We Are Overcomers

We Are Overcomers

By Sister Sophia Miller

Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV)

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

After praying about what I should write about, the Lord placed this scripture on my heart.  There have been many days when I woke up so anxious about the unknown, worried about what my day had in store for me, even after claiming in prayer and thought that the Lord was in control. Life, as we look around every day, is filled with such stressors and sadness, and it is so easy to fall into the trap of anxiousness.

For a very long time, I stopped listening to the news and reading articles about things that were happening around me and in the world. Too often, the feeling of sadness, anger, dismay and unbelief left me oftentimes with a feeling on anxiousness and helplessness. It was only after being out of the loop on some major news stories that I really should have been keeping abreast of that I realized that my so called coping mechanism was very much like the ostrich. The ostrich who buried its head in the sand in those moments of fear, thinking that the rest of the world couldn’t see it. How hypocritical was I also being! I spend most of my working day encouraging people to talk about their own fears, and to develop tools to deal with their fears, while I was attempting to look at the world through extremely narrow lenses, as my own coping mechanism.

I decided that I was no longer going to fear what the world had to hold, but held steadfast to the fact that I was going to ask God for the tools to deal with what I heard or what I was confronted with each day. Immediately, the Lord reminded me that I was an overcomer and that He had already equipped me with all the tools I needed to get through each day, no matter what I saw, heard or had to personally deal with. He reminded me that no matter what was ahead of me for the day, I was an overcomer and He already had an outcome worked out for me that was ultimately in my best interest. He reminded me that I should keep my eyes focused on Him and that He would lead me and guide me on the path that I should take. He reminded me that despite what the road ahead of me appeared to be, whether pleasing to me or not, that I was on the right path, being the OVERCOMER that He created me to be.

My family in Christ, this is my reminder you to just in case it was forgotten along the way. The Lord we serve holds our lives in his hands. The love that He has for us is enough for us to rest knowing that despite what it looks like through our human eyes, our Father, the Lord that we serve, has it all worked out. We are overcomers, through our faith is Christ Jesus, today, tomorrow and always.

+++

As I was reading through my daily devotionals, I came a across a prayer that was written by Lysa TerKeurt of the Proverbs 31 Ministries. It seemed very appropriate and I wanted to share. There are times when we can’t find the right words to pray, and these were very powerful. It goes:

Dear Lord,

You are so good. Help me to see your hand working even in the midst of things that seem to be messes. I don’t want difficult times to harden my heart and blind me to Your presence. Instead, I want to remember that You are always with me. I am determined to find courage in the assurance that You will come to me with Your miraculous presence, no matter what. I love You, I need You, I trust You.

Amen.