“Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.”
-Romans 8:37 (AMP)
The last 39 days have all been a big build-up to this statement right here: Jesus is awesome. What He did changed history. He changed the rules of life. He redefined the the impossible…and made it possible! Jesus defeated sickness, lack, and sin. And those three things can be summed up into one, death, because they all end in death.
Until Jesus appeared on the scene, mankind had been conquered by an enemy called Death. Once Adam ate the apple, the life of God was stripped from him. And you can see in the Bible that throughout our history the ultimate destination for us was death. Everything we did ended with death. It was like we were born to die. Death was mankind’s champion. I know… Pretty hopeless, right?
1 Corinthians 15:26 says that the last enemy to be defeated is death. Now I’m going to put two verses back to back, Acts 2:24 and 1 Corinthians 15:54-55, respectively
But God released Him [Jesus] from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep Him in its grip. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh grave, where is your sting?
What happens when someone defeats the champion? The victor becomes champion.
Jesus is the Champion over death.
Now lets back up a little here in the earlier verses in Romans chapter 8. Lets go to verses 15-16.
For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry Abba (Father)! Father! The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.
You and I are children of the Most High. That means that we have this same champion spirit built into our DNA. We became champions over Satan because of what Jesus did!
Now let’s look at our verse: “Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us” (Romans 8:37 AMP). If you’re like me, when you see crazy words like “amid” you ask, “What does that mean?” So I looked it up, and it simply means “in the middle of these things”. In the middle of what things? Let”s go to verse 35.
“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?” (Romans 8:35 NLT)
So in the middle of everything you are going through, you are more than a conqueror. Conquerors gain a surpassing victory. I look at it like this: You’re in a race and you are a lap in front of the others, and are about to lap them again. Oh, what’s that? Your first bead of sweat? What a breeze… A surpassing victory means that there is no way for your opponent to catch up to you. We have this victory through Jesus’ love. We are sons and daughters of the Most High. We are champions for Christ. The agape love of God has made you a champion in life.
everydayMISSION:
As a fellow champion, I challenge you never to let the devil dictate your life. You can’t be a champion if you quit. So as you go through life remind Satan of who you are: an heir to Christ, a champion through the love of God. It’s who you were created to be. You don’t have to pray for the victory; you already have it! Get this champion attitude! It will draw people to you so that you can let them know that they are also champions because He loves them.
everydayCONVERSATION:
I am a champion for Christ! Thank You, Father, for loving me and giving me this champion spirit! No matter what is coming against me, I have the victory over it and I live a life that empowers the people around me. Thank You, Jesus, for dying for me and giving me authority over Satan. I have a surpassing victory, not just a small victory. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen!