How to be an Overcomer as we Approach the Finish Line!

What is your picture of an overcomer? Of someone who wins a race? Perhaps its a strong, fit, disciplined person who is very popular and has lots of friends and sponsors. What about a spiritual overcomer? Perhaps that would be someone who fasts, spends hours in prayer, speaks in tongues, hears from God, heals the sick, evangelizes, who controls their tongue and temper and who gives all they have to the poor!  Maybe you know someone like that OR you think you do. Often we can look at media personalities, preachers, pastors, even authors, and think they've got it all together. 

 

All those things are good and certainly pleasing to God, but the Bible has a different view of an overcomer.  

 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.  Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:1-5

We see here that John describes an overcomer as someone who believes Jesus is God's Son and who loves God and keeps His commandments. 

John puts it another way in a prior chapter

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.  1 John 4:4

If you are born of God, have His Spirit within you, and follow Him, you are an overcomer!  You may not feel like an overcomer. You may feel like you've collapsed on the side of the road, exhausted from the race, while you watch everyone run ahead of you. You may feel like you've stumbled

and fallen so many times, your knees and hands are all bruised and beaten. You may feel out of breath, sweaty and dirty, and wonder if you'll ever make it.

But you don't give up. Each time you fall, you get back on and drag your weary bones a little farther. Would it surprise you to know how Jesus defines an overcomer in the book of Revelation? He sent letters to seven churches, instructing them what they did right and what they did wrong, and then telling them their reward for overcoming.

 

Here, I will list the things each church did that made them overcomers

 

Ephesus

They worked hard, they labored for Him, they had patience, they did not tolerate evil, and they persevered.  The only thing that kept them from being overcomers was they put other things ahead of Jesus.

 

To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. Revelation 2:7

Smyrna

They endured persecution, trials and struggles and kept their faith

 

He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. v 11
 

Pergamos

They held fast to Jesus and did not deny His Name

 

To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.  v 17

Thyatira

They had love and patience and did not believe false doctrines

 

But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. v 25-28 

Notice this is the first church where Jesus tells them to Hold Fast until He Comes

Sardis

They did not defile their garments by a false, dead religion

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Revelation 3:5

Philadelphia

Kept God's Word and not denied His Name

 

Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.  v 11-12

Another command to Hold fast! And a proclamation that He is coming quickly!

Laodicea

No true Christians here because though they had "works" they were lukewarm in their relationship with Jesus

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. v 20-21

So, according to Jesus, what do we need to do to win the race and be overcomers? I'm going to sum it up in one sentence

Have a true, abiding, and close personal relationship with Jesus

Notice Jesus didn't give a list of things we had to do. He does mention works. but only in the context that He sees them but without the relationship they are meaningless. He doesn't mention that you have to be perfect, not sin, reach a certain level of holiness, spend hours in prayer and fasting, give everything to the poor. He doesn't expect us to run with vigor over the finish line full of strength without a single hair out of place!  

In fact, in the last four church letters (which represent the churches present in the last days) Jesus basically says to just Hold fast, stay away from false doctrines, and don't deny His Name!

Why am I writing this? Because I hear from so many of you who are struggling with heartaches, trials, and yes, even sin. If you're like me, there are days you wonder if you're going to make it. I'll admit to dealing with certain sins for years and years, and I wonder if I'm ever going to get better. Am I a hopeless case, Lord? Am I worthy to attend the Wedding Feast of the Lamb? Why do I keep doing this or acting this way? I must be a total loser of a Christian. Then, of course the enemy comes in and affirms my fears by telling me I'm never going to make it. I'm a failure as a daughter of God and He is disappointed in me. 

Sound familiar? Or am I the only one? But the truth of the matter is, whenever I get alone with the Lord and pour out my heart, He asks me to glance into my past, 5, 10 years, even longer, and see if I've made any progress. Honestly, if I go back too far, I don't even recognize that girl I was long ago. I may not be the epitome of holiness, but I'm not the sinful person I once was. 

I heard the following from a Godly Young Man who has a You Tube channel called Unleashing, and it truly blessed me and I hope it does the same for you. 

Let's say you struggle daily with a certain sin. Maybe it's alcohol, drugs, porn, a bad temper, jealousy, lust, gluttony, laziness, envy, gossip.. whatever. Will you still go in the Rapture if you're battling this evil habit? IF every time you sin, you run to the Lord, repent, and ask forgiveness and you really mean it, if you hate the sin and are sincere in your efforts to overcome it, Jesus is pleased! Of course you will go!  God is not looking for perfection, He only wants us to be trying to change, to come to Him and ask for help and mean it. 

He wants a relationship with us, just like a Father to a child! For you parents out there, you would be the same way if your child was sincere in his or her efforts to change, if you could see they were really trying and they were really sorry for whatever they did. Is our Heavenly Father any different? How much more loving is He than we are? 

To be an Overcomer and make it past the finish line, you only have to be holding onto Jesus. Slip your hand into His outstretched one, and He will bring you home, even if He has to pick you up and carry your through the gate!