Colors
Writer Author Jerry Lee Kay Sr.
Christian Article
:
Christian Living
- Fiction No
My Twin Sister was stricken with polio at a very young age, and I don't have enough words in my vocabulary to express how deep is my love for her. We were very close until her death sixteen years ago at age fifty one. Although she was limited in physical things she was a powerhouse in things of the Spirit. She truly loved to tease me and say, "Jeremiah, you may have the legs, but God gave me the brain." One of her friends once said to her in her teenage years "Affliction really does change the color of life doesn't it?"... My courageous young sister agreed, and said, "But Abba has given me the "power' to choose which color".
At her young age she had already discovered one of life's great secrets: It's not what happens to you that matters as much as what happens inside you. For faith in God does not so much shield us from danger and death as it gives us the power to overcome it.
In the words of Paul, "how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out" (Romans 11:33). The best we can do in this life is to map the mystery. My finite mind cannot fathom God nor people like my sister. She found early on, a place that few ever find, a place of rest and freedom.
Most Christians are like a man who was toiling along the road, bending under a heavy burden, when a wagon overtook him, and the driver kindly offered to help him on his journey. He joyfully accepted the offer, but when seated, continued to bend beneath his burden, which he still kept on his shoulders. "Why do you not lay down your burden?" asked the kind-hearted driver. "Oh!" replied the man, "I feel that it is almost too much to ask you to carry me, and I could not think of letting you carry my burden too." And so Christians, who have given themselves into the care and keeping of the Lord Jesus, still continue to bend beneath the weight of their burden, and often go weary and heavy-laden throughout the whole length of their journey.
Lord, I am so glad that You are the Great "I AM" and that You have power over every force in the universe. When You speak, Life replaces death, and your Kingdom rules and reigns! Because You live inside me, Your power is resident in me and ready to set me free from any force that tries to come against me. I stand on Your Word, Lord. I speak it out loud by faith and therefore expect to see mountains move out of the way for me and those that dare to receive this revelation....I thank You in Jesus' name!
Sis spoke in superlatives, and therefore you can rightly sum it up in this way:....when she spoke she spoke of freedom from every limited horizon.Never Forget That You Are More Than a Conqueror!
Her favorite scripture was Romans 8:31-39, and when we were very young she insisted that we memorize it together. When she was on her death bed she had me come to her and we quoted it together everyday. When I preached her funeral that was the text she requested that I use.
How do you see yourself? As a champion who wins nearly every fight? Or as a loser—someone who struggles along, never seeming to conquer a single problem? How you perceive yourself is very important because it will ultimately affect the way other people see you. Have you ever met someone who had a bad self-image or who always seemed to carry an air of inferiority around with him? It isn't hard to discern this attitude in people. They feel so badly about themselves that they exude their negative perception of themselves and their sense of insecurity. On the other hand, if you've ever met individuals who are self-confident and self-assured, you know that it's easy to recognize their confidence. Why? Because a confident person exudes confidence.
It is simply a fact that you will inevitably project what you feel about yourself to others. So this question about how you see yourself is very important. If you see yourself as a champion who wins every fight, that is exactly how others will see you. But if you see yourself as someone who struggles and wrestles with a bad self-image—that is precisely how others will perceive you. So let's turn to Romans 8:37 to see what the Word of God has to say about us. In this verse, Paul declares that "... we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." I want to especially draw your attention to the phrase "more than conquerors." It comes from the Greek word hupernikos, a compound of the words huper and nikos. By joining the words huper and nikos together into one word, Paul is making one fabulous, jammed-packed, power-filled statement about you and me!
