More Than Conquerors

Hello,

As we begin another week of meeting life's challenges head on, I am happy to share yet another of my morning devotionals with you. It is my prayer that the content found within will inspire and empower you to be dominant and effective in your movements this week. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace


"In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us (Romans 8:37)."

This is more than victory. This is a triumph so complete that we have not only escaped defeat and destruction, but we have destroyed our enemies and won a spoil so rich and valuable that we can thank God that the battle ever came. How can we be "more than conquerors"? We can get out of the conflict a spiritual discipline that will greatly strengthen our faith and establish our spiritual character. Temptation is necessary to settle and confirm us in the spiritual life. It is like the fire which burns in the colors of mineral painting, or like winds that cause the mighty cedars of the mountain to strike more deeply into the soil. Our spiritual conflicts are among our choicest blessings, and our great adversary is used to train us for his ultimate defeat. The ancient Phrygians had a legend that every time they conquered an enemy the victor absorbed the physical strength of his victim and added so much more to his own strength and valor. So temptation victoriously met doubles our spiritual strength and equipment. It is possible thus not only to defeat our enemy, but to capture him and make him fight in our ranks.

The prophet Isaiah speaks of flying on the shoulders of the Philistines (Isa. 11:14). These Philistines were their deadly foes, but the figure suggested that they would be enabled not only to conquer the Philistines, but to use them to carry the victors on their shoulders for further triumphs. Just as the wise sailor can use a head wind to carry him forward by tacking and taking advantage of its impelling force; so it is possible for us in our spiritual life through the victorious grace of God to turn to account the things that seem most unfriendly and unfavorable, and to be able to say continually, 'The things that were against me have happened to the furtherance of the Gospel.'"
--Life More Abundantly

"A noted scientist observing that "early voyagers fancied that the coral-building animals instinctively built up the great circles of the Atoll Islands to afford themselves protection in the inner parts," has disproved this fancy by showing that the insect builders can only live and thrive fronting the open ocean, and in the highly aerated foam of its resistless billows. So it has been commonly thought that protected ease is the most favorable condition of life, whereas all the noblest and strongest lives prove on the contrary that the endurance of hardship is the making of the men, and the factor that distinguishes between existence and vigorous vitality. Hardship makes character."
--Selected

"Now thanks be unto God Who always leads us forth to triumph with the Anointed One, and Who diffuses by us the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place" (2 Cor. 2:14, literal translation).

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In my morning engagements with God, it is my intent to enhance my relationship with Him, while gaining a deeper understanding of my purpose. When I think of what it means to be a member of the royal family of God, I am simply taken aback. When the Apostle Paul says that we are "more than conquerors", he is revealing an extremely powerful truth, that when fully apprehended, provides the confidence that is necessary for believers to walk completely in their God ordained purposes. 

Dr. Rick Wallace 

As the writer so expressively reveals, we are not simply victors in our battles, we are more than victors. To conquer something is to totally subdue it. This is more than simply winning; it is taking complete control -- exercising absolute dominion. Yet, Paul says that we are "more" than conquers. This goes beyond the ability of natural human perspicacity. It stretches beyond our limited ability of expression. This state of being "more than conquerors" is an absolute state in which no questions are left to linger. 

Your adversity is not meant to break or destroy you. It is allowed by God to place you in the midst of a movement of His omnipotent power. It is to provide you access to the extraordinary. It is the pressure of life's vicissitudes and struggles that provides the impetus for faith-driven elevation and fulfillment. 

Don't lose sight of what God is doing in your life, for He is working for you something that is exceedingly and abundantly beyond all that you can even imagine.

Thank you for allowing me to come into your lives for this brief moment today. May you be richly blessed. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace 

Check out some additional resources by Dr. Rick Wallace 

1. The Invisible Father: Reversing the Curse of a Fatherless Generation - Dr. Wallace examines the destructive force of absentee fatherhood in America from a biblical Perspective

2. Renewing Your Mind: The Dynamics of Christian Transformation - Dr. Wallace discusses the power of your thought process to completely transform your life

3. Elevation through Revelation - This book was written to encourage and inspire you as you travel through life.

4. When Your House is Not a Home - Dr. Wallace engages the enigmatic issues that face marriage in America -- from a biblical perspective.

5. The Power of Healing Affirmations -- This short book goes straight to the matter of how you word and thought affect healing in your life. (A must read)

Blogs

1. 100 Men of Purpose -- Encouraging and teaching men to rise up in their God ordained design

2. Master Fitness 21 -- This site focuses on believers living healthy lives spiritually and physically

3. Anointed Inspirations -- A little something to get your day going.

4. Christian Impact -- The revelations of God that reveal the call and ability of believers to impact the world around them.

