PART #21 THE STAFF AND SWORD MINISTRY September 3, 2007

m"IFESTING

OVERCOMING IN CHRIST JESUS

by Nancy-TONI Youngbrandt

The leading of the Holy Spirit at this time has been to focus on overcoming. As we seeevents in this world unraveling and conforming more and more to Jesus' Word of theJudgment events to come, it is all too easy to let our heart be troubled and afraid — the verything Jesus in John 14:27 told us not to do. The temptation then that lies in fear is to act orfail to act as God would have us act. On one hand, either we freeze up inside and just hopeit will all go away or, on the flip side, the temptation might be there to over-react by takingmatter into our own hands and forging blindly and willfully ahead hoping that God will backus up. Neither of these is good. The answer lies instead in being broken and surrendered toGod and His Will in our lives first so that we are at peace in Him and we can live the reality

of John 14:27 when Jesus said,"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth,

give I unto you~ Let not your h eart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. "

This is the beginning and foundation from which we can move forward from. This putsus in the state spoken of in Zechariah 4:6 which says,

"... Not by might (physical effort), no r by power (soul/self power), but by My

Spirit (Holy Spirit), saith the Lord."

"By My Spirit" -- that is the key here. To truly be an overcomer in Christ one has to firstbe overcome by Christ inwardly. Once we are completely surrendered and broken in Christ,as Christ Himself was to God the Father, then it is that overcoming Spirit of Christ withinus that will manifest in our hearts and throughout our being to the outside world with all itstrials and difficulties. In Christ is our victory, our strength and our power — in Him we willovercome as He has overcome on our behalf already.

To further illustrate how we as Christians are to be overcomers, let's examine Revelationchapter 12, verse II for here lies the 3 keys to overcoming. It says here:

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(Revelation 12:11)"AND THEY OVERCAME HIM (THE DEVIL) BY

(I) THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, AND(2) BY THE WORD OF THEIR. TESTIMONY; AND

(3) THEY LOVED NOT THEIR LIVES UNTO THE DEATH."

So, here it is -- how to overcome the Devil in Christ Jesus. It is also the answer toovercoming the world and every situation in your life because with the reality of this in yourheart, you will have the relationship with Jesus and God the Father where all the rest willfall into place as you continue to walk in and look to Jesus Christ as your everything. Sowith this in mind, I have the leading in this article to explore each of these keys toovercoming a little more in-depth.

KEY #1: BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB

In believing on Jesus Christ as our Savior, we believe that Jesus, who was without sin,took our sin upon Himself to the cross to die on our behalf— He became a sacrificial Lambfor each and everyone of us. Through the shedding of His Blood came the redemption andforgiveness of sin. Through His Blood we are now sanctified, which is to say, we have beenmade clean and righteous before God through His atonement for our sin. Scriptures such asthese tell us this:

In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins..."Ephesians l : 7

"And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by Him toreconcile all things to Himself; " Colossians 1:20

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the bloodof Jesus. By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us,

through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest (Jesus)over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance

of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and ourbodies washed with pure water.,,

Hebrews 10:19-22

And lastly ..."... God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have

fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

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KEY #1: THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB continued

"But if we walk in the light, as He is the light, we have fellowship one withanother, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. Ifwe say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and tocleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we

make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."1 John 1:5-10

And just why is this such a key to overcoming the enemy of our souls? Because as wepray, repent and put all of the sin within our hearts under the Blood of the Lamb, then the

Devil and Satan lose their grounds and opportunity to get at us! If there is no sin within us,

then there is no foothold or opening through which they can get at us to trouble us any more!

This is why it is so important that we continually be washed and cleansed by the Blood of

the Lamb until we know within our heart and spirit that we can say as Jesus did, "... the

prince of the this world cometh, and bath nothing in me. " ( John 14:30)

Now some may claim these Scriptures and even believe on them with all their might, and

yet not experience the reality of the promise. Well, this is because it takes time, patience and

a continual work of the Spirit of God for all of the sin and fallen parts of our nature to be

worked out. The other thing to keep in mind is that the work of God starts deep within and

slowly works its way out from our spirit-man, through our heart, and then into our soul. The

fruit or outward appearance of such a transformation may seem slow and non-existent to our

outward flesh but like a seed establishing deep roots in heaven first, it will make its way out

if we tend to the garden of our heart and wait patiently for it to grow.

The other aspect of overcoming the enemy of our souls through the Blood of the Lamb is

more directly seen when we confront the Devil and his minions in spiritual warfare in the

spirit realm and in the armor of God. Scripture tells us that Jesus gave us power over the all

the power of the enemy and to resist the Devil that he flee from us. This usually is quite

effectively done by literally pleading the Blood of Jesus upon them — which acts like acidon their sin-filled demonic bodies.

In this ministry, as we have moved in spiritual warfare under Jesus' direction andCommission, we have overcome the enemy of our soul many times and in many ways.However, when it comes down to the individual within the Net of Prayer, some haveovercome personally more than others — each person is different. Learning to apply thevictory in Christ obtained in the spirit realm to our personal lives is a growing and learningprocess so looking to Jesus at all times is of vital importance. I cannot stress enough that itis because of Jesus and the price He paid for us that we have the victory so the more weabide in Him, and put our sin under His Blood, the more we can truly walk as an overcomer

in Christ.

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KEY #2 - BY THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY

The second key to overcoming the enemy of our souls in Christ here in Revelation 12:11is by the word of our testimony. How can this be? Well, it is important to realize, first of all,that our testimony is not just about how we came to be saved, although that is important andcan be very powerful, rather, it is also all the workings and leadings of God, Jesus and theHoly Spirit in our life since then — even on a day to day basis. Even the small, everydayleadings of God in our lives can be considered a testimony.

