After I became a Christian, there were many years when I had no victory in my everyday life. I was miserable because I still had wounds in my soul from the past that made me insecure, angry, suspicious of others and hard to get along with.
Even though I loved God and went to church every week, I had no idea that there was power available to me to overcome the hurts from the past and the struggles of everyday life. And every challenge that was hard to handle defeated me.
But I was so grateful when I found out that not only is God powerful, but He wants to fill us with His power. He promises in His Word that we can have abundant life in Christ because He has overcome the world! (See John 10:10, 16:33.)
The truth is, as believers in Christ, we don’t have to live weak, wimpy, pitiful, pathetic, barely-getting-by lives. We can have God’s power working in us to enable us to do whatever we need to do in life.
Some people have the misconception that when they give their lives to Jesus, they will no longer have any problems. It would be nice if this were true, but in this world, we will have trials and tribulations. The good news is we can cheer up anyway because Jesus has overcome the world.
In John 16:33b (NIV), Jesus says, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
No one can promise you a problem-free life, but God promises that if you will put your trust in Him, He will give you a faith that enables you to rise above the problems you face. And when you get through them, you’ll be stronger on the other side than you were before you had them.
Knowing you can have power from God to live in this world is one thing, but learning to believe this truth and walk in it is the key to having victory over the trials and suffering you face. I love Philippians 3:10 because it says we can actually experience the same power that raised Christ from the dead.
In this verse in the Amplified Version, the apostle Paul says his determined purpose was to “know Him [experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonders of His Person more completely] and [in that same way experience] the power of His resurrection [which overflows and is active in believers].”
This is an amazing and encouraging promise from God, because we all face problems and have weaknesses we can’t overcome in our own strength or effort. But if we are determined to trust God in every situation, all the time, we can fight the good fight of faith by His grace.
Romans 8:37 (NIV) says: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” I love this phrase “more than conquerors.” But what does it really mean?
Being more than a conqueror means that before you ever have a problem, you are confident that you have whatever it takes to overcome it through your relationship with Christ. In other words, you know you have the victory before you ever get the problem.
Now in order to “qualify” for the power of God, we must first come to the place where we recognize that in and of ourselves, we are weak, and we have limitations. If we didn’t have any weakness, we wouldn’t realize we need Him. And one of the best prayers we can ever pray is, “God, I need You, and I’m nothing without You!” (see John 15:5).
It’s so important for us to understand this because if we wait until we have a problem that’s too big for us to handle before we rely on God’s strength, we’re setting ourselves up to fail.
The best thing we can do to live this life in victory is to continually seek God with our whole heart, realizing we’re desperate for Him all the time. Spend time with Him in prayer and Bible study every day. Then, when the storms of life happen, you will be confident that, in Christ, you already have everything you need to overcome them, and you’ll experience the power of His Resurrection as you rise above them!
Joyce Meyer is a New York Times’ best-selling author and founder of Joyce Meyer Ministries Inc. She has written more than 100 books, including Battlefield of the Mind. She hosts the Enjoying Everyday Life radio and TV programs. For more information, visit joycemeyer.org.
This article was excerpted from the August issue of Charisma magazine. If you don’t subscribe to Charisma, click here to get every issue delivered to your mailbox. During this time of change, your subscription is a vote of confidence for the kind of Spirit-filled content we offer. In the same way you would support a ministry with a donation, subscribing is your way to support Charisma. Also, we encourage you to give gift subscriptions at shop.charismamag.com, and share our articles on social media.
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