An Overcoming Life

The Victorious Life

By Apostle Felix

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

1 John 5: 4, 5

12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6: 12

7  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

2 Timothy 4: 7

A believer in Christ’s view of an overcoming life is different from a worldly perspective. The world sees an overcoming life as one that has achieved success, probably in sports, academics, or any field of life. For the world, success is one that has achieved external opulence. But a believer’s overcoming life is internal  – one that is rich in the doctrine of Christ. Does God want us to succeed materially? Oh yes, He does. But riches and wealth do not validate one’s faith in Christ. Neither can we use the Old Testament saints, such as Solomon’s opulence, to validate one’s appetite and greediness for riches.

9  But those who crave the wealth of this world slip into spiritual snares. They become trapped by the troubles that come through their foolish and harmful desires, driven by greed and drowning in their own sinful pleasures. And they take others down with them into their corruption and eventual destruction.
10  Loving money is the first step toward all kinds of trouble. Some people run after it so much that they have given up their faith. Craving more money pushes them away from the faith into error, compounding misery in their lives! 

1 Timothy 6: 9, 10

Please, I am not endorsing poverty as a way of life for the followers of Christ. No, I am simply saying that wealth and riches do not validate one’s faith in God. It is the soundness of the doctrine of Christ that validates our faith in God. It is sound doctrine that forms sound belief systems. And a sound belief system produces a sound lifestyle. Sound doctrine is critical to your overcoming life. Apostle Paul fought a good fight of faith, and he kept the faith. What did he mean?

The devil is not after your furniture in the house, money in the bank, the car you drive or the house you live in. He is after your soundness. He has no interest in any of those material things. Satan does not use any of those for himself, but uses them to lure people into his traps. He uses them as bait to attract people, even Christians. Adam and Eve are an example of soundness, whose lives were corrupted upon listening to satan. God preached the gospel to Adam to eat from all the trees, including the tree of life, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I call it good news because God told Adam which trees to eat from. And besides, only good comes from God. But Adam’s wife, Eve, listened to another gospel that affected their judgment and their ability to choose wisely. Another gospel affects what you see and taste.

2  You need to know that God’s passion is burning inside me for you, because, like a loving father, I have pledged your hand in marriage to Christ, your true bridegroom. I’ve also promised that I would present his fiancée to him as a pure virgin bride.
3  But now I’m afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s clever lies, your thoughts may be corrupted and you may lose your single-hearted devotion and pure love for Christ.
4  For you seem to gladly tolerate anyone who comes to you preaching a pseudo-Jesus, not the Jesus we have preached. You have accepted a spirit and gospel that is false, rather than the Spirit and gospel you once embraced. How tolerant you have become of these imposters!

2 Corinthians 11: 2 – 4

To be continued….