the subject of overcoming, but I think that simply said, what we must overcome is self. A central theme of the gospel is that Jesus died for us, redeemed us, and joined us to Himself. Galatians 3:13-15 tells us that Christ bought us with His blood; we no longer belong to ourselves-we belong to Him. To live as His possessions, we must die to ourselves-that is overcoming. Man tends to live according to his own likes and dislikes, but now we are to live according to the desires and plans of another-to the plans and desires of Jesus Christ. The Spirit tells us to lay down our life and to let Christ rule instead. Overcoming means that we live according to the ways of God and His ways are revealed in His written word. Of course, we cannot live and according to His ways in our own strength, but only by the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Overcoming self results in overcoming such things as impatience, being ill-tempered, greed, conceit, bitterness, anger, lying, and selfishness in general. The one who overcomes is one is living out of the new nature that God has given him, and this new nature reflects the nature of God. Our being an overcomer in this life is obviously of great importance to God. The truth is, that there is no excuse for any believer not to be an overcomer. As someone said, “Let us go to our own funeral.” May we conclude that life is not about making ourselves happy, but about rising to the call to lay our lives down and live according to the ways of our Father.
Ephesians 4:22-24 “in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit, and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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