WORLD OVERCOMING FAITH.

"...Everyone Who is born from God has overcome the world. OUR FAITH IS THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOMES THE WORLD."

(1 JOHN 5:4 ISV).

"... Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, WILL HE FIND FAITH on earth?"

(LUKE 18:8).

Everyone who is born of God or born again, has within them an inborn potentiality to be an overcomer in life.

We are not trying to be overcomers; we are overcomers! That's who we are, we are born that way.

At the new birth, God "...dealt (or apportioned) to every man the measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3). It is up to the individual to develop their own faith to a level where they can become world overcomers for God!

               TWO KINDS OF FAITH.

 Short Term Faith And Long Term Faith

The short term faith is an intimidated faith. It believes God for the time being, provided situations are favourable, but the next minute it comes crashing down the moment the heat is on!

Jesus said, "Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them... is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the FOUNDATION ON A ROCK: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was FOUNDED UPON A ROCK.

But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that WITHOUT FOUNDATION BUILT AN HOUSE UPON THE EARTH; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great" (Lk. 6:47-49).

Notice that, that house fell because it was built on a faulty foundation. The reason why there are so many spiritual casualties in the Church world today is due to the fact that majority of Christians did not bother to build their lives on the foundation of God's Word from the onset. They waited till it was too late. Faith building is not automatic; it's a process!

The Bible says, "... Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17).

You see, it's a gradual and continual process. You need to discipline yourself to continually feed your spirit with the Word of God in order to build a strong faith.

Short Term Faith - The Intimidated Faith.

The timid or Intimidated faith is based on the five natural senses, and not on the Word of God, thus it shivers at the sight of troubles, and it is easily moved by the circumstance. It is built on a wobbly foundation.

A lot of people build their faith on transient things - things they can see and touch like money, material possessions or on a fellow human being. Little wonder, their faith is short-lived. Faith should be built on God and His Word alone!

Ten out of the twelve men that Moses sent to the promise land for a feasibility study had timid faith. Hear their words:

"And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; FOR WE ARE WELL ABLE TO OVERCOME IT. 

But the men that went up with him said, WE BE NOT ABLE TO GO UP AGAINST THE PEOPLE; FOR THEY ARE STRONGER THAN WE.

... The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that WE SAW in it are men of a great stature.

And there WE SAW the giants...And WE WERE IN OUR OWN SIGHT AS GRASSHOPPERS, AND SO WE WERE IN THEIR SIGHT" (Num. 13:30-33).

The ten spies, excluding Caleb and Joshua, based their faith on what they saw. They walked by sight. They had a grasshopper mentality - a defeatist mentality. It's a by product of timid or Intimidated faith.

They didn't enter the promise land, the devil ate them for lunch. They used their own mouth to declare their doom, thus they died like grasshoppers! "A fool's mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul" (Prov. 18:7).

Your words locate were you are standing in the arena of faith. Show me a fellow with pessimistic words and attitude, and I will show you a person who have sealed or barricaded the doors leading to their destinations in life so to speak.

Then, they will run to some sorcerer or soothsayer who pretends to be a Prophet, have mastered the art of religious decorum, to find out what could be wrong with them, thereby compounding their situation by getting involved in unscriptural practices.

WORLD OVERCOMING FAITH IS PERSEVERING, RUGGED AND RESILIENT IN NATURE. IT DOESN'T QUIT TOO SOON EVEN IN THE FACE OF SEEMING IMPOSSIBILITIES, BECAUSE IT'S BANKING ON THE ETERNAL WORD OF GOD!

Faith is the victory that overcomes the world (the devil and his emissaries). Jesus won the ultimate victory on our behalf, but we must enforce Satan's defeat in our individual lives. Your faith is your victory, and not someone else's faith!

Long Term Faith - World Overcoming Faith.

World Overcoming Faith is persevering, rugged and resilient in nature. It's capable of weathering any storm. It doesn't quit too soon even in the of seeming impossibilities because it's banking on the eternal Word of God that can never fail!

In Luke chapter 18, Jesus posed a question: "... When the Son of man cometh, SHALL HE FIND FAITH ON THE EARTH?"

Now, Jesus is not talking about a fair weather faith; a kind of faith that believes God only when things are rosy, and stops believing God when things aren't favourable.

Persevering faith is undaunted and unperturbed by the circumstances. Such kind of faith is very rare to come by these days. Everyone seems to be looking for some "quick fixes" - something that can put to them over just at the press of a button.

Check out the credentials of the heroes of faith in the in the eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews. These are men and women who made their mark in  the Kingdom through persevering faith, even at the expense of to their lives!

Little wonder, the Holy Ghost decided to immortilize them in the Bible, so they could serve as models for future generations.

I wish I don't have to say this: the truth is that we have more mere professors of religion than practicing Christians in these day and age.

The craze for religious titles, positions and prestige has taken the place of genuine spiritual desire and reverent for God which the early Church were characterized with.

It's about time we "...earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints" (Jude 1:3).

We are living in the last minute of the final days. The end of all things is at hand.

Most of the negative happenings in our nation and around the world has spiritual implications.

They are meant to remind us of our primary assignment, and the fact that we are "... Strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Heb. 11:13).

And while we are still here, "...The just shall live by his faith" (Hab. 2:4).

There is no better time in the history of the Church that the faith message is more relevant than in these final days in which we live.

One of these days, the King of Kings and Lord of Lord's will show up in our world. 

If you are one of those expecting His soon return, then you need to get back into faith!🛡🛡🛡

             Emmanuel B. Afolabi

About Me: I'm passionate about helping people to know the Lord personally, and to relate with Him intimately.