The words "more than" are derived from the Greek word huper, which literally means over, above, and beyond. It depicts something that is way beyond measure. It carries the idea of superiority—something that is utmost, paramount, foremost, first-rate, first-class, and top-notch; greater, higher, and better than; superior to; preeminent, dominant, and incomparable; more than a match for; unsurpassed, unequaled, and unrivaled by any person or thing. Now Paul uses this same word to denote what kind of conquerors we are in Jesus Christ. We are huper-conquerors! Paul uses this word huper to dramatize our victory. This is what Paul meant to get across in Romans 8:37: "We are greater conquerors, superior conquerors, higher and better conquerors!" "We are more than a match for any foe!" "We are utmost conquerors, paramount conquerors, top-notch conquerors, unsurpassed conquerors, unequaled and unrivaled conquerors!"
But we must continue to the next part of the verse, where Paul calls us "conquerors." The word "conqueror" is from the Greek word nikos. The word nikos describes an overcomer; a conqueror, champion, victor, or master. It is the picture of an overwhelming, prevailing force. However, the word nikos alone wasn't strong enough to make Paul's point, so he joined the words huper and nikos together to make his point even stronger!When you put these two words together, they form the word hupernikos, which declares that in Jesus Christ, you are an overwhelming conqueror, a paramount victor, or an enormous overcomer. This word is so power-packed that one could interpret it as a phenomenal, walloping, conquering force!
That's precisely who you are in Jesus Christ! So stop looking at yourself as a struggling loser. Regardless of your past experiences, you must begin to look at yourself through God's eyes and in the light of Romans 8:37. This verse declares that you are always the winner and never a loser! And when you begin to see yourself the way God sees you, it will change the way others see you too. Resolve right now to see yourself the way the Word of God does—as a walloping and conquering force! You are more than a match for any adversary or foe that would come against you today!
Those of you that read me often, have heard me talk of John Running Wolf my friend and spiritual mentor. John was a rancher/teacher that lived in far West Texas, he asked me to come and work with him one spring with his cattle. We met at the entrance of one of his pastures on a ranch road in the middle of no where, as he was giving me instructions on what he needed for me to do, a car drove up, a man got out asking how far it was to Abilene. John looked at me with a sheepish grin on his face and told the man, "Well if you keep going the way your going it is about 30,000 miles. But, if you'll just turn around and go the other way it's less than 300 miles. Sometimes what we need is a willingness to turn around and go in a new direction.
If we keep going the way we’re going, many of us will never arrive at strength. We will never be equal to the difficulties life throws at us. Our imagined strength will always be weakness. Our only hope is to turn around, acknowledge our need, and allow God to turn our weakness into strength.
My sister once said, "Your clothes say something about who you are: your gender, your age, your economic status, maybe even how you feel about yourself, but if you were wearing Eskimo clothes or Arabian clothes, your real self would not change. You are not an Eskimo nor are you an Arab.You would still be who you are, so your real self is not your facade nor your outward appearance" Beloved we are... who and what is on the inside!
(Ro 8:31) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (32) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (33) Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. (34) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36) As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (38) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Praise the Lord! If God be for us, who can be against us?With the Lord, we are in the majority! When Noah was building the ark, he was in the minority, but He and God won. Joseph was in the minority when he was sold into slavery in Egypt, but he ended up being victorious. Elijah was in the minority when he confronted the prophets of Baal, but he and the Lord won the battle of the day. David was in the minority when he confronted Goliath, but won the fight with the Lord's help. Israel feared that Goliath was too big to defeat, but David felt that Goliath was too big to miss. Gideon and the Lord won the battle with the Midianites even though there were 300 men against tens of thousands. You may be in a situation today where you might be in the minority. Realize you are in the majority with God. That's a confidence booster. God is for us. He is on our side. This is how Tyndale, the man who greatly influenced the KJV, translated this passage in 1534... "if God be on our side: who can be against us?"
Affliction really does change the color of life doesn't it?"... But Abba has given us the "power' to choose which color.
God Bless You
Poppa
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About the Writer Author
State:
Texas
Country:
United States
Email:
jerryleekay@suddenlink.net
Website:
www.jerryleekay.net
Profile:
Click here!
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