More than Conquerors

Today's Scripture

I often meet people who are troubled to find that Jesus calls Satan the 'ruler of this world'. But as I wrote recently, the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ makes Satan a lame-duck ruler. As Jesus says: He has no power over me. If Satan has no power over Jesus, then He has no power over us if we cling to Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

As many of you know, my favorite contemporary Christian band is Rend Collective and they have a song entitled: More than Conquerors. The refrain reads: We are more than conquerors through Christ. We have overcome this world, this life. We will not bow to sin or to shame, we are defiant in you name. You are the fire that cannot be tamed, You are the power in our veins. Our Lord, Our God, Our Conqueror. Do we live our lives like we are conquerors, or are we cowering in fear of the evil one and the evils in this world?

Let's recall Jesus' encounters with demons during His ministry here on earth. They knew Him, they feared Him, they begged Him not to destroy them. Jesus was undefeated. It didn't matter if it was Satan himself in the desert, or a demon that had tortured someone for a lifetime, or 'hundreds' of demons who called themselves Legion - Jesus was victorious. And all of this was just a warm-up to His once-for-all victory over death. Because of this, not only are we able to overcome the devil in this world, but we have an eternal life awaiting us in the next.

It is hard not to love Jesus when we think of Him in this way. We love Him by following His commands. We will not do this perfectly, but we must always strive to. Confessing every short-coming, so that we can continue to grow into perfect 'lovers'. That is the goal of our existence - we were created out of love, by love, for love. In heaven we will love and be loved perfectly. That is an existence this is much more than just a victor or a conqueror - that takes things to a whole new level. We are called to strive for this NOW, every act of love is a step closer to heaven and a foretaste of heaven here on earth.

Let's get together everyone. I will buy you a beverage and we'll swap stories of God's mighty acts in our lives. Join me this Thursday for Mighty Acts of God -details below.

MAY 21 - MIGHTY ACTS OF GOD - I will present the story of Pentecost like you've never heard it before. Join me as we consider the history, Jesus' promises, the perspective of the Apostles and those with them, and the response of the crowd at Pentecost and in the time immediately following. It is an event of epic proportion in the life of the world. Candlelight procession and Bonfire Social.