DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT - MONDAY: More Than Conquerors!

“The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God give to us an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost!” - A. B. Simpson
----------------------------------------------------------
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. -- Rom 8:37 (ESV)

One of the greatest joys I have as a Pastor is to be able to share in the lives of New Christians, in fact my first ministry as an Assistant Pastor, was to take care of the people who had just become Christians and to make sure they received proper care and attention from our Church. I used to explain to them that they could now face their future without fear of their past and that they could conquer all their problems through the Lord Jesus Christ. Firstly I helped them to understand what it meant to be...

Born Again
We are born again through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. In John 3, Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews and he tells Jesus how that (The Sanhedrin- the ruling council of the Jews), they have recognised Him as a teacher come from God, immediately... Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." -- John 3:3.

Jesus went straight to the point here, he didn’t try to have a conversation with Nicodemus, didn’t try to reason with their revelation, He told him to get born again and he would receive Godly revelation through the Holy Spirit!

When we are born again, we are new creations, the old life has gone the new is beginning! Hallelujah! There is no more condemnation from the sins we committed in the past... There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. -- Rom 8:1. We are accepted into the family of God and members of the Church of Jesus Christ! To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. -- Eph 1:6 (KJV)

In his book, ‘An Anthropologist on Mars’, neurologist Oliver Sacks tells about Virgil, a man who had been blind from early childhood. When he was 50, Virgil underwent surgery and was given the gift of sight. But as he and Dr. Sacks found out, having the physical capacity for sight is not the same as seeing.

Virgil's first experiences with sight were confusing. He was able to make out colors and movements, but arranging them into a coherent picture was more difficult. Over time he learned to identify various objects, but his habits--his behaviors--were still those of a blind man.

Dr. Sacks asserts, "One must die as a blind person to be born again as a seeing person. It is the interim, the limbo . . . that is so terrible."

To truly see Jesus and his truth means more than observing what he did or said, it means a change of identity.

We have become His Sons and Heirs
Now that we are in the family of God, we have to understand that we are now led by the Holy Spirit... For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. -- Rom 8:14-17

Rudyard Kipling once wrote about families, "all of us are we--and everyone else is they." A family shares things like dreams, hopes, possessions, memories, smiles, frowns, and gladness...A family is a clan held together with the glue of love and the cement of mutual respect. A family is shelter from the storm, a friendly port when the waves of life become too wild. No person is ever alone who is a member of a family. -- Fingertip Facts.

Let us remember that… the old has gone, the new has come! Once we have been born again and said yes to the new life that Christ has given us, we will begin to understand that we can be MORE THAN CONQUERORS!

Loving Father, I thank you that having accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, I am born again to my new life in Him. I thank you that my old has gone and I have been accepted into your family. By the power of your Holy Spirit, help me to be more than a conqueror! In Jesus wonderful name I pray! Amen!