More Than Conquerors

Imagine this scenario with me:

You are the general. You are leading your troops into battle. You overtake the enemy. You defeat them. Your soldiers have the choice of two things to do with the enemy: kill them, or make them your servants. If you kill them, your soldiers are conquerors. If you take the defeated enemy and compel them to serve you in any way you want, then you are more than conquerors.

In a very real sense, when you trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, your eternal enemy the devil, and all of his demonic forces, were defeated in your life. That means the devil has no authority over you. He is defeated. And he knows it. He will try to intimidate you, depress you, accuse you, tempt you, scare you, and distract you from following the will of God. But remember, he is defeated. And he knows it.

So in Christ, you are victorious.

And because you ARE victorious, you CAN BE victorious over every scheme of the devil. On a moment by moment basis, as you trust in the power of the risen Christ who is alive and at work in you through the person of the Holy Spirit, you are able to overcome your enemy, the devil.

But you are not just a conqueror. You are more than a conqueror.

And as more than a conqueror, you take the habits, sins, fears, and everything that held you in captivity before you were set free by Christ, and use them as a ministry to help others find Christ and find life everlasting in Jesus.

Romans 8:31-39 (HCSB) 

³¹ What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He did not even spare His own Son but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything? ³³ Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the One who justifies. ³⁴ Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the One who died, but even more, has been raised; He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: Because of You we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, ⌊hostile⌋ powers, ³⁹ height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

According to Romans 8:31-39, answer the following questions:

• If God is FOR you, who is against you?
• What will God grant the believer in Christ, according to verse 32?
• Who is the only person that can bring a charge against God’s elect?
• What do verses 33-34 say that Jesus did for you?
• Describe why the situations mentioned in verses 35-36 are faith-testers, showing who truly has faith in Jesus Christ.
• For the true believer, can the situations and powers described in verses 35-39 separate you from the love of God? How do you know?
• How does the love of God in Christ help us to be more than a conqueror in each of the situations mentioned in verses 35-39? Take them one at a time, and think about or discuss them with another believer. Consider believers around the world and through the centuries who have faced the situations mentioned in these verses. How did God’s love help them?
• Describe one way that God has helped you to be more than a conqueror through Christ.