I WANT TO BE AN OVERCOMER!

On Tuesday evening I went to see the film, “Times of Fire: The 7 Churches of Revelation”. It was definitely not entertainment. It was the book of Revelation before our eyes in all its’ complexities, for the seven churches spoken of then, look remarkably like our churches today!

What do you do when the spiritual institution that you depend upon to assist you in growing the Christian life sinks into secularism? What do you do when your leaders ‘sell-out’ to Satan and provide you no spiritual covering? What do you do when your fellow church members have gotten ‘lukewarm’, and real fellowship is no longer a suitable option?

Throughout the ages these are questions that have plagued people of faith who take their faith and their walk seriously. Even though John the Revelator cited specific churches, all of us throughout the ages have had to fight with the ‘sin’ nature of man – not just what we find in our neighbor, what we find in ourselves!

The good news is that Jesus left a promise to each of those churches, and I believe it stands today, that if they ‘overcame’ they would have a good end. Consider what He said about to the church at Pergamos:

And he who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God] and he who keeps My deeds [doing things that please Me] until the [very] end, to him I will give authority and power over the nations; Revelation 2:25 (AMP)

What a promise! Think of it, if we are able to do the things that God wills for us that He will give us ‘authority and power over the very nations’ of the world. While the power to rule nations is not an end goal of mine, having the power to pray that those nations would turn to God, is! I always take heart in what the Psalmist said:

‘Ask of Me, and I will assuredly give [You] the nations as Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth as Your possession. Psalm 2: 8(AMP)

Even though this is the promise given to Jesus, we are heirs and joint heirs with Him, and all things point to our being able to tap into this promise as well. The bottom line is that we should be encouraged to know that God wants us to pray for our world, and to pray with authority, which He has given us to see “as many as will to come to Him”!

Maria