More Than Conquerors
(week 29/03)
Olubi Johnson
Romans 5:1-5(KJV): Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Romans 5:5(NIV): And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
In these scriptures above it is revealed to us that we are to rejoice and give God glory in the middle of trials, temptations and tribulations, because these things put our patience to work: cause us to be consistent in prayer and faith in God’s Word.
This patience or consistency in using prayer and the Word during tribulations produces the experience of victory over these tribulations.
This experience of victory produces hope that the fulfillment of other promises of the Word of God we have not yet experienced will be realised in our lives.
For instance, the experience of being born again: the fulfillment of John. 3. 16 in your life gives you the hope of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues like in Acts 2.4.
The experience of Acts 2.4 in your life should give you the hope of growing into Christ in all things and doing the works He did and greater according to Ephesians. 4.15 and John. 14. 12.
This hope will not be disappointed, because God loves us and will see to it that our hopes are not disappointed: a revelation of this love God has for us has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
We are now in a time of waiting for the fulfillment of the hope of the promise of God’s Word: that we grow into Christ in all things, doing the works that He did and greater, manifesting His glory on the earth (Ephesians. 4. 15, John. 14. 12, 2. 11, Isaiah. 40.5).
This waiting in itself is a form of distress and tribulation, because the scripture says “hope deferred maketh the heart sick” (Proverbs13.12).
So in this waiting period we must not separate ourselves from the love of God in Christ Jesus through which we are more than conquerors in tribulations, especially now in the tribulation of waiting for the manifestation of the glory of God in His church in this hour.
Romans 8:35-37(KJV): Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
In next week’s article we will see how to keep ourselves in the love of God during tribulations, so that indeed we will be more than conquerors in whatever situation we find ourselves no matter how severe they are.
