“… In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
“But thanks be to God, who is giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – even our faith.”
As the Son of Man, Jesus faced every temptation that we will ever face, and by the power the Holy Spirit, He overcame. That same Jesus, now risen from the dead, lives inside of us, and is prepared to manifest his overcoming power in and through us as we encounter all that life in this fallen world throws at us. Victory for the Christian is not a formula, or some kind of confession, but victory is a person; Jesus Christ himself. 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that God gives us the free gift of victory in all things through our Lord Jesus Christ. Victory isn’t the result of a long strenuous struggle where we gain ground inch by inch until we finally find breakthrough; but victory is something that Jesus is in us instantly, and continuously as we simply abide in him by faith. We are told several times in both the old and the New Testament that “the just shall live by faith,” and that verse I listed above from 1 John 5 says that the victory that overcomes the world is our faith. We know that Jesus Christ in the power of his resurrection lives in us, and is prepared moment by moment to manifest his victory in and through our lives, but this reality only happens in the context of our living by faith. The question is then, how do we get that kind of faith that appropriates His overcoming life? Imagine you could ask faith itself how to make it work better, and if faith had a personality and could answer your question, faith would say something to you like this, “Don’t think about me, or look at me, for my entire purpose is to look beyond me and to see His faithfulness.” Only when you stop looking at your faith, and start looking to the faithfulness of the one who is able to overcome, does faith actually happen. Faith is not concerned with itself; it is only concerned with Him. “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.” Hebrews 11:11
“and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able to perform.” Romans 4:21
Faith is actually believing what Jesus believes about himself “Even when we believe not, He abides faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13
Jesus cannot stop being faithful to who He is, and therefore all we need to be consumed and concerned with is who he is, and what he is able to do. Faith is resting in His faithfulness. Victory is a person, and that person is manifested in victory as we walk in faith, and faith only thinks about that person and his faithfulness.
“Jesus you have offered rest, oh get it then to me;
the rest of ceasing from myself, to find my all in Thee”