We Are More Than Conquerors...

“The surf that distresses the ordinary swimmer produces in the surf-rider the super-joy of going clean through it.”

–Oswald Chambers.

The truth is, we’re restored by the love that sees us through all difficulties and trials in life—we are more than conquerors not in spite of these distresses, but in the midst of them. It’s because of them.

Just being there and surviving is enough for us to experience joy because we are capable, in Christ Jesus, to withstand the torrent of a life ambush, foundations intact (Matthew 7:24-27).

A thought for us on faith: life is never more inspirational than when we’re crowded in with our fears and hopelessness’s, yet we remain with an inexplicable hope, beyond even human understanding. Of course, this is via the blood of the Lamb—shed, yes, for us. That we would repent of our own self-sufficiency (a life excluding God) and face these torments with the confessing hope not known to anyone but the true Christ-lover.

The essence of Paul’s wonderful charge in Romans 8:37 is: the more that comes against us, the more we bear up and endure, the more God is glorified in and through us—but we don’t stop there.

It is God’s righteous wisdom that turns all our horrors and dire struggles and deep concerns—that joined with a smile within; a smile we can hardly manufacture, but we do—into heart-refining gold for the next part of the journey, and the next and so forth. And this is so others can benefit too.

When people and situations turn against us, we’re in a great position to allow the Spirit of God to fight that fight; we merely follow patiently and courageously in obedience, stepping out of the way where we must. And we hardly will believe how God will turn these plots that are against us to our very own salvation and glory—through him who loves us eternally.

We can now very easily see that nothing is actually against us; all is for us, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Joy upon sodden joy; what more is there? This is a victorious truth that holds us fast in the storms of life. It’s not a truth that only works sometimes for some people. It is universal if it’s applied in genuine faith.

We’re all potential surf-riders taking on Bells Beach, like in Point Break (1991). The larger the metaphorical wave—that which threatens our mental, emotional and spiritual stability; to our very lives—the more real is the spiritual blessing of God realised in actually riding ‘clean through it.’

If it weren’t for these struggles we would not know the hardened-bond strength of the love of God. How wonderful that thought is! It’s the very struggle that defines us!

© 2009 S. J. Wickham.