1 John 5: 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.1John 5:5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
The very idea of overcoming suggest that there are things to be overcome. None of us like battles, but Jesus promised them in John 16:33, when he said in the world you have tribulation. The word “have” in that verse is written in the present tense, which means it is a continual reality. He did not say you might have, or you could have, but instead, he said it’s a guarantee that battles will come every day in one form or another. Victorious Christian living is not a battle for your life but a victorious life in the midst of battles. You can’t win a victory without having a battle to be victorious over. Revelation doesn’t bring about transformation unless there is appropriation, and most the time appropriation happens in the place of tribulation. Being an overcomer is something we are equipped to be the moment we become Christians, but we learn to manifest in the context of obstacles. Jesus said, when he promised that in this fallen world we would have obstacles and battles to fight, to take courage for he has overcome the world. That’s why he said that it’s in him that we can have peace even in the midst of things to be overcome, because our peace is in his person and his proven ability to overcome anything this world might throw at us. You see Jesus doesn’t live outside of us, cheering us on in the midst of battles; instead, he lives in us as the great proven Victor, prepared at every instance to manifest once again his overcoming power. Even though at our new birth everything necessary to live the life of the victorious overcomer has been deposited in us, only in the place of testing do we learn to live by faith, making withdrawals from all that he is as the great overcomer in us. Our part is to simply believe; which manifests His part, which is to release his overcoming power. It is only in the gift of battle that we learn to manifest the truth. I have found that it is usually in the midst of storms that we learn to walk on water. We may get the revelation that we can live supernaturally in the quiet place; but the realization always comes in the noisy place of conflict. Watchmen Née used to say that we only advance in adversity. If you long to advance in the Lord. RUN TO THE BATTLE.