EXPERIENCING OVERWHELMING VICTORIES THROUGH OVERWHELMING LOVE - 2

Romans 12:21 “Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good”

We are continuing our meditation on the above text and theme.

God’s way is love, we can only have God’s kind of result if we do things God’s way, Love is the answer of God to the world.

Looking down through the ages, God has always answered through love. For instance, when man sinned against God in the Garden of Eden God killed a lamb and clothed their nakedness to cover man up. God does not answer tit-for –tat, an eye for an eye. His way is the way of love. You must choose to answer life with love. Unless we make this choice, things will become more and more difficult for us.

Brethren, you have been wired to respond in love, any other reaction will not bring victory. You have to train yourself to live this way. You must readily adjust yourself to love. The onus of this love walk is not on the other person but on you.

If God was supposed to respond any other way towards us, guess what? You and I will not be where we are today.

1Peter 2:18 “Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the forward….”

“Bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you” 

You must learn to leave your case in the hands of the one who judges fairly (God). The reason some of us don’t see God answer for us in our situation is because we have answered for ourselves. We have taken the matter into our own hands.

1Peter3:9 “Never return evil for evil or insult for insult…” when you do good, good comes back to you. Every single time you obey God on this, you always come out victorious, untouched, and unscratched.

There is big time winning waiting for you in this season we are in and you must ask yourself: Do you want to get it your way or God’s way? It’s only going to happen if you choose God’s way - the way of love. You have to determine and deliberately choose love.

Gal 5:6 “…for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.”

The world’s way is not going to solve our problem. We believers had better wise up and start training ourselves the way of love. Paul says “…..I show you a more excellent way” (1Cor.12:31) . Faith with love is like having a turbo engine attached to your canoe as opposed to paddling a canoe manually. Folks, what should take you days may take a year without love. Walk the walk of faith through love.

You don’t kill your enemies, you love them. In loving them you remove the case from your hands and you put it in God’s hands. If we are going to have victory God’s way, we must learn God’s way. Stop relying on the arms of the flesh. Every other way apart from God’s way is the arm of flesh and by the flesh shall no man prevail. The Bible says we should be like Jesus that when he was reviled, He reviled not.

Love is not self seeking. We live in a self seeking generation. A selfish world that does things its own way.

 Let us overcome everything that’s not love by love and then see what God does with it.

You have to determine that this is where you are going; the result you want to see is of a greater price than what anyone can do to you.

Love is to unreservedly give yourself to another. If love stops then we know it’s not love at all. If love find barriers with a person’s peculiarity, looks or gifts then that love was merely an enchantment or lust.

Genuine love will never give up.

EXPERIENCE OVERWHELMING VICTORIES BY OVERWHELMING LOVE

Rom 12:21 “Be not overcome with evil but overcome evil with good’

The word overcome means ‘to get the better of’ it means to overwhelm, gain superiority or upper hand’

There is a way to overcome and overwhelm evil. God’s way is the way of love and it’s the winning way.

1Cor.13 tells us that “love can endure everything without weakening. Love never fails or fades out or comes to an end”.

How would you like to be on the side of something that never fails at all times? If you stay on the side of love you will always win, whether against the devil or human beings.

Natural human beings don’t have an answer to love. Please know that God is not punishing us by asking us to love our neighbours but rather He wants us to win all the time. You hurt no one but yourself for not loving and you also put yourself at a disadvantage. Instead of doing tit-for-tat with a person who’s done you evil, you sputter the person with good. When you do that you will always win, because love never fails, never fades or becomes obsolete. There’s no weight that can crush love.

What gets us defeated is that we want to show the person doing evil to us that two can play the game. It’s your own responsibility not to let evil conquer you but conquer evil by always doing well. So, when evil is being thrown at you, you do good, that’s practical love.

You have to decide if God’s way is worth it or not and then make a decision. The worse the days get, the higher the demand for the walk of love, it’s the only antidote to this world. The flood of adversity cannot quench the force of love. No matter how fierce the opposition is, love will bring it to its knees. You want to have overwhelming victories, walk in love like you have never done.

