How to Overcome Absolutely Anything. Part one: There is more. by Shayne Holesgrove.
I’m currently teaching a series on ‘How to Overcome Absolutely Anything’ and will be looking at the topic over the next couple of weeks on my blog. I know it will encourage you and stir you up to go for all that Jesus purchased for you and live in the victory that is ours in Him.
Before we even look at anything on “How to make victory possible”, or “How to allow God’s power to work in our lives” you need to see and believe that it is possible to get through anything in life and be an overcomer. It really is possible! Whatever your situation is, whatever you going through, no matter how bad or good I want to stir you up by telling you that: It can be much better!
Ephesians 3:20 says that He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. This is huge: anything that we can dream of or desire is exceedingly, abundantly far below what God’s got for us. We really need to discover what God’s got for us otherwise we will settle for everything short of His best and His will for us. It can be much better than it is! I don’t think there’s any single person in the world that has a full revelation of what God wants for us. It doesn’t matter how super-dooper you think you are, or how spiritual you are and how close you are to Jesus, and all that stuff: it can be much better for you.
It’s a fact that we live in a fallen world and so things are going to go wrong, things are going to happen and how you are going to deal with those things is decided before it ever happens. Even your indecision is a decision. You have a system of belief structured inside of you, which sets you up to deal with circumstances properly or to deal with them negatively. How will you deal with things that come against you? I’m not just talking about sickness, or tragedies and things like that. Victory in Christ isn’t absence of problems but responding to problems and negative circumstances in such a way that you can get through it with joy and peace! The kind of victory I am talking about is being able to rejoice in God no matter what and experience joy and peace. Too many believers go after the miracle, go after the financial provision or the healing etc and won’t be happy until they get it. That is a terrible testimony. Not being able to just be happy with where we are at or content with what we have while trusting for change in our situations is not God’s will for us. Yes, God has got more for us but while you are on your way to “the more” you can still have a smile and rejoice in the Lord, even if the whole world is against you and everything is going wrong. It’s possible! This is true victory!
God didn’t pay such a heavy price – Jesus on the cross – so that we could live a mediocre life, in defeat and in bondage. Most of us settle for defeat or bondage because it is manageable; “it’s not all that bad, I can deal with this”. Or we feel that God should rather do something big for someone who really needs it, while we just manage with our little problem. It’s as if there is not enough power to go around. We all have got to start seeing bigger and trusting God for more. Trust God that things are going to improve, no matter how good things are right now, or how bad.
1 John 5:1 says, “whosever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God.” If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, then you are born of God. Now look down to verse 4, it says, “whatever is born of God…” so now that is talking about the Christian, a believer, “whatsoever is born of God, overcomes the world. And this is the victory which overcomes the world, even our faith.” This is saying, hey: Because of who you are now, you’re in victory, you are born into victory. You are on the winning team! The first thing we’ve got to come to terms with in how to overcome absolutely anything is the truth that we are not fighting for victory, but we are fighting from victory. We’re not in defeat, no matter how bad the circumstances or situation, it doesn’t matter how difficult it gets we’re above it!
A year before my father passed away I took an opportunity to share the Gospel with him and he received Christ and became a Christian. That was one of the best days of my life. Later on, he got diagnosed with cancer and he died. Yes, we fought it but he died. That’s the reality of it. But he passed into eternal life. He’s with Jesus forever. He is living forever in absolute victory. Yes, cancer took him, but there’s a far greater reality to focus on: eternity with Jesus! Sometimes we are bitterly unhappy because we haven’t got our healing yet or haven’t received our answer to our prayer. That’s a bad testimony! We can “rejoice in the Lord always!” Even though there is healing now, and if you know me you know that I believe that one hundred per cent, we can rejoice when we don’t experience what we should be. We need to put things into perspective.
We have world overcoming faith. We are more than conquerors. It doesn’t matter what happens to us – how are you going to respond to it? How are you going to deal with it? Health, finances, tragedies… Are you going to let it steal your joy and peace? Nehemiah 8:10 says that “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” It doesn’t say when. It says that “the joy of the Lord IS your strength.” It doesn’t matter what happens, you can experience the joy of the Lord. It is a choice. What if you lost absolutely everything? What if? Are you going to get depressed? Are you going to allow it to get you down? Are you going to allow it to destroy everything about you? I know of people where they didn’t lose everything but they lost a lot, and as a result they are depressed, and all sorts of things. “I can’t believe what’s going on… look what happened!” I sympathize with them, life can be rough and tough, but the point is that if you change your focus it will change your experience. You can overcome anything negative, because of Jesus. It all boils down to how you looking at things.
Romans 12:2 says that “we are changed, transformed by the renewing or changing of our minds.” So if you want to see the change in your life, you’ve got to change your way of thinking. Proverbs 23:7 says, ‘as a man thinks in his heart, so is he’. The way you think determines the way you are. There is a process of thinking that leads to victory, and there’s a process of thinking that leads to defeat. That explains why a lot of us are in the mess we are in. How have we been thinking up until now has determined where we are at now. Whatever you are experiencing is a result of what you have been believing up until now.
Romans chapter 8:6 says, “for to be carnally minded is death, to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” And so this is saying that to be carnal minded equals death. Spiritual mindedness equals peace and life. There is no grey area. ‘Carnal mindedness’ is just natural thinking. It’s not even just a case of thinking of sin and evil, it can be considering the natural (what you see, hear and feel) more than the supernatural (what God’s Word says). Spiritual mindedness is being Word-minded, God-focused, Christ-centered in your mind and what you are thinking on. This kind of thinking produces, or equals, life and peace. What you think about is important. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trust in You.” Verse 4 goes on to say, “trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord, Jehovah is everlasting strength.” Peace doesn’t come from a pill. Peace doesn’t come from yoga. Peace is the natural by-product of having your mind focused on God. Peace is a fruit or result of you just focusing on God and His Word. If you are focused on things that are carnal you aren’t going to experience peace. You aren’t going to experience abundant life. What you are going to experience is…………..death! And everything that death means. Who wants that? Not me!!
Don’t miss part two of “How to Overcome Absolutely Anything”. Order the Audio or DVD teach series with the same title by emailing info@gracelifeministries.co.za