What Makes an Overcomer?

[Bendito]

We know that nothing in a Christians life is automatic...It all takes an act of faith on our part... Salvation..We come to God in faith for our salvation, we stand on the Word for our healing...We come against the enemy to send him running for his hell hole....and so on....When we get what we need by faith...we're overcomers....
Revelation 2:7
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto 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.

Revelation 2:11
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Revelation 2:17
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Revelation 2:26
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

Revelation 3:12
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Revelation 3:21
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

So what about the man who does not overome? I know of one preacher who was praying for his child who was very sick....no results......He was freaking! "God! What's going on? Your Word says.....!" and God answered...."You know what it says, but you're not believing it is for you." (LOL I fight with that one too at times) Was this preacher an overcomer? No. Was he a Christian? Yes..Then there is the man who was constantly tormented by a spirit of anger....Is he a Christian? Yes...Is he an overcomer? No....and many more examples....One man says "I'm a Christian but I'm dying of this 'strange European disease' Is he a Christian? Yes...Is he an overcomer? No....

So what makes an overcomer? What makes this person special? Why are some Christians overcomers and others not? Think about it....are you an overcomer? In some areas of your life, in all areas, not at all? If you're not an overcomer in all areas of your life....How are you going to change it? Its up to you to be the overcomer....not up to God

 

[amadeus2]

Did we overcome anything today in our walk for God? If we did, it was because He provided the means. Overcoming is like, ]if it is not the same] as salvation.

We were first saved the first time we repented. If we really repented [turned around from something wrong] then we also overcame something. We did not repent of everything because we did not even know what everything was for which we needed to repent. We did not overcome everything because we did not even know what everything was which we needed to overcome.

As we grow closer to God [if we do] we are changing or replacing the uninhabitable parts of the earth [the little piece of dirt into which all of us is, both the "old man" and the "new man") into or with habitable parts. The habitable parts form the "new man".

Jesus had no place to lay his head when he walked on planet Earth, because no man had made himself habitable:

"And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Matt 8:20

David recognized the problem here:

"Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed;
I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids,
Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." Psalm 132:3-5

Later in the same psalm the place of the Lord's habitation is named:

"For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it." Psalm 132:13-14

Kind of makes you wonder just what Zion is, doesn't it? One of the translations for the word, "zion" is a "dry parched place", which is certainly what each of us was before God started working on us, but...

"And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Rev 22:1-2

Now as one song puts it "there's a river of Life flowing out of me"...

How much overcoming remains? Is there now a place that is not "dry and parched" for the Lord to lay his head? Can we make Him more comfortable?

Give God the glory!

 

[Curtis]

All born again Christians are world over comers!! Those who are not born again are not world over comers, even though they might be in the Church all or most of their lives.

1John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1John 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

 

[Hekuran]

Agree with @Curtis on this. If you look at the messages to the churches in Revelation, they are asked to hold (or return to) the essentials of the faith. Each of the passages emphasises patient endurance/being faithful/holding fast.

‘And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze:

‘I know your works—your love, faith, service, and patient endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first. But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practise fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication. Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings; and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call “the deep things of Satan”, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden; only hold fast to what you have until I come. To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end,

I will give authority over the nations;
to rule them with an iron rod,
as when clay pots are shattered—
even as I also received authority from my Father.

To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
​

For the Christians in Thyatira, the ones who conquer/overcome are those that have love, faith, service, and patient endurance, reject false teaching and hold fast to what they have. That's a very condensed account of the Christian life.

 

[amadeus2]

While we continue along this course until we reach its end with Lord [if we do] we should continue to overcome continuously for there will always be more battles. Give God the glory!

 

[amadeus2]

For the Christians in Thyatira, the ones who conquer/overcome are those that have love, faith, service, and patient endurance, reject false teaching and hold fast to what they have. That's a very condensed account of the Christian life.

An amplified one begins with Matthew chapter 5.

 

[HisFollower]

"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21)

"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." (Revelation 12:11)

 

[SHINY4UJESUS]

I think that perhaps we do well to separate the difference in contextual applications here. I think it would be better presented in the terms, "To what extent are we overcomers?". We have a few things to look at here:

FIRST: The truth that in Christ we have "overcome," the stain, and power of sin.
Romans 6:5-11(AMP)
5 For if we have become one with Him [permanently united] in the likeness of His death, we will also certainly be [one with Him and share fully] in the likeness of His resurrection. 6 We know that our old self [our human nature without the Holy Spirit] was nailed to the cross with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. 7 For the person who has died [with Christ] has been freed from [the power of] sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live [together] with Him, 9 because we know [the self-evident truth] that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin [ending its power and paying the sinner’s debt] once and for all; and the life that He lives, He lives to [glorify] God [in unbroken fellowship with Him]. 11 Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin [and your relationship to it broken], but alive to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.

SECOND: The truth that by grace through faith we have "overcome," the legality of the OT Law.
Romans 7:4-6(NIV)
4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh,[a] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

THIRD: The truth that we have "overcome," the tools and devices of Satan.
1 John 4:4(NIV)
4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

1 John 5:4-5 (NASB)
4 For whatever is [a]born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

These things being said, there is a difference in context and applications relative to the idea of being an "overcomer." As alluded to, one can be Christian, having "overcome," the stain of sin by faith in Christ; yet still have chains to break and mountains to move in their lives. The "third," element mentioned above is the "determining," variable here. Look at Paul's exhortation in Romans 7:1-22 and how he was given a "thorn in the side," even to his final days on earth. Even though Paul was at the peak of his spiritual maturity, he clearly lamented not being an "overcomer," in this particular area! He expressed the willingness, but not the ability to overcome.

In the end he did overcome, but not in the manner one would expect. No, he was not delivered from the thorn in his side; nor was he free from its pains. However, he overcame by finally realizing that it was his heart that mattered, not his failing in this area that dictated the authenticity of his faith and salvation. He became an overcomer in his heart by refusing to allow the situation to dictate his responding action, direction and quality of his faith. Just so, we can be complete "overcomers," even when the mountain yet looms before us; simply by realizing that the mountain does not dictate our obedience or faithfulness; but simply refines it as we climb the heights and seek Jesus!