A New Revelation: Part 2

As I accept the challenge to pray that Christ would reveal more of himself to me each day, I have been overwhelmed with the transformation of my thoughts that has occurred.  As I shared yesterday I have been released from the defeated feeling the enemy uses, and now am focused on the fact that God wants us to overcome.  He convicts to bring us closer into relationship with himself.  To purify and make us holy, not leave us in despair about how far off we are from ideal.  You may be wondering what all of this has to do with studying the book of Revelation.  Isn't Revelation all about Christ returning and the end of the world as we know it?  Well it is most definitely about all that but it has so much application to the Here and Now, hence Beth Moore's title for her study of the book.  Remember,

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

So what does Revelation say about overcoming.  Just listen to the promises Christ presents the seven churches he addresses if they overcome:

To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Revelation 2:7

He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. Revelation 2:11

 To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it. Revelation 2:17

To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations-- 27 'He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery -- just as I have received authority from my Father. 28 I will also give him the morning star. Revelation 2:26-28

He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.  Revelation 3:5

  
Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.  Revelation 3:12

 
To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.  Revelation 3:21

Amazing promises!  So how does one overcome?  Our trust for salvation must be fully in Jesus and His death and resurrection.  Then we live in His spirit daily.  Not seeing Christ through the world's eyes, but seeing the world and ourselves through the eyes of Christ.

The funny thing is I think God has been trying to use my son to teach me to be an overcomer all along.  See Landon is sure he can win at everything, and if for a second he has the slightest struggle he is devastated.  In fact his desire to overcome was one of the things that had me feeling defeated.  So I thought for sure I needed to get Landon to understand he can't win at everything, when his desire for victory is God given.  Now don't get me wrong, Landon still has to learn humbleness, being a good sport, perseverance, and obedience.  Just like I still have much to learn.  But his desire to be an overcomer is not something to be disciplined, only shaped.  So he understands his victory is in Christ, not in himself. 

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our LORD Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57

This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:3-5