Overcoming the World
When we see the utter disaster that the world of humans has become, it’s difficult to see what we, as Christians, can do. What are we to even think, how are we ever to take godly action to address all that is wrong in our earthly existence? There are internal and external calamities everywhere we look. There are overwhelming manmade and God-allowed afflictions and suffering everywhere, whether known and visible to us or not. Though it has been said through the centuries, and even centuries of darkness and incredible struggle, it truly is worsening everywhere in the world.
What is it that God would have those of us who follow Him do about any of it? Are we to just bury our heads in the sand and proclaim the whole thing impossible? Are we to throw ourselves into every cause, giving the work of our hands and the fruit of our labors to address all the ills around us? Can we merrily enjoy our own comfortable lives while ignoring what others are dealing with on a daily basis? What can one lone Christian really do?
J. Preston Eby (paraphrased) says we are not to sit with idle hands and complain that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, but invest ourselves in prayer, love to all, righteousness, faith, spiritual understanding and maturity, with spiritual warfare through the mighty work of the Spirit of God within—until we can fulfill the word of God in Isaiah to His own:
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you.” Isaiah 60:1-2 NIV
For the bondslaves of Christ to whom Revelation was written, and as Paul called himself, the work of this age for God’s called, chosen, and faithful is to gain ground in Him. Our highest calling right now is to allow God’s processing of all we have submitted to the Father’s will. As we allow the fires of change He brings to each of us to do His work, He also brings a Word of power and authority that will change the hearts of men.
How we long for this and how difficult to wait when we hear the cries from others, seeing so many living in hellish conditions on this earth! And the darkness surely is increasing as the days, the years, the centuries pass. It is useless to try to change the world of outer appearances, to focus on what we visibly see that is sin, that misses the mark of godly living. It is there, but we require spiritual eyes of Love to address sinful behaviors.
The eyes of the spirit within have the Lord’s wisdom and revelation to discern what the root and source of any issue is. Then we can be used to intercede, to speak to, to address the source of every issue as God gives the grace to flow to others in powerful ways. Consider the prayer of a righteous person:
“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16b ESV
“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16b NIV
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16b KJV
For a nation of doers, it’s good to meditate on the incredible power of prayer by those called to righteousness. Such prayer by the saints has great power, is effective, and accomplishes much. But it must go past the surface of human behavior to look at the heart, the root of the matter. We are given spiritual eyes to see and understand the words God has said all throughout the Bible:
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” Jeremiah 17:9-11 NIV
"…[Jesus said] ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.’” Mark 7:21-23 NIV
To have power and authority to actually make the world a better place, we must have wise discernment. Man’s heart is mortally ill—destined for death. Who can know this desperately wicked, evil heart within humans? It is truly a bottomless pit, as Revelation states. God investigates the heart where evil dwells, is nurtured, and grows into evil actions visible to others.
As we gain wisdom in God’s school, we are enabled to discern by the spirit, so that our prayers really are effective and powerful. No longer will we rail against the visible sins of the world. We are learning to be like Him, looking inside, as God does, to address matters of the heart of humans.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:10-12 NIV
The battle is not with people but with spirits that rule within their hearts. The earth is satan’s domain and he operates in the hearts of men. All that falls short of God’s righteousness as shown in the live and character of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ—the lust of the eyes, the sins of the flesh, the pride of life—all come from hearts that yield to it.
What is an effective, powerful prayer of intercession regarding the path into oblivion that humans seem to be on? It must be much more powerful and effective than the do’s and don’ts of religion, the laws attempting to correct sin.
“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.
They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” Colossians 2:16-23 NIV
Freedom from rules! Whether it’s our own or another’s, Jesus declared us free in Him from external rules. He was pointing out how worthless the Jewish rules were in actually restraining the fleshly ways of man. It may seem like godly wisdom when we follow rules and laws, but it does not work righteousness within. Rules are laws that require the application of will rather than submission to God for change. It is the heart change that God requires and only He can do it.
We submit to rules and laws from childhood through adulthood, but they do not result in the character of Christ being created within us. They are necessary to teach us, but cannot change us. Those who put decrees on believers have forgotten that we died with Christ in order to live in Him. It may look good, seeming godly in outward appearance, but falls short of pleasing the Lord, with no power to change the flesh.
So then, what does? The love of God is the most powerful force in the earth! There is no situation that God’s love and mercy cannot conquer. It behooves us to become the love of God in this earth!
“The commandments ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:9-10 Berean
It’s not the commandments that we are unable in our humanity to fulfill, it is the love of God that brings the change as well as the freedom in Christ. Satan continues to work in the hearts of men to oppose the rulership and authority of Jesus Christ within us. He won that battle for us, but we are required to walk out His victory over satan in our earthly lives. Rather than focusing on rebuking the devil, let us look to God, the author and finisher of our faith, for the work needed to change the world.
There are so many things humans consider important to show forth a righteous life that are truly not important to God. When Jesus and His disciples were judged for eating on the sabbath from the fields of corn without washing their hands, He had to explain to them:
“Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man `unclean.'
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. These are what make a man `unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him `unclean.'" Matthew 15:17-20 NIV
The people of Jesus’ time, as it is now, held up religious rules and behaviors as the standard of righteousness. In contrast, Jesus held up the condition of the heart. Some carnal-minded Christians assume experiencing adversity means we did something wrong, in some way deserving the adversity that comes upon us. They do not realize that we are to share in Jesus’ sufferings in order to qualify to reign with Him. He did nothing to deserve these tests from the adversary and many people are also innocent though suffering.
Much of the world’s woes of adversity—illness and death, natural disasters and wars, poverty and deprivation—are not the result of individuals impacted by it, except in a collective way as part of their community, their country, or the decisions of those in power and authority. These are just a part of what all humans go through while living here, which He overcame for us. We are subject to these things while we are here, but Jesus has already overcome the world.
Of course, we make choices that influence the outcomes in our lives for good or bad, but God’s word is immutable. What we sow, we will reap, unless God’s mercy and grace makes a way of escape. More than one scriptural passage reveals the struggle of God’s servants to understand the flourishing of evil leading them to question why evil within men and women seems to prosper:
“You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you.Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.
Yet you know me, Lord; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter! How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, ‘He will not see what happens to us.’ “Jeremiah 12:1-4 NIV
We can talk it over with the Lord as He teaches us to overcome the world in us. It is a certainty that we cannot do it in our own strength. We need spiritual discernment to even recognize what is worldly and what is righteous in our own hearts. But God will have a people without spot or wrinkle, fully prepared to intercede on behalf of others in this most difficult of times—whatever comes, filled with the power of His life and love:
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:1-20 ESV
This a an excellent recipe for overcoming the world within us so we are equipped to strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ. We expose the darkness by bringing the light of God into this world of darkness. All the peoples of the world are in desperate need of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who will take all back to our wonderful God, Father of us all.
“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 KJV