We Christians do not seem to have problems loving unbelievers but believers, why? We think he/she should know better. We begin to reason things out. But reasoning is never spiritual, they are fleshly and canal. Stop using your own maturity to judge others. We must let God’s love flow from us. I must not have offence over people or walk in bitterness towards them; but rather overcome evil with love. Jesus says “pray for your enemies that you may be children of your farther who is in heaven”

Eph5:1 says “Be ye imitators of God as dear children”

There will always be opportunities for strife and contentions. It is not being weak to move away from situations that will cause strife and bitterness.  As you sense those things coming, you must choose the side of good rather than the side of strife.

1Peter 3:9 says “Never return evil for evil, insult for insult”.  It’s about time we start doing the word of God and stop allowing the flesh to get the better of us, as far as it depends on you live at peace with everyone, never avenge yourself but leave the place open for God. Be quiet says the Lord.

When I pay evil for evil, insult for insult, I have lost the right to take blessings from God. What will you rather lose? The blessing, happiness and protection of God or just that moment of showing flesh?

 The way to overwhelming victory is the way of love. Choose to love. Apply yourself to love. Let love get the better of you.

DO NOT BE OVERWHELMED

Philippians 4:6 (AMP)

“Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition ( definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.”

We are at the season of the year that there is a lot of activities both in the physical and in the realm of the spirit. It is also a period when there is a lot of anxiety in the hearts of people. This is why I want you to meditate on our text for today. You see you cannot be in faith and entertain anxiety or worry at the same time. Where faith is present, anxiety and worry take a flight out of the window and vice versa is also true.  

Our text for meditation says to not allow anxiety in your heart under any circumstance or over anything, this means God is saying to you He can meet you at the point of your need. 

So, rather than allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the many things you need to do or accomplish before this year ends, turn it over to God and rest in Him. 

The Scriptures say, “He is able to keep to the uttermost that which is committed to His hand” and also that “faithful is He who promised, who also will do it”. Lastly, Jesus said:

“So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.” MATTHEW 6:34 AMP

FAITH AS A SHIELD

Ephesians 6:16 (NIV) 
“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”

1 Tim 6:12-13 (NIV)“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

Taking a cue from our meditation some days ago where we saw that Jesus brought the use of faith to two main things, which were to get rid of stuff we don’t want and to bring in stuff we want, I want to point out to you today two other uses of faith.

From our first text for meditation, you can see that faith is used for defensive purposes because it is symbolized as a shield. A shield is for defending and the Scripture says if you have your faith in place you will not be hit by ANY fiery arrow thrown at you by the enemy. Yes, you heard me right, YOU WILL NOT BE HIT BY ANY ARROW OF THE DEVIL. I can hear someone asking, is that possible? Well let God be true and every man and every experience of man to the contrary a liar. 

The word of God said it, I didn’t say it. To use faith as a defensive weapon means you use it to protect or defend your territory and all that is therein. Put the shield of faith around you, your family, your business and all that is connected to you. Someone may ask, how can I do that? Through the words of your mouth because faith is expressed through words.

The other use of faith is offensive. Offensive is when you take the battle to the enemy’s territory, and you do that to take what the enemy has stolen from you or take from him what hitherto has been his all along. Faith as an offensive weapon makes the believer to make advances against the enemy. 

I believe this should be the primary use of faith. You don’t wait to be attacked to defend. Rather you advance towards the enemy and claim territories. These territories were yours in the first place, but they were stolen. So advance today and take back what belongs to you.

FAITH IS A MAN’S GRIP ON GOD

Luke 5:17-20
“And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.”

Where God’s word has been preached or taught, power is present. Where the Holy Spirit is also power of God is there. But you will notice that even though the power of God was present to heal, nobody got healed until someone came who had faith. Faith is what is used to take hold of the power of God to heal, deliver or prosper. So until a faith connection is made with the power of God, nothing happens even though the power of the Lord is present.

I believe this is why someone said that faith is a man’s grip on God, this is because faith is your hand in the realm of the spirit with which you take hold. The way you make the faith connection with the power of God is by speaking it with your mouth. This is what you see with the woman that had an issue of blood. (Mark 5:25)   

The Scriptures said she kept on saying, “if I may but touch the hem of His garments, I shall be whole”. Then there was the case of Blind Bartimeus, who also shouted when he heard Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. I want you to know today that God’s power is hovering over you today, speak out and make that connection with the power of God and receive your miracle.