How To Be an Overcomer from the Inside Out

“. . . and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days” Luke 1: 69-75.

This passage speaks of how Jesus came to deliver the nation of Israel from her enemies. But if you read Luke 13: 34, 35, 19: 41-44 and 21: 20-24 it becomes clear that Israel was not delivered from her enemies.

In fact, Jerusalem was destroyed by her enemies in 70 AD. And these prophecies of Jesus were all fulfilled. Why then does this passage in Luke 1 speak of Jerusalem’s deliverance from her enemies?

Our passage today is actually a prophecy spoken by Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. To read it in its entirety, click here.

An Overcomer in the Spiritual then the Physical

Deliverance from physical enemies is always contingent upon deliverance from spiritual enemies. In order to be liberated from the enemies of our body, we must first be liberated from the enemies of our soul.

Said another way: To be an overcomer externally, we must first be an overcomer internally. Or, in the words of the apostle John in 3 John 1: “I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul”.

This promise of deliverance of Israel from her physical adversaries was conditional upon her being delivered from her spiritual adversaries- sin.

Whatever we have inwardly will be manifested outwardly. In order to get something in the spiritual realm, we must first have it in the spiritual realm.

Israel rejected Christ. She rejected His message of repentance, rejected the love of God. And in so doing also rejected salvation from her physical enemies. And was subsequently overthrown.

When we “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things will be added to us” Mathew 6: 33. To put it granularly, we don’t get our needs met, our heart’s desire or “all these things” which includes protection unless we first love our fellow Christians and overcome our sin.

There’s Only One Path that Leads to Life and It’s Narrow

Only the narrow path leads to life (Mathew &: 13, 14). And that’s the path of self-restraint, self-control and self-denial. We want our problems to go away. But they won’t until our sin goes away.

And that’s often because our problems are a direct consequence of our sin. But we don’t always see the connection.

Jesus exhorted Israel for three straight years: “Take the narrow path!” “Lose your life!” “Return to Me with all your heart!” He yearned for them to listen so He could deliver them of their physical enemies that were about to destroy them.

But they refused to be liberated in soul. Consequently, they also refused to be liberated in body.

Our Problems Are God’s Problem

So, here’s the message: if we want to be set free of our financial problems, relationship problems, health problems, we must work with God to overcome our sin problems.

But we usually do the opposite. We focus on all our outward problems in an effort to get rid of them. But our outward problems are not our problem. They are God’s!

Oftentimes He’s the only one who can do anything about them anyway. But He won’t until we focus on our sin problems. Because our difficulties are often the result of sin. So, when we deal with our sin we deal with the difficulties at the same time.

But because we don’t always see the connection, we focus on the wrong thing. As long as we do that our sin won’t go away. And neither will our problems.

At the risk of beating a dead horse: if we deal with our sin, we lose our sin and our problems. If we focus on our problems instead, we keep our sin and our problems.

An Overcomer Has to Trust

But it requires trust, of course, to concentrate on our sin and forget our problems. But that’s what’s required of an overcomer. “When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” Proverbs 16: 7.

A further proof that Jesus saved the world, but not His own people is reflected in Luke 23: 27-30:

“And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him.  But turning to them Jesus said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’  Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’”

Jesus spoke this prophecy as He was being led to the cross. The timing gives greater clarity to the message. Although He came to save Israel from destruction, they rejected Him and the message of faith and repentance.

He was still going to the cross for the sins of the world, still a Savior and Deliverer. But not of Israel. She did not recognize her day of visitation. And was ultimately crushed. Jesus saved the world but couldn’t save His own people.

To be sure there have been Jews down through the ages that have turned to Christ. But the Jews of His generation rejected His message, killed Him and were ultimately consumed by their enemies. Except, of course, for those on the periphery of society.

To read another post related to How to Be an Overcomer from the Inside Out, see Pain and Suffering in the Bible: A Deep Perspective.