The Attitude and Expectation of a Conqueror!

In the midst of my morning Bible study earlier today, my deep concentration was suddenly interrupted when I realized that the Sirius XM Southern Gospel channel that I was listening to was playing an unusual number of the old hymns of the church… an unusual number… unless it was their Sunday Inspiration program that I always enjoy tuning into early on Sunday mornings.

In a moment of confusion, I shook my head and then turned around to the dog laying on the couch behind me and stated, “Did I miss a day?  Is today Sunday?”  And when Fiver refused to answer me (it would have been a little strange if he did… don’t you think?), I picked up my phone to check the date and day on the lock screen which proved that I wasn’t losing it… but that it was in fact, Saturday and not Sunday!

When I listen to the old hymns of the church played on the Sunday Inspiration program and then again mixed in with today’s morning programming, I am always reminded of Piper’s and my days at her family’s home church, First Baptist Church in Santa Rosa, California.  It was there that I was introduced to the old hymns of the church.  They were different from the songs and hymns we sang in the Catholic church and became a solid part of the ever-growing foundation of my Christian life.

That time at her church also chronicled the first twelve years of Piper’s and my burgeoning relationship and took us from dating, to engagement to marriage and during the last two years there, the births of our first two children.  So… anytime I hear the old hymns I am not only reminded of our very active involvement at the church, but also of all the exciting and fun adventures my sweet, freckled, dynamo of a girlfriend and then wife, and I enjoyed in high school, JC, Chico state and the first five years of marriage before starting our family.

We both had an adventurous nature about us and when together… we felt like we could do and CONQUER just about anything!  Piper may have been petite in stature but made a large and positive impression upon every group of people that we interacted with.  I recall many congregants of the church (who knew her far longer than I did) stating that while the Piper they knew and loved was small on the outside… she was a GIANT on the inside!

She was one of the first people that I got to know that had an ATTITUDE and EXPECTATION of being a CONQUEROR!  We made a great team and whether it was helping out with and/or taking a leading role at a school event, putting on a community musical program at church in our late teens or early twenties, taking on various leadership roles at church, hiking the trails at a local city or state park or singing at different community business and club events, she and I learned to feel and act like we were CONQUEORS who trusted in the Lord and could do just about anything with Him at our side.

In our last blog post* we took a look at Romans 8:7 and learned that,

“God has made us to be more than CONQUERORS, through His demonstrated LOVE which is our glorious victory over everything!” (TPT) 

The Apostle John, who was known as the Apostle of LOVE, takes our understanding a little deeper by explaining to us in I John 5:3-5 that,

“True LOVE for God means obeying his commands, and his commands don’t weigh us down as heavy burdens. You see, every child of God overcomes the world, for our faith is the victorious power that triumphs over the world.  So then, who are the world CONQUERORS, defeating its power? Those (of us) who BELIEVE that Jesus is the Son of God.” (TPT)

The word “BELIEVE” in the last verse is an ACTIVE-TENSE verb that is the key to understanding how this truth can and should be activated in our lives.  First and foremost, we must actively BELIEVE in the truth that we are CONQUERORS in and through our faith in Christ and His Word… and then, develop the ever-present and ever-increasing ATTITUDE and EXPECTATION that we can and will be able to CONQUER anything that comes against us in our daily life**

The “demonstrated LOVE” of Christ as mentioned in Romans 8:7, is the firm foundation that will empower us as we endeavor to continually strengthen and confirm our ATTITUDE and EXPECTATION as a CONQUEROR through Christ in this life.  Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 teaches us how to grow in our intimate knowledge of how much Christ LOVES us… and believe-you-me… with that level of intimacy between us and God… NO force from hell can successfully come against you and me!***

So therefore, my daily confession is that I have an ATTITUDE and an EXPECTATION of a CONQUEROR! 

HOW ABOUT YOU?

Have a terrific weekend… and as you do… keep an eye out for opportunities for you to demonstrate your foundation of the LOVE of God working in you by… walking with an ATTITUDE and EXPECTATION of a CONQUEROR!

 

 *https://pjberruto.blogspot.com/2024/07/who-are-you.html

**Check out Romans 8:33-36

*** See Joshua 1:5