“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
These things that Paul is referring to are found in a couple of verses before. They are tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril and sword. (verse 35) Nothing can separate us from God’s love, not those “things” because we are more than conquerors, not just conquerors, but more than conquerors. It’s not just one battle we have won, but the whole war.
To understand what Paul is saying we have to understand what the cause of all the misery is. We blame the devil because it started in the Garden of Eden. He brought the curse upon mankind and continues with his minions to inflict misery on mankind. (Genesis 3) Some say, “Don’t blame everything on the devil. We personally are to blame too.” The problems we have with the flesh are also caused by the fall of man. So, in effect it is the devil’s fault.
Jesus has conquered the world system. We should not worry about the world. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) We should walk above the world system in the victory of Jesus. The battle is won. The war is won. But the enemy is subtle, and we believe his lies and his deception. The Word of God in our mouth will place us above the lies of the devil. The Word is alive and powerful to accomplish what it says because it comes from the mouth of God. It has creative power. This creative power was what formed the earth and created all things. (Genesis 1, 2) Don’t think that just saying words will accomplish anything. It’s not our word that does anything. It’s God’s Word. It is what God has said that has power.
How about our flesh? That’s a constant battle. It fights against our spirit continually. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Galatians 5:17) When we have, through God’s grace and the Holy Spirit, conquered in an area, another area in the flesh will fight against the spiritual or godly. But God uses this to refine us. The Holy Spirit uses this to purify us to cleanse us of those flesh sins and to make us more into the image of Christ. "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” (Philippians 1:6) We have to recognize it as sin in our flesh, confess it, repent of it and allow the Holy Spirit to deal with it. “If we 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 to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:8-9) It might be anger, porn or criticism. It’s all sin to God. It’s all death to us. We should loathe it. It’s the filthiness of our old man.
This is where people get confused. Only our spirit was reborn of God with God’s holy and pure nature. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13) If you spend all your time on your phone and never read your Bible, your flesh will have more influence on your soul (mind, will and emotions). Your mind will be filled with the world’s ideas and thoughts instead of God’s Word. Your mind and all those worldly thoughts will influence your emotions and your will decides to do and say worldly things, things that don’t agree with God’s Word. For instance, you bought new shoes, and your feet are aching. The flesh will say, “My feet are killing me.” The spirit will say, “These shoes are a blessing from God. Feet conform to the Word of God and be glad in these new shoes because “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17) Will your feet continue to hurt? Probably, because you need to break in those shoes, but then you are not agreeing with the world, but with God. Every word that proceeds from our mouth should agree with the Word of God and not the world.
We start in the little things. When the big things hit us, we’re prepared. We take out that sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17) and slay the lies of the devil. This is how we will walk as more than conquerors in all things through Christ. It would not have been possible without the redemptive work of Christ in our lives.
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