July, 7, 2023
To feel like a champion, be confident of victory.
For we are more than conquerors! Dear friends, could the Bible state that any more clearly? For we are more than conquerors! We are champions!
After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers hiked up a mountain to assess the damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched like a statue on the ground at the base of a tree. Bending to take a closer look, he touched the bird with a stick. As it rolled over, three tiny babies scurried out from under their dead mother’s wings. The loving mother, aware of the impending disaster, had carried her children to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety, but she refused to abandon her children. She had been willing to die so that those under the cover of her wings would live.
The Bible says, “He will cover you with His wings and you will find refuge.” (Psalm 91:4) Maybe you’re feeling the heat right now. But you are more than a conqueror! Jesus died for you. On the cross, He spread out His arms to shield you. No matter what you’re going through, He’s got you covered.
One day I received a call. “Jeff, mom is dying. She is not expected to live through the day. Can you come and give her last rites, a final blessing?”
When I arrived at the nursing home, I found an aged woman, her face lined, her breathing labored. Laura, a member of our church, stood beside her bed, holding her hand.
I said, “Laura, when she entered this world, a priest said these words over her as she was baptized. I say them to her now as she prepares to leave this world and enter the next … In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Receive the Holy Cross both upon the head and upon the heart marking you as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified.” I slowly made the sign of the cross over her, preparing her for heaven.
And then, these words came to me, popping fully formed into mind, these words I bring to you today: “For we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us! For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” A short time later, she breathed her last.
Some of you are thinking, Jeff, she is not a conqueror. She is aged and worn. The cold hands of death are wrapped around her. No, the hands of victory are lifting her. The Risen Christ, bursting with triumph and victory and unquenchable life, is claiming her as his own. She is marked by the cross and registered as a citizen of the Kingdom. She now walks in the golden light of heaven. She is more than a conqueror!
Hear again these words! “If God is for us, how can we lose? …. For we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us!”