How to overcome 2
Pastor Patience Kimathi
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,
‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept [c]My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 [d]Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.
13 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’(Rev. 3:7-13, NKJV).
The second step for you to overcome is to understand your position in Christ Jesus.
Watchman Nee in his book, Sit, Walk and Stand, writes that for a Christian to be successful in the world, they must learn to sit walk and stand.
Sitting means recognizing your place and position in Christ Jesus.
The book of Ephesians tells us how to assume this position. For context, Paul wrote this book to the church of Ephesus; an extremely rich church in Christ but who walked like beggars because they did not understand the riches that God has deposited in them.
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (Eph. 1: 17:21 NIV).
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:4-7, NKJV)
Our position is in heavenly places and thus where Christ sits there we sit and what he has done we too have done.
The Bible says that he descended into the lower parts and took the key of life and death and that the same power that raised him from death lives in us.
It is so unfortunate that most believers are oblivious of this truth and thus walk as a defeated people who do not know their position in Christ.
If we are to receive our reward, we must know where we sit. Only then can we stand and walk.