You Can Overcome

Romans 8: 35 - 39, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NKJV

Nothing pleased Satan more than when Adam and Eve decided to act on his lie and sin against God. Since the fall of man, Satan has used fear and condemnation to oppress mankind and to hold us without mercy in his prison. Just as Satan exploited the desires of Eve and used them to lead her into a trap of spiritual bondage, he also wars against you and me trying to keep us in bondage to our Adamic nature. Nevertheless, in Christ, we have been redeemed from the power of sin and Satan. We no longer have to pay attention to the lying voices of doubt, fear, unworthiness, and unbelief.

People who have been beaten down their whole lives have a tendency to accept that they are unworthy; and this can cause them to give in to the lie that tells them sinning is all they will ever be able to enjoy. I have faced adversity my entire life. I too have heard the voices of condemnation, shame, and unworthiness that try to keep me at the back of the line, but there has been a larger power within my heart that kept telling me, "It's not so"! You see; the Bible says, "Greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world." I've been saved since I was around the age of 7 or 8; however, I still had to face some very intimidating giants who exploited my fears and weaknesses.   

Unlike the world, I chose to submit to God. I did not allow the voice of condemnation to tell me that sin, and perversion was the only way to enjoy life. As I remained submitted to the Lord, He gave me the grace to "turn the other cheek" whenever someone bullied or cursed me. I didn't allow their opinions or the curse words directed at me to define me and cause me to abort my assignment in Christ. It is because I chose to remain submitted to God, instead of becoming filled with bitterness and rage that God empowered me to resist the Devil and overcome his lies. Had I not had faith that God was for me, and that, through Christ, I would be able to endure and overcome, I would have fainted and given into a lifestyle of sin and destruction.

If what I have written today resonates with you and describes the kind of oppression that has taunted and lorded over you, I want to encourage you to take back your life. I'm not talking about regaining it by revenge or rebellion, but through faith in Christ. We must understand that our battles are not with those who have hurt and wounded us; they are with spirits of darkness. So we fight back by standing on God's Word and character. I refuse to allow people's opinions and hate-filled words to hold me back from being the person God ordained for me to be from the foundation of the world. He ordained me to be a holy and loving man long before there was a Devil, a serpent, and a beguiled woman.  

Instead, I choose to believe the report of the Lord. I stand on what He has declared over me and my family. You must, AT NO TIME, allow the enemy to obtain a place in your heart that will cause you to believe that God doesn't love or care for you because you've had to face some JUNK in your life. NEVER GIVE IN!!! As you stand and continue to stand against the pressures of guilt, shame, fear, unbelief, unworthiness, condemnation, and isolation, you will grow in the power of God. Instead of seeing yourself as a grasshopper and your enemies as giants, they will begin to see you as one of God's giants and themselves as the grasshoppers.   

You must choose whom you're going to serve today. Are you going to allow Satan to convince you that God doesn't love you, even though He gave His Son in your place? Or are you going to believe the Word of God? If you said, "God's Word," then you will have to stand on IT when Satan throws another jab or punch at the weak areas of your life. You must resist the temptation to respond out of your flesh, causing you to sin. God didn't create us to live in sin; He created us to have authority over the Devil and dominion in this world and to be blessed so that we will be a blessing to others. Now hold your head up high and know that God has your back.  

Sitting in Heavenly Places in Christ,

Pastor Asa Dockery