Overcome The World

Scripture: Revelations 2 v 7:  "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."
Revelations 3 v 5:  "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels."

Jesus was speaking to John, the last of the original twelve apostles still alive. He gave John precise instructions for the seven churches which comprise His body. Each church represents two things, both the various stages of church development over the centuries and the state of the church today.  

The names of these churches appear in Revelations 1 v 11:  "Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and sendit unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea."

To each church He gave the words 'to him that overcomes' referring to the evils of the age.  And in one place those who overcome will not be blotted out of the Lamb's Book of Life!  So its very important that we understand what it means to overcome, and exactly what it is that we must achieve.

In order for Christ to be formed in us we first need to be emptied of everything that is not of Him. We have the gifts of the Holy Spirit to help us identify truth from error in ourselves and others. We are also commanded to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  In other words put some effort into it.  Read the Bible daily and apply its wisdom to your own life.  My blog should be a guide to further study.

Everything that the world offers is tainted so we must start by examining our lives more and more minutely to rid ourselves of bondage to the elements of the world. For example, religion is top of the list. Any religion that does not exalt Jesus Christ above all others is a cult. You have to overcome religious traditions that are contrary to Biblical truth, like baby baptism; worshipping idols; worshipping Mary; harmful religious practices that glorify self, like being crucified at Easter.

Your walk with God must be above the law. Never indulge in anything illegal but obey the law fairly. Legalism is an iron fist of bondage that causes the Holy Spirit to withdraw.  It is a system of laws that carry penalties like death, or oaths you swear that bring harm if broken.  Keep in mind that the wages of sin is death.  Satan is unmerciful to adulterers, living in sin, liars, gamblers, witches, wizards, cultists, astrology, murder, rape, theft and bitterness.

Those Christians who have become Jewish in their ministry by keeping sabbath and all feasts are going backwards under the law Jesus died to finish. They must overcome this tendency or they may have their names blotted out of the Lamb's book of Life.  The law saved no one, it only exposed our sin.  Jesus dealt with sin on the Cross so we could live above the law.  If we sin we must be aware of its consequences.

Over many years the Lord has emphasised that people need to be set free of demons and the bondage they bring. Every drug addict, alcoholic, smoker, sex addict, homosexual, religious fanatic militant, cult member, freemason, murderer, rapist, corrupt politician, porn addict, molester, wife abuser, adulterer, liar, glutton, insane person,  etc is bound by a demon. These are the things that God is saying we must overcome.

If we fail to overcome them our eternal destination is uncertain. God is fair, righteous and loving but He will not permit anyone to bring sinful activity into His kingdom. So instead of congratulating yourself that you made it into the Lamb's Book of Life, start working on areas in your life that need attention and overcome those things that could end up bringing you grief.

Jesus is not putting obstacles in your way, He has given us the power and ability to remove them. He is sending out a warning today, and highlighting parts of the Bible that get omitted from pulpits in these days of entertainment and frowns at words like sin, demons, Satan.

We cannot overlook what Jesus suffered on the Cross for us and ignore the responsibility we have. We glorify Christmas into the birth of Christ when its nothing of the sort. It has become a prime opportunity to indulge the flesh, which is what the original pagan festival was. Called Saturnalia, it was a time of orgies, drunkenness and death. We have sanitised it into an exciting tradition of good food and giving.  However, Jesus was not born in mid-winter, as the purpose of the Romans was to get everyone to a place where they could be taxed, which would not happen in snow-bound winter time. He would have been born in warm weather when shepherds would have sheep in the fields at night.

The most likely time would be the Jewish New Year in September. Rosh Hashanah means 'when the heavens are open' which would be a perfect time for Jesus to be born. Our God has everything under control but we have a free will to choose whether we will get very serious with Him so that we will be able to withstand the power of the Antichrist in these end times.

Put the world and its rules, rites, traditions and habits away from you and embrace the glory and freedom of the kingdom of God. Conform to His Son and overcome every sin to receive the great home coming welcome from our Father.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, You are urging Your children to be mindful of the flesh and to overcome its evils so we may be holy and without blame before You in love. There are so few Lord, lone voices crying in the wilderness to make straight paths for the coming of Jesus. Let our voices be heard loud and clear above the clamour of the world. We MUST overcome to be gathered in at the last day. In Jesus' name. Amen. O