And just why do I say that? How is that overcoming the enemy? Well, it's because eachsharing of what God, His Son and His Spirit have done in our lives is like a seed, a livingseed from God, that when shared with others then has the opportunity to be planted insomeone else's heart and then grow and bear even more fruit by the same Spirit of God -and the Devil hates that.

If you think about it, the Bible is basically a collection of testimonies and sharing of God'sword and the works of God in the lives of His people. This sharing then gives the rest of usan example to follow and can quicken to us the things of God to carry on His work in thisworld. Likewise, when we share how God has worked in our lives, that faith which we shareofthen has the opportunity to quicken the faith in someone else to do or experience a similarthing like a chain reaction of faith that could spread throughout the Body of Christ.

An example of this was recently brought to our attention by an intercessor in the Net ofPrayer named Richard. He mentioned how he remembered Chuck-JOHNEL's story of hislittle red Honda car and the "Jesus key." You see, for many years Jesus sent Chuck-JOHNEL around the country in this little red Honda so often that it became Chuck-JOHNEL's prayer closet for several years. In the process, it got to where every time Chuck-JOHNEL started the car he would say as he turned the key, "In Jesus' Name." This was adaily habit for Chuck-JOHNEL and as a result, the car continued run well past its normallife span. It ran at times when there was no way it should have except for Divineintervention. One frozen Chicago morning when no other car on the block would start, thelittle red Honda did but only when he used the Jesus key.

Well, now we come to Richard. Here is Richard, some 20 years after the little red Hondahad finally gone to the junkyard in the sky and it was now one of the stories in Chuck-JOHNEL's massive collection, and he is trying to start his roto-tiller which has sat dormantfor 3 years. Richard has cleaned it up and checked the gas but nothing is happening. It justwon't start. Then Richard remembers the "Jesus key" and pulls the starter with an "in Jesus'Name" .... and wouldn't you know it - that thing started right up. He explained that it didn'teven sputter or poop-out once but rather it went full power with one good "in Jesus' Name"pull. He was living the word of Chuck-JGHNEL's testimony. Praise the Lord!!

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KEY #3 - AND THEY LOVED NOT THEIR LIVESUNTO THE DEATH

Up until now we have been seeing the cross in action. First is the vertical beam of whatGod through Jesus has done for us and how through the Blood of the Larnb the way hasbeen opened for us to come before the Throne of God.

Then we see the outward or horizontal extension of that renewed relationship with Godthrough Jesus being expressed to others with the word of our testimony.

The last step in overcoming is then to put ourselves on that cross as Jesus did and not loveour lives unto the death. In other words, we are to be willing to die for Christ and for God.We are to no longer love our own lives and seek to save it through our own self-efforts orout of fear. Instead, we are to be broken and surrendered in Christ to God completely. Aswith Jesus, by no longer fearing death and loss, these things have no power over us — only

God then has power over us and only He will allow or disallow our death.

Of course, here the `life' spoken of is more than just the physical life of the body butspeaks more of the inner life of the believer. To "love one's life' is an inner condition as isno longer loving one's life unto the death. But once a Christian truly comes to that point, theenemy is overcome because all that is within us belongs to God.

Coming to this point does take time. Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, take up our cross

and follow Him daily

. Likewise, the Apostle Paul spoke of dying daily — a constant and

ongoing process.

The main attitude and prayer in our heart we need to have truly be an overcomer in Christ

is to be wil/ing to face the things we fear or make us uneasy, and then yield that fear to God.

saying in our hearts, "Not my will, but Thy will be done."

It is okay to admit that you don't want to endure hardships such as starving, being raped,tortured or murdered in some horrible fashion — it's understandable but it is also good toat least put it out there where you can see how you feel and then take it to God in prayer.One you can look it in the eye, so-to-speak, and then say, "If that is going to happen to me,then I am going to trust Jesus to get me through it. I pray that Jesus will not let that happento me, but I pray that God's will be done"; when you have truly done this in

your heart, then

the enemy has no power over you to threaten you with even the prospect of such a thinghappening to you and that is when you have overcome the enemy of your soul — he nolonger has a way to get at you because you are in Christ Jesus!

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CLOSING THOUGHTSThe thing about overcoming that is unmistakable is that for one to overcome that means

that there will be resistance or something we will be facing to overcome. Jesus did notpromise a walk of complete ease and no resistance, rather He did warn us that as theypersecuted Him, they would persecute us; ifthey rejected His saying, they would reject ours.So every Christian should be well seasoned and equipped to overcome because there iscertainly plenty of resistance out there in the world. This is to be expected if we follow afterChrist and is part of the walk. So instead of thinking that this is something unusual, keep inmind that Jesus endured far worse on our behalf.

As a final thought, I have found it helpful in my walk in Christ to take things one day ata time as I look to Jesus and not to get too far ahead of God in my thinking. Secondly, it'sgood to keep in mind the attitude and focus of overcoming — of saying to yourself, "this tooshall pass" or "with Jesus, I will get through this." Or better yet, read and ponder suchScriptures as these:

"But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by ChristJesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish,strengthen, settle you." I Peter 5:10

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall Ifear? The Lord is thestrength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mineenemies and my foes come upon me to eat my flesh, they stumbled and fell.Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: thoughwar should rise against me, in this wzlI I be confident. One thing have Idesired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of theLord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquirein His temple." Psalm 27:1-4

"But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of my mercy in the-morning: for thou host been my defence and refuge in the day of trouble.Unto thee, 0 my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God ofmy mercy." Psalm 59:16-17

"In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me."Psa'm 86:7

"... In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; Ihave overcome the world." Jesus in John 16:33

TA 3ei , LL