Resist
12/09/2024
COMPARTILHE
More than conquerors
- Ameaças e Perseguições
- Doenças e enfermidades
- Tentações e demônios
- Mais que vencedores
- Ser mais que vencedor é glorificar a Deus
- A nossa posição
The people of God need to understand what the Lord Jesus declared about the purpose of His coming. He said: I have come that they may have life, and that they may have [it] more abundantly (John 10:10).
When you understand your condition in Christ, and dare to claim it, you discover that you are more than a conqueror in all things: Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37).
Of course those that choose to live as true Christians will suffer persecution. There will always be threats and persecution, but these things must never shake those that are built on the Rock, and have made Jesus their reason for living.
As to infirmities and all physical, mental or spiritual problems, the believer can loudly state that he is free from them and declare he is more than a conqueror. Jesus is our complete and total substitute. He has already suffered so we might be set free.
Temptations – the work of demons – are present in every area of our lives. However, we can and should declare we are more than conquerors each and every time we face a temptation.
Overcoming the devil is what gives the most glory to God. Repeating words of praise and adoration is of little or no avail if you allow the evil one to enslave and destroy you.
Do not submit yourself to the enemy any longer. Tell him that in Christ you are more than a conqueror, and that you can do all things in Him who strengthens you. Start living in accordance with this decision.
We have an obligation to be more than conquerors. Jesus paid a very high price to redeem our lives completely. There is nothing more to pay.
I pray that from this lesson on you will be one more to declare: I am more than a conqueror in all things.
In Christ,
R. R. Soares
Once we have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we should also take Him as our model. The Lord Jesus is the example we must always follow. During His ministry on Earth, He was a conqueror in every way; He never lost a single cause. In all His battles, He simply showed that He was Lord. Everything He did on Earth was in our favor. He came to set us an example. It was as if He were saying, “Watch closely, this is how you must proceed. Do what I do, and you will obtain the same results.”
Let us now learn how the Lord conducted Himself when facing all sorts of evil attacks.
Threats and persecutions
After having John the Baptist killed, Herod decided to lay his hand on Jesus. Some Pharisees brought the Master news of the villain’s threats:
On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, “Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You. ”And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, `Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected” (Luke 13:31-32).
That is the attitude He expects from all His children, even when facing terrible threats. He also spoke about the persecution that befalls those who follow Him:
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great [is] your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11-12).
Sicknesses and infirmities
Whenever He was faced with any kind of sickness or infirmity, the Lord Jesus established His authority as Master. He knew the Father had entrusted Him with all power and authority over every work of the devil. One by one He destroyed them all:
When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them (Luke 4:40).
He suffered and bore all our sicknesses and infirmities in His own body, so that we might overcome them and never have to bear them ourselves.
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace [was] upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:4-5).
Temptations and demons
No one will ever be tempted by the devil to the same extent as our Lord Jesus was. The devil did everything he could to tempt the Son of God, but he was unsuccessful. Why couldn’t he defeat our Savior? Because Jesus was firmly established on the Word of God, and with it resisted the devil.
The Lord allowed the enemy to tempt Him, and then overcame him, to show us that we can also triumph over all the forces of Hell. He also wanted to be able to succor us in our temptations: For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:18).
The Lord Jesus suffered other strong temptations besides the ones He suffered when He fasted for forty days and forty nights in the desert. However, He overcame them all.
The Bible tells us that He was tempted in all things: For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all [points] tempted as [we are, yet] without sin (Hebrews 4:15).
In Luke 4:33-35, we have the story of an attack on Jesus that came straight from Hell. Once again He proved that He was the Victor. Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon.
And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Let [us] alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are the Holy One of God!” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in [their] midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him (Luke 4:33-35).
The Bible says that it was a man possessed by an unclean spirit, and that he exclaimed in a loud voice, saying, “Let [us] alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?” (Luke 4:34).
Notice that the demon spoke in the first person plural; he was no doubt the spokesman for all the evil legions of Hell, and was trying to confuse Jesus. In the first place, he said that he had the right to be there, and Jesus had no right to expel him. Jesus gave him no answer. Then he tried to convince Jesus that his time of destruction had not arrived yet. Once again, the Lord refused to exchange any words with him. The demon boldly started his last attack. He declared Jesus to be the Holy One of God. Why did he say that? Because he knew that as God, the Lord Jesus had no legal right to act freely here on Earth. The right to rule the Earth had been given to man, but with Adam’s disobedience and sin, he lost this right to Satan (which is why the devil was the prince of this world until the victory of Christ on the Cross of Calvary).
The demon was insinuating that there had been no incarnation, and that the Lord Jesus was acting on an unlawful basis here on Earth. However, this accusation was false, because the Lord Jesus had entered in through the “door” (not through a window like a thief) of human birth. He abandoned His glory, and made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant … coming in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7).
After hearing all the lies of that spokesman of Hell, the Lord gave us a lesson in how to deal with the enemy: He ordered him to be quiet and leave the man. The legion was forced to leave, without doing the man any harm.
