Overcome
Joy Revie
Since Easter, I have continued to reflect on the death and resurrection of Jesus and how this changed everything - not just for the disciples and immediate followers of Jesus in AD 33, but how it provides us all with a way to have a direct and intimate relationship with Jesus.
While He lived on earth, Jesus experienced the range of human emotions we do, such as - tiredness, hunger, loneliness, fear, temptation, joy, love, friendship - but He never lost sight of his purpose and why He was here.
Ultimately, He knew he would be betrayed by a friend, despised and rejected by the religious leaders, handed over to a foreign regime and put to death in the cruellest way ever known.
Jesus suffered, died and rose again so that death and sin would be overcome - defeating the enemy once and for all.
The enemy no longer has any hold over us because, by believing in Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit living in us - providing us with the power and authority to live free from fear, doubt, addictions, low self-esteem, depression or whatever lie it is that the enemy is whispering in our ear.
I was challenged as to what it means to me and how it impacts my life and thought processes, day to day. What does this overcome look like for me?
It struck me deeply that when I doubt my future, become fearful about things I have no control over, or lose peace and contentment despite my circumstances... I make a mockery of all that Jesus did for me.
He didn't suffer and die so that I could constantly worry about my life, stay awake trying to figure out various circumstances, or feel a failure because I hadn't solved x, y or z!
Jesus said in John 10:
A thief has only one thing in mind - he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you could expect - life in its fullness until you overflow!
(John 10:10, TPT)
Recently, one of my daily readings encouraged me to reach for more of this abundance:
I saw in the spirit a room softly lit, a small table with two chairs placed at the centre. A pair of candles flicker. Jesus was standing next to a chair pulled back from the table. His hand reached out, gesturing for me to take a seat.
“Intimacy with Me is what I long for - you in Me and I in you. It is here that you know My thoughts and My plans. Here you learn every aspect of My character. This is the place you come to understand how I see you and how I have created you. It is in this place where your identity in Me is forged, so you are firmly standing on Me as your foundation,” says the Spirit of the Lord.
“I have given you all authority and power over the enemy, yet you do not believe this is for you. I invite you into the fullness of who you are, to agree with Me that I have given you all authority and power, so that you walk in it.
Be clothed in intimacy with Me. Stand unshaken and unmoved. Every doubt is removed about who you are, what I have called you to do, who I have called you to be, and what I have already told you that you can defeat.”
Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; Apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5, NIV) *
So can I encourage you, with me, to ask Jesus how we should live from this place of union with Him.
He is our place of victory and wholeness. The power that raised Him from the dead lives in us through the Holy Spirit. The attacks from the enemy on our lives are no match for the power of His life in us.
If we remain in Him, then we will overcome as He has overcome.
