Our Conquering King

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

1 John 5:4-5  


I was doing a word study on what it means to be “conquered.” After all, Jesus is our conquering King right? I looked the word conquer up in my online dictionary. To conquer by definition means: ‘“to overcome and take control of (a place or people) by use of military force. "the Magyars conquered Hungary in the Middle Ages" synonyms:    defeat, beat, vanquish, trounce, annihilate, triumph over, be victorious over, best, get the better of, worst, bring someone to their knees, overcome, overwhelm, overpower, overthrow, subdue, subjugate, put down, quell, quash, crush, repress, rout; More successfully overcome (a problem or weakness). "a fear she never managed to conquer"
synonyms:    overcome, get the better of, control, get control of, master, gain mastery over, get a grip on, deal with, cope with, surmount, rise above, get over; More climb (a mountain) successfully.
"the second American to conquer Everest" synonyms:climb, ascend, mount, scale, top, crest
"the first men to conquer Mount Everest.”’

Have you thought much about the fact that there is freedom in being conquered by Jesus. The apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, “So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Our victory isn’t in doing the conquering, it’s more about being conquered by Christ who is Himself the Conquerer. After all, it was Jesus who lived a perfect life, He conquered sin through perfection. He also gave His life on Calvary’s Cross paying the price for sin. Because of His perfection, death couldn’t hold Him down and three days later He rose again from the dead defeating death. Jesus conquered sin and death.

What keeps a man or woman from experiencing the conquering power of Christ in their own life? Simply put, it’s pride. We read that pride was the downfall of Lucifer in heaven. We also read that pride was the downfall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The devil appealed to their pride in declaring that if they would disobey God, they could be like God by eating of the fruit that God had forbidden them from partaking. Fast forward to today. What keeps Jesus from ruling and reigning in your heart and mine? Pride, it’s always been pride, it will always be pride. Pride, in part is our thinking or believing that we somehow know what’s best in our own lives for our lives.

I’ll ask you what I am asking myself this morning. Is there an area of your life or mine today that Jesus hasn’t conquered? Is there a place in your heart that you have yet to relinquish to Christ? Is there an area of your life that you are fighting against the will of God? What I have discovered for my own life is my battle isn’t so much against sin as it is against God Himself. Sin is the act of disobedience or distrust, it exposes the area of my life that Jesus is seeking to conquer and the area of my life I am fighting God for control.  

Whatever area of your heart and mine that Jesus isn’t ruling and reigning in is an area that is yet to be conquered by Christ. Can you think of any area of your heart that is fighting Jesus for control? Don’t look at it any longer as a battle against evil, see your fight being against God Himself. Remember, it’s our pride that struggles with giving up control. The good news of the gospel is there is victory in Jesus, never apart from Him. Jesus made it clear, “apart from Me you can do nothing”, but in Him we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!

Keep this mind today, loved one. The key to your victory and mine is to surrender to God to give up control recalling that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.


“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 15:57


I LOVE YOU!

Michael Osthimer

Recent

Archive

Categories

no categories

Tags

no tags