More than conquerors
As we read in Romans 8:37, the Word of God assures us that we are more than conquerors in all things. However, for this to happen, it is important for the believer to know his position before God, the devil, and before everyone else, as well as his rights and privileges.
After the Lord God created the heavens and Earth, and made man from the dust of the earth, He blessed Him and said: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). We understand from this passage that man was originally designed to be a conqueror over all circumstances. That is how God made him. He sinned, however, and betrayed the Lord. The consequence was that he could no longer enjoy the presence of God.
Satan acquired the “right” to be in the world, and to be its “god”. He “reigned” in the world until the last Adam (the Lord Jesus) dethroned him. Thank God for this!
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive […] the first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:22,45).
The Word of God declares that everything has been done, and we do not have to submit ourselves to the devil any longer, nor accept any suffering he tries to cause us. We are considered worthy to partake of the Father’s blessings.
Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed [us] into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Colossians 1:12-13).
The Lord God expects us to accept our condition as more than conquerors, and begin to act as such. The devil knows that this is our real situation. He also knows that he must obey all those who discover this truth.
Being more than conquerors glorifies God
The Bible says: For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:20).
We must order all sickness to leave our bodies. How can we be considered more than conquerors if our bodies are consumed with maladies that, according to the Word, Jesus has already borne? We should likewise order all sin to leave our spirits, otherwise we will never be more than conquerors.
Our redemption is real. We are free territory. All bondage over our lives has ended. The power of Satan has been abolished. Now we have a new Lord that bought us for God and made us more than conquerors.
Our position
We learned in earlier lessons that we make the difference. Our attitude determines what we really are. It will profit us nothing to say we are more than conquerors and not act according to the Word of God. Much to the contrary, we will be considered liars.
Take the Word of God literally and declare that you are more than conquerors in all things. Use your rights. You have been considered worthy by the Father. It is now up to you. Do not let the devil deceive you. Now is the time. Be more than conquerors for the glory of God. Take hold of your position in the spiritual world.
Referências Bíblicas
João 10.10b
“…eu vim para que tenham vida e a tenham em abundância.”
Romanos 8.37
“Mas em todas as coisas somos mais que vencedores, por meio daquele que nos amou.”
Lucas 13.31,32
“Naquela mesma hora alguns fariseus vieram e lhe disseram: Sai e retira-te daqui, porque Herodes quer te matar.
Mas ele lhes respondeu: Ide dizer àquela raposa que, hoje e amanhã expulso demônios e curo doentes, e no terceiro dia, sou consumado.
Mateus 5.11,12
“Bem-aventurados sois vós, quando vos injuriarem, e perseguirem e, mentindo, disserem todo mal contra vós por minha causa.
Alegrai-vos e regozijai-vos, porque será grande a vossa recompensa nos céus, pois assim perseguiram os profetas que vieram antes de vós.”
Lucas 4.40
“Ao pôr-do-sol, todos os que tinham enfermos de vários tipos de doença os traziam a Jesus; e ele, impondo as mãos sobre cada um, os curava.”
Isaías 53.4,5
“Verdadeiramente ele tomou sobre si as nossas enfermidades, e as nossas dores levou sobre si; com tudo nós o consideramos como aflito, ferido de Deus, e oprimido.
Mas ele foi ferido pelas nossas transgressões, e moído pelas nossas iniqüidades, o castigo que nos traz a paz estava sobre ele, e pelas suas pisaduras fomos sarados.”
Hebreus 2.18
“Pois, naquilo que ele mesmo sofreu, tendo sido tentado, é poderoso para socorrer os que são tentados”.
Hebreus 4.15
“Porque não temos um Sumo Sacerdote que não possa compadecer-se das nossas fraquezas; antes, um que passou por todo tipo de tentação, mas sem pecado.”
Lucas 4.33-35
“Na sinagoga estava um homem possesso de um espírito de demônio imundo. Ele gritou em alta voz:
Ah! Que temos nós contigo, Jesus Nazareno? Vieste nos destruir? Bem sei quem és: o Santo de Deus!
Mas Jesus o repreendeu e disse: Cala-te e sai dele! O demônio, depois de o jogar no chão diante de todos, saiu dele sem lhe ferir.”
Filipenses 2.7
“Mas ele se esvaziou a si mesmo, tomando a forma de servo, tendo-se tornado semelhante aos homens.”
Gênesis 1.28
“Deus os abençoou e lhes disse: Frutificai e multiplicai-vos; enchei a terra e sujeitai-a; dominai sobre os peixes do mar, sobre as aves do céu e sobre todos os animais que se arrastam sobre a terra.”
I Coríntios 15.22,45
“Pois como em Adão todos morrem, do mesmo modo em Cristo todos serão vivificados.
[…] Assim também está escrito: O primeiro homem, Adão, tornou-se alma vivente; o último Adão, espírito vivificante.”
Colossenses 1.12,13
“Dando graças ao Pai que vos fez idôneos para participar da herança dos santos na luz, e que nos tirou do poder das trevas, e nos transportou para o reino do seu Filho amado;”
I Coríntios 6.20
“Porque fostes comprados por preço; glorificai pois a Deus no vosso corpo.”
