More Than Conquerors

       As we await that glorious Day when we shall see Christ coming in the clouds, Paul gives us more details about our time now in Romans 8. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (vs. 5-6).
        We know we are children of God, and that gives us hope even in the face of persecution and injustice. Since it is not yet God’s appointed time to deal with evil once and for all, verse 25 tells us that we still eagerly wait for it with perseverance—all while standing in victory and in the light.
          When we come to the point where we don’t know what to pray in these times, the Holy Spirit comes to our aid. “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (verses 26-27).
          Even when events don’t turn out the way we think they should, we know that God is greater and can bring something good out of every situation—if we’re willing to learn. He does this because we are called out ones according to His purpose.
         The Chronos Lesson: Paul reminds us that when we see the signs of the extended tribulation, “what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (vs. 31-32). If you’re not sure what things He will freely give us, check out Psalm 91. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (vs. 35).
         Just in case we’re not sure of the answer, Paul answers it for us. “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 37-39).
     This is the true definition of predestination. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (verses 29-30). Our destiny as individual believers is to be more than a conqueror, both now through the authority we have in Christ, and at the rapture when we overcome death through resurrection, as our Lord did.