Romans 8:35-39 NASB [35] Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [36] Just as it is written, “For YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” [37] But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. [38] For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. …
Foundationally, the life of an Overcomer is built on being convinced that nothing can separate you from the love of God. You might want to tell me that you thought the life of an overcomer was all about living by faith. 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.
I agree totally that the life of an overcomer is a life lived by faith, but I would say that, foundationally, we must start with believing in the love of God for us. Galatians 5:6 says, “The just shall live by faith.” Faith for all the other things in life flows from absolute confidence that God delights in you in Christ. I want you to notice something about Romans 8:38, 39 that “past” things are not mentioned. Paul said that he was convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers are evidence that we are separated from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He mentions the demonic, all powers, anything created, things present, and things to come, but again, there is no mention of the past. Why is that? I’m convinced it is because the past has already been taken care of by the blood of Jesus. There are things that come at us, like attacks from the enemy, who is the accuser of the brethren; there are our own failures in the present and in the days to come, but we will have to stand, convinced that nothing that is happening or will happen can separate us from his relentless love. But it is imperative that we understand that the things we’ve done in the past are no longer a topic of conversation that God wants to entertain. He purchased our past, and it now belongs to him, and we have no right to turn and look at our past as if somehow it has cost us a measure of his poured-out love toward us. God refuses to talk to us about things He no longer remembers about us. The things in the past are no longer a part of our story in the eyes of God; they are now a part of Jesus’ story since He took them all in his person at the cross. What you did yesterday, or what you did 30 years ago, were already paid for in the person of Jesus at Calvary. Jesus died not just for you on the cross, but He died as you on the cross, and everything in the past you’ve done, He took responsibility for. If you are going to live a life of childlike faith, with a pure heart that sees God, then you must start by being convinced that nothing that comes at you can separate you from the love of God in Christ, in light of the fact that nothing in the past has been able to.