Be More

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Have you ever loved someone so much you would do anything for them?  Have you loved someone so much you would risk getting hurt for them?  Have you loved someone so much that you would give it all for them?  Have you ever loved someone so much that you would go to battle and die just to win that battle for them?  Have you been willing to give everything you have because you believe the one you love is worth more than you are?

Many warriors fight for these reasons.  They go to war for their country, friends, family, and other loved ones.  They are willing to go into battle and risk their lives for loved ones.  Losing limbs or life is worth it to them.  Conquering the enemy to free loved ones says the loved ones more important than their own life.

When warriors come back home from war their entire family is victorious.  Even those who did not fight on the front lines share in the victory.  The mighty warriors defeated the enemy and now the family has them home.  While the warrior was fighting, the family may have been fighting battles at home.  Living while that loved one is away at war is tough.  Many challenges arise, but through the warriors bravery, the family battles on because they know how important they are to the warrior.  Sadly, sometimes that warrior doesn’t return.  He dies in battle while conquering.  He conquerors for them and the family is still victorious through the mighty warrior.

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What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can beagainst us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,  “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  Romans 8:31-36

The warrior loves for the people he fights for.  He gives all of himself.  This is what God did for us.  He gave himself.  He took our place because He loves us. We conquer because He conquered.  Because Jesus overcame we overcome.  Because Jesus defeated death, we have eternal life.  But there is more to it than just a victory.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  Romans 8:37

We don’t just conquer because of Him.  We are more than conquerors.  We are seen by Him as more.  We are so loved by God that He became a man and was tempted as we are tempted. We are so loved by God that we are worth dying for.  We are so loved by God that we are worth suffering the worst torture and death in the history of the world.  We are so loved by God that He suffered all of this and still is the victor and our Savior.  We are so loved by God that, once we believe on Jesus Christ, nothing can take Him away.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

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When you are a warrior you fight not just for yourself, you fight for who you love. When you are a warrior you fight with passion for someone more than you.  You conquer for those who are more than conquerors.  Jesus conquered the grave for us because we are more than conquerors through Him.

Do you believe you are more than a conqueror?  Do you know Jesus?  Is He your Savior?

If He isn’t, He can be.  If you think there is more to this world than what we see, pray for Him to show you.  If you are asking, the Holy Spirit is already be at work in your heart.  He will show you.

If you feel you don’t deserve the love of someone who died for you, you don’t.   It is by grace Jesus forgives.  It is why He died.  He said “It is finished”.  He conquered not for the perfect, but for the broken.  He conquered for me, the biggest of all sinners.  And if he conquered for me, He definitely conquered for you.

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:8

If you feel like you have done too much wrong to deserve forgiveness, you haven’t.  It is not about doing or deserving.  But we can turn to Him.  He died knowing what I have done.  He felt what I have done.   It was nailed with Him to the cross.  Now I am no longer a slave to sin, but I am free as a slave to Christ.  You can be too.  You can be “whoever”.  I pray you are.

For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17

You can be more than a conqueror.

Worrier or Warrior

Through our lives we all experience worry. We get stressed about what could be coming tomorrow.  We worry about what we don’t know.  Will we be able to eat?  Will we be able to pay our bills?  Will we be able to take care of our family?

These are things we all deal with.  Sometimes it can get to the point of defeat.  Sometimes it can get to the point of breaking you down.  Sometimes you just don’t want to fight anymore.  You would rather run away and avoid the worry.  You would rather cower away then to face the day.

This is easy to do when you are alone.  Even if you have people in your life, you may feel you are alone in your battle. You may feel like no one else is going through the things you are.  You may feel you don’t want to bother anyone with your day.  You may feel you are not worth help.

Many people in Scripture had worries.  They worried about many of the things we do.  Some had even more worries because God was directly asking them to do things they didn’t think they were capable of.  There are things we are asked to do today that we think we are not capable of. But the same promise God gave to those in the past, He also gives to us.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

This is what God told Joshua before he took his people to march around Jericho.  In fact, he told him three times to “be strong and courageous.”

The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.”  Judges 6:14-16

Even the least likely of warriors were comforted by the promises of God.  In the book of Judges we see Gideon, He was the youngest of his lowly farming family.  He was never trained to fight.  Yet the Lord was with him as he took on Median with only 300 men.

Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10

Here is a promise God makes to Israel in the book of Isaiah.  He promised to be with them and protect them.  He was bringing them back from exile in Babylon that they had been in for their disobedience.  Now He was providing them with redemption.  He was encouraging them and telling them , as always, He is with them.

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34

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Jesus gives us His Word that we will be provided for. We do not need to worry.  We should still be concerned, but worry is something we do not need to do.   The same promise he gave to those fighting for Israel He gives to us. He is with us.  He has sent the Holy Spirit to be with us.  No need to worry.  If you have been saved by Jesus and believe on Him you believe in a God who commanded Joshua to march around  the walls of a city 7 times and the walls fell down.  He commanded a young son of a farmer to go up against a mighty army with only 300 fighters and defeat them.  There are many other warriors who God promised He would be with and He was.  They triumph for the glory of God.

Today He is telling the believers, those who have been saved and follow the Lord Jesus, He is with them.  He is with us as we struggle to pay bills. He is with us as we struggle in our relationships. He is with us as we struggle with life.  He takes our worries.  This doesn’t mean He doesn’t want us to be concerned. He just knows that if we are in Christ then worry is not something we need. Worry is a product of sin.  In Christ we are made righteous and worry is not in us.

Just stay in His Word and meditate on his promises.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6

Are you a worrier or a Warrior in Christ?