Empowered by God

Process Precedes Promise: Delay is Not Denial

"I called upon him, but he gave me no answer" (S. of Sol. 5:6).

The Lord, when He hath given great faith, hath been known to try it by long delayings. He has suffered His servants' voices to echo in their ears as from a brazen sky. They have knocked at the golden gate, but it has remained unmovable, as though it were rusted upon its hinges. Like Jeremiah, they have cried, "Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through."

Thus have true saints continued long in patient waiting without reply, not because their prayers were not vehement, nor because they were unaccepted, but because it so pleased Him who is a Sovereign, and who gives according to His own pleasure. If it pleases Him to bid our patience exercise itself, shall He not do as He will with His own!

No prayer is lost. Praying breath was never spent in vain. There is no such thing as prayer unanswered or unnoticed by God, and some things that we count refusals or denials are simply delays.
--H. Bonar

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It is important for us, as believers, to understand the principle of process. In simple, there can be no obtainment of the promise without there first being and endurance of the process. We so often attempt to lay hold of the promise while attempting to circumvent the process. God quickens through process. God strengthens through process. God elevates through process. God heals through process. God restores through process.

Dr. Rick Wallace

If you were to consult Joseph, he would tell you that he became the second highest ranking official in a foreign land, but he would also tell you that it was only after a 13 year process of betrayal, disappointment and delay. If you were to speak with David, he would tell you that he became king and the Messiah descended from his bloodline, but he would iterate that it only came after patience, waiting and preparation in the wilderness as a lowly shepherd boy. If you were to speak to father Abraham, he would tell you that he received a promise that he would sire a nation, but it took 25 years before the first seed of promise bore fruit. There is no attainment of the promise without there first being an endurance of the process.

Too often, we perceive delay to be denial. We tend to set time clocks on the rate of our advancement, forgetting that God is the author of time, but he is not bound by it. God moves when it is best for us.

God is faithful in performing all that He has promised, but you must be faithful in enduring the process through which the promise is executed. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace

Executing Christian Integrity (Installment 2)

In the first installment of this lesson series we discussed the Divine Dynasphere, a system of power designed by God the Father to sustain the humanity of Christ during his earthly ministry. We also learned that this sphere of power was bequeathed to us by Christ upon his departure from earth.

The apprehension of this exceptional truth provides an enormity of confidence for the Christian believer. The very system of power that sustained Christ during his earthly ministry is the same system of power that God uses to sustain each and every believer during their life here on earth. Christ did not only come to earth for the sake of saving humanity, but he also came to present the protocol plan of God and reveal the sphere of power available to each of us to execute this Divine plan.

As we progress in this study we will examine, in some detail, the uniqueness and efficacy of the Divine Dynasphere. Whether you are coaching a sports team of commanding an elite army, there are two necessary elements involved in a successful campaign. First there must be a strategic victory and then there must be a tactical victory.

The strategic victory is witnessed in the masterful planning of the executive agent (Coach, General, etc.). The strategic plan places the tactical agents or elements (players, soldiers, etc.) in the most advantageous position to insure victory. When executing His plan of grace, God sent our Lord Jesus Christ to bear the sin of mankind, he executed the perfect strategic victory over the enemy. He released humanity from the enslavement of sin. He provided the freedom and the power for humanity to execute His power and plan.

In the tactical element of the plan, it is the responsibility of the tactical agents to effectively execute the strategic plan. No matter how great a coach or how superior the general, the inability to tactically execute the plan leads to defeat. The awesome thing is God’s strategic victory over Satan was so complete that it guaranteed the tactical victory of all who would commit to following the plan. The victory has already been provided for every believer who will simply commit to the plan.

“But in all things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” (Rom. 8:37, NASB)

How do we conquer? We conquer by accessing the Divine assets that have been provided through the magnanimous work of Christ at Calvary. When Jesus Christ declared “It is finished” (John 19:30), it was a proclamation that all that is required to save, empower, equip and elevate the believer had been accomplished. It is the believer’s responsibility to access these assets and execute God’s specific plan for their lives while daily executing the Christian way of life.

All of the assets required to execute the Christian way of life is available in the Divine Dynasphere. In fact, outside of providing the power, the system presents the standards and organization necessary to reach optimum performance as a believer. The system provides the cohesiveness necessary to facilitate the required organization, discipline, authority, and training for each believer to actualize their full potential.

