More than conquerors
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?... Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written,“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-32, 35-39
Nothing in this world matters to satan than to see Christians defeated. His plan is to use circumstances in your life to show to you that you are alone and that God does not care. In your struggles in your Christian life all satan wants is for you to give up. The Apostle Paul wrote Romans 8 to provide words of encouragement to his fellow strugglers! Do not give in to that kind of torment and do not hang your head in defeat because the thing satan wants is to see you defeated. This is his tactic with Job using Job’s wife and his friends. “His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die” (Job 2:9). “My close friends detest me. Those I loved have turned against me” (Job 19:19). Satan knows very well that a beaten-up and downcast Christian is totally useless to Christ. Does the thought of giving up ever entered your mind? Do you feel incapacitated and useless to God to have you minister to others? Have you lost your desire to worship or serve? You can be freed from this feeling of discouragement. The Apostle Paul made an emphatic declaration that nothing in this world or any event or any difficulty can separate a Christian from the love of Christ. “God is for us” (Rom. 8:31) and to have this knowledge means that God has thepower to use all circumstances in your life for His purpose. The grace He demonstrated through the death of Jesus Christ at the cross is indeed greater than your sin. And He did not withhold this grace so He could provide you the relationship you need with Him. This grace is continually available to you working in your life through the leading of the Holy Spirit. As Paul said in Philippians 1:6, this is your confidence “...that he Who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.” If you are a believer, God will never give up on you. What He starts in your life, He will finish. You plus the Almighty God Himself in your life equals to a victorious follower of God. Be encouraged and less defeated!
Blessings,
Noel De Guzman Westside Baptist Church Los Angeles, CA
