Being An Overcomer - By Randy Hoium

I have always been intrigued with the idea of “being an overcomer”.  I believe this is a most important concept to be understood.  What does this mean?  Is it not enough to be saved and go to church and be nice to your neighbor’s once in awhile?  I think not.

Having made a major commitment to bringing another little girl home from an orphanage across the world and giving her a forever family has made me realize something about myself.  I as a Christian can be active in the church to a degree but to what degree am I really a Christian? What I mean by this is that sometimes I am too comfortable with my few commitments.   My few commitments may not be enough.   I can read in Romans 6:11,

 “Likewise reckon ye also ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God though Jesus Christ our Lord”.

Before this idea of adopting another child came about,  I think I was completing the first part of Romans 6:11.  I was facing myself to become dead unto sin.  Now, I see the second half of this scripture coming to fruition in my life.  I know this adoption is the Lord’s Will for us because it has awakened in me a new purpose, and I am beginning to come alive through Jesus Christ our Lord through it.

It is said that the more you advance in the true Christian life, the more the adversary will tempt you and try to obstruct your progress. I know this is true in my life.  Since beginning the adoption process, just like with our first adoption, many doubts have emerged. The negative self-talk has returned and even feelings of despair. I have thoughts that I am too old to do this, and I must be foolish to even try.  I have thoughts that my health will fail, and we will go bankrupt in the process. I have learned from a Christian brother out in California by the name of Joe that these types of lies the enemy has been feeding me are called "strongholds".

Thankfully, as Joe has reminded me, the bible gives me clear instructions on how to overcome such strongholds in my life.  When Satan came against Jesus, Jesus responded by using the written word –“It is written…”

I must learn to do the same and have an arsenal of scripture memorized to counter the devil.  Every time the devil approaches me and seeks to push negative and pessimistic thoughts into my mind, I can discipline myself to counter with a positive word from scripture.  If he tries to suggest things are going to go wrong I can counter with Romans 8:28 for example, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

This scripture and many others can be used any time I am feeling attacked.  I can remember 

I Peter 5:8, “Be sober,  be vigilant; because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”

I am learning that as a born-again believer, Christ has given me the authority and power to overcome in three battlefronts where I as his child contend. These three battlefronts are: the flesh; the world; the devil.  The Word tells me in John 16:33, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”  Romans 13:14 says,  “And make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof”. Or, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

What I can do is ask God to reveal in my daily life any strongholds that the enemy may have over me. By asking the Lord to expose these strongholds, and by confessing and repenting of them, I can destroy any deception around which the strongholds are built, even when these deceptions are self-imposed.  It is God who must expose to me these deceptions or breaches, but it is I who must be willing to lay them down at the foot of the Cross by the authority and power invested in me by Christ Jesus.  And leave them there.