No matter how innovative an idea may be, without an organized system through which you may execute the idea, all efforts will lead to frustration and failure.

The Christian believer has been given many commands an mandates of which he/she is responsible for carrying out; however, every mandate and requirement associated with Christianity is facilitated by one Divine system of power.

Dr. Rick Wallace

As stated earlier, the cohesiveness of God’s system of power provides the proper environment to execute God’s plan. In order to be effective the believer must become familiar with God’s plan, which is also facilitated within the Divine Dynasphere. It is the responsibility of every believer to engage in the daily study, absorption, digestion, metabolism and inculcation of scripture so that they may become thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16, 17).

What God’s system provides is a superior system that transcends any plan that any Christian could devise. God has covered every contingency and provided for every challenge. It is when believers take on the mindset that they have it all figured it out that they get themselves in trouble. God has provided all that is necessary, we simply must execute the plan.

When the believer commits to working within the system, they progress toward their destiny and actualize their potential. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace

Never Too Dark; Never Too Far!

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ (2 Cor. 2:14).

Never Too Dark; Never Too Far!

God gets His greatest victories out of apparent defeats. Very often the enemy seems to triumph for a little, and God lets it be so; but then He comes in and upsets all the work of the enemy, overthrows the apparent victory, and as the Bible says, "turns the way of the wicked upside down." Thus He gives a great deal larger victory than we would have known if He had not allowed the enemy, seemingly, to triumph in the first place.

The story of the three Hebrew children being cast into the fiery furnace is a familiar one. Here was an apparent victory for the enemy. It looked as if the servants of the living God were going to have a terrible defeat. We have all been in places where it seemed as though we were defeated, and the enemy rejoiced. We can imagine what a complete defeat this looked to be. They fell down into the flames, and their enemies watched them to see them burn up in that awful fire, but were greatly astonished to see them walking around in the fire enjoying themselves. Nebuchadnezzar told them to "come forth out of the midst of the fire." Not even a hair was singed, nor was the smell of fire on their garments, "because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort."
This apparent defeat resulted in a marvelous victory.

Suppose that these three men had lost their faith and courage, and had complained, saying, "Why did not God keep us out of the furnace!" They would have been burned, and God would not have been glorified. If there is a great trial in your life today, do not own it as a defeat, but continue, by faith, to claim the victory through Him who is able to make you more than conqueror, and a glorious victory will soon be apparent. Let us learn that in all the hard places God brings us into, He is making opportunities for us to exercise such faith in Him as will bring about blessed results and greatly glorify His name.
--Life of Praise

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We have all been in the place in which it seemed as if the enemy had the upper hand or even worse, it seemed as it the enemy had already won. People had already written you off and the rumors of your demise had already began to circulate. Yet, God honors his Word and He has never failed to deliver on a promise. He has promised that we are more than conquerors. He has promised that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. He has promised that when the enemy rushes in like a flood, He would raise up a standard against them.

I am sure that Job had to feel that defeat had found him as he sat in the midst of his grief and heartache, yet his faith in God's faithfulness would not let him believe that the final word had been spoken. It was that unwavering and inexorable faith that caused Job to say, "...I will wait until my change comes."

I am certain that when Isaiah came to Hezekiah and told him to get his house in order because his sickness was unto death, I know that Hezekiah had to feel that defeat had finally found him, after all, this word came through the man of God, directly from God. Yet, Hezekiah had enough faith to turn toward the wall and have one last talk with God, and after telling God that the grave could not praise you, he got a 15 year reprieve.

I can see Daniel being charged and found guilty of praying after hours and being thrown into the lions den. I'm sure there was a moment that it looked as if his enemy has scored a decisive victory,  but Daniel had seen too many moves of the hand of God in his lifetime to be shaken by a den of Lions. His faith closed the mouths of the lions and silenced his critics.

Dr. Rick Wallace

I'm sure that when Jeremiah found himself in that pit that death had to seem imminent, but that fire breathing preacher called on the God that had preordained him before he was even conceived and the delivering hand of the Lord moved.


Whatever you are going through right now is not too big for God to move. Even when it seems that it is too late, when it has moved beyond the 11th hour, I want you to know that God shows up, even after midnight. He is a show up God. He is a big move God. He is a God that allows you to fall into the realm of the impossible because He specializes in the impossible. He is about to completely show-out in your life. He is about to do the spectacular on your behalf. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace