Have Faith in Godنموونە

WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS

INTRODUCTION

In his letter to the church in Roman, Paul said that nothing could separate us from the love of God which means that God’s plans for believers will never fail.

What is God’s plan for us? Jeremiah 29:11 says that God’s plans for all believers are plans to give us hope and a future. Paul wrote in Romans 8:28-30 that God’s plans for us will work for our good and will perfect and glorify us to be like Jesus Christ.

God’s love for us has been proven through Jesus Christ as He is our only way to go to the Father in heaven. He has prepared a place for us so that we, the children of God, will be where our Father is. We are not going to live in this world forever. One day we will leave this world. For believers, death is not a scary experience as this is the time when we are going to meet our Father in heaven. We are changed to be perfect just like Christ. 

If we are still alive in the world today, it means we are still trusted to live and bear fruits. As long as we are alive, we strive to hold on to our faith and to defeat the world and the deception of the power of darkness. Today we are going to learn how we could be victorious Christians who bear fruits in this time.

DISCUSSION

1. Living in the Spirit (Romans 8: 9-11). 

We cannot see the Spirit of God with our physical eyes, so how could we live in the Spirit? It’s true that spiritual things could not be accepted by the human mind. We could only understand the Spirit of God if we study the Word of God (by reading and meditating it). Walking in the Spirit means surrendering our life to be led by the Spirit to do the Word of God. The will of the Spirit is to do the Word of God while the will of the flesh is to do things that are against the Word of God. This is the reason why our flesh does not want to do things that are spiritual.

For example: When we join a fitness program through the internet, we will receive encouragement from the trainer to keep training even though he has never met us. Every day we will send our diet, exercise, sleeping, and stress report to the website. The trainer then replies to our email. By sending daily report, we feel that we have received help, to be honest and to be focused on our fitness goals. 

As Christians, we have Holy Spirit as our personal spiritual trainer. By being open, be in communication, focused on the Holy Spirit, and obedient, we will be able to enjoy life with Holy Spirit even in the midst of pressures. 

2. Renewing the mind (Ephesians 4:23-24). 

When we are committed to giving our lives to be guided by Holy Spirit, our life only has one agenda, which is to glorify Lord Jesus. We are going to reject things that are not in line with His Word.

Our repentance starts when we make a decision to be born again and be baptized. We leave our old ways and walk in a new life. 

Romans 12:2 says that believers have to continually renew their minds and their ways of thinking so that they will not be like worldly people. We put on the mind of Christ. It takes time and a process to renew our minds. We also need to pay a price to renew our minds, for example when we want to let go of our past worldly pleasures. The devil likes to tempt and pull us back to the past. The more we are blessed, the more temptations will come to us. What are flesh desires? Galatians 5:19-21. On the other hand, when we crucify these flesh desires, the Spirit of God will lead us and produce the fruits of the Spirit. What are the fruits of the Spirit?  Galatians 5:22-23.

If our mind is continuously renewed by His Word, we will be able to differentiate the will of God – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

3. Holding on to the hope (Romans 8: 24-26). 

To hold on firmly means we do not let go of  God in any situation. Our hope in the Lord is a definite hope as the promises of His Word are pure and tested.

The Lord whom we put our hope on will never leave us alone when are facing challenges. The Lord gives us His Holy Spirit as a guide, comforter, teacher, and helper. Holy Spirit is God Himself; therefore, we have to honor Him. Holy Spirit will remind us about the promises of God. Therefore, we have to continue in our faith, established and firm and do not move from the hope held out in the Gospel. (Colossians 1:23). 

The story of five foolish and wise virgins in Matthew 25:1-13 is a description of Christians. Those who are wise are Christians who hold on to their hopes while those who are foolish are Christians who are relaxed and are not filled with the Holy Spirit. 

CONCLUSION

- The situation in this world is not getting better but tougher with all of its challenges and pressures. However, don’t be afraid as we are going to face them with Jesus Christ. The Lord gives the guarantee of victory for the believers in the form of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

- Look at David. He was just a small boy. It’s impossible for him to win against Goliath. However, David was able to defeat Goliath because David was with God. This is what we call ‘more than conqueror’. Look at that big problem (that’s Goliath). When we are with God, we are given the power to see our problem as a small problem.

- Put our hope in Jesus, ask Holy Spirit to fill and renew us, listen to Holy Spirit, do the Word of God, and see that the Lord will give us victory. Amen.