What if the thing you're fighting so hard to overcome has already been defeated?
This was the question that resonated deeply in my spirit years ago when I was in the chokehold
of anxiety and panic. So I want to ask you today, what if the battle that you're facing
isn't for you to strive and fight really hard to win, but instead, what if it's simply about
you waking up to a victory that's already yours? In Romans chapter 8, verse 37, Paul writes,
no, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
And what's really interesting is Paul uses a word here that appears this one time in the entire
Bible, and he uses the Greek word for victory, but then he adds hyper to it, meaning above,
beyond. So not just a victory, a hyper victory to overwhelmingly conquer something, to gain
a surpassing victory. Paul could have just said we're conquerors. That would have been incredible
on its own, but he didn't. He said we are more than conquerors. So let's apply this truth to
all that's happening in the world right now, or even what's happening in your world right now,
in your personal life. The outcome isn't in question, only what you believe about it.
And I know belief, the concept of belief can feel slippery, like it's really hard to pin down
and grasp because we try to locate it in our feelings often, or in our mental agreement,
or in the words that we say, but belief isn't primarily a feeling or a thought. Belief is trust.
It's what you're leaning the full weight of your life on. The outcome is this, Jesus has won,
and that is not a platitude to help us feel better about hard things or living in a broken world.
We must understand that Jesus's victory is an eternal, unshakable, unchanging truth.
He conquered sin, death, and the grave. The war is finished. There's nothing left to win.
So what are we doing here? What is the point of our life here on earth? What is the Christian
life about? I believe we're training for reigning. We are not soldiers fighting to secure the
kingdom. We are royalty learning to rule it. All of Romans eight is pointing to the key
that unlocks this truth for us, and it's not what religion has taught us because most of us
have been taught, whether directly or indirectly, that the key is performance or figuring God out.
If I just pray enough, serve enough, understand enough, study enough, declare enough,
then I'll experience the victory. Then I'll overcome. But Paul isn't pointing to our behavior
in Romans eight. He's pointing to our identity because being more than a conqueror is not
something that we accomplish. It's something that Christ accomplished for us. And look at how Paul
says it. He says, no, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us
through him, not through our striving, not through our performance, through God and his love for us.
Now let's look at the context. In verse 37, Paul asks, the context of verse 37, Paul asks a question
in verse 35. First, he says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or
distress, persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? And he's listing real hardships.
These are not hypotheticals. Like he's not trying to be dramatic. Paul experienced all of these
himself. So he's speaking from his own experience. And then he quotes Psalm 44, which is interesting
because Psalm 44 is a cry of abandonment. The psalmist thought suffering meant God had left
him. And Paul says, no, the suffering is real. We don't ignore that or deny it, but abandonment,
that's a lie because in all these things, we are more than conquerors. Jesus told us in John 1633,
in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart or have courage because I've overcome the
world. So we know that he didn't say, if you follow me, you're no longer going to have trouble in your
life. This is a big deal because people think when trouble comes that they're distant from God.
He said, no, you're going to have trouble, but I've overcome the world. Not I will overcome the world
or I'm trying to overcome the world. And then I'm going to come back and get you guys. But I have
overcome past tensed, finished, done. And because he's overcome, we get to live as overcomers. His victory.
becomes our victory. What he accomplished, we inherit. We are co-heirs with Christ, the Bible
says. We don't become an overcomer by overcoming. You and I overcome because we already are
overcomers because of what Christ did. So the question in your battle right now isn't,
will I overcome this? The question is, how aware am I of the victory that's already mine in this
situation? The Christian life is not about trying to get somewhere with God. The Christian life is
about discovering where we already are, which is seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus,
the Bible says. When we believe this, it changes everything. It changes how we see adversity.
Adversity is not a reflection of your identity or your closeness or your distance from God,
as religion would have us believe. If you believe Jesus is your Lord, you become one with him,
the Bible says. So adversity is no longer a means of your defeat or doom. It means that you've
been positioned to experience and demonstrate the truth of who Christ is and who you are in him.
Romans 8, 28 promises this. It says, and we know for those who love God, all things work together
for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Because we're overcomers, we are going
to be brought into arenas in this world that need to encounter the presence of the overcomer
who we carry. And if the hardship you're facing, that Satan thinks he's so cleverly set up against
you, what if it's actually a setup against him? Because an overcomer who carries Christ has just
stepped into this arena with a surpassing victory. This will change how we view generational curses.
Oh, oh, I have been brought into this family. I have been placed into this bloodline that needed
to encounter the presence of the victorious Christ, which I carry. This will change how you
view a diagnosis. This will change how you view the nation that you were born into, or the one
that you live and have citizenship in. What about adversity? This is a question I get a lot.
What about the adversity that we face that's a consequence of our own bad behavior? Well, this is
the beauty of repentance. We get to change. We're not stuck. Repentance is a gift. It's not merely
apologizing. It's transformation. Because as followers of Jesus, we are not just repenting
from something, from a behavior, we are repenting towards something, our identity. Lord, I'm changing
my mind, which is what repentance means, metanoia. I'm changing my mind about this, about who I am
in you, and I'm choosing to trust, to put the full weight of my life on you and your promises, and you
promised victory, and you promised it's mine, and I receive it, and I will live differently because of it.
Because you're an overcomer, because you're more than a conqueror, you are going to get a front row
seat of victory, and at times that requires being in places and spaces that need a victory.
We are not victims trying to survive a fallen world until Jesus comes back. We are sons and
daughters of the Most High God, the King of Kings, and our training ground starts within ourselves.
Because before we can rule and reign in a sphere of influence, before we can lead nations and
families, we learn to rule and reign within ourselves in partnership with the Holy Spirit,
who lives in us by believing the truth, by putting the full weight of our lives on it.
And I love what Paul says, he ends Romans 8 with this, in verses 38 and 39, he says,
I am convinced, there's belief for you, I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor demons, nor anything present, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height,
nor depth, or anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate you or me from his love, and that is the foundation
of being more than a conqueror. It's not our grip on him, it's his grip on us. It's not our love
for him that secures us, it's his love for us. So when anxiety tries to creep in and grip me,
I don't have to manufacture peace. Instead, I lean into the peace that's already mine because
of what Jesus did. When circumstances try to dictate my emotional state, my sense of safety,
my well-being, I do not scramble to protect myself, to regain control. I rest in the one
who has already overcome. Second Corinthians 3.18 says this, he says, we are being transformed
into his image with an ever-increasing glory. That means no circumstance here on earth can
ever decrease you.
pleat you, defeat you. Your transformation into the image of God is happening with an
ever-increasing glory because of Christ in you, and nothing can diminish that. The outcome
is not in question, only your awareness of it, only what you believe about it. You don't
become an overcomer by overcoming. You overcome because you already are one. And this is the
life you were always meant to live, and it's yours right now because of what Jesus did for you.