ELLICEPARK

overcomer vs succumber

traits to acquire if you want to be a succumber [not a real dictionary word]

1. convince yourself that nobody cares about you

2. tell yourself that everybody is against you

3. act like doom and gloom is around every corner

4. believe that the successes of others are due to the lucky breaks they get

5. become convinced that your best efforts will not succeed anyway

6. presuppose that no matter what you do you will be misunderstood

7. presume you could do a lot better if others weren’t always against you

8. constantly complain that your life has no real significance

9. always worry that nothing will ever work out right

10. be paranoid; surely others do not want you to overcome bad things

10 declarations of overcomers

1. 
   nothing can separate me from the love of jesus christ. romans 8:38-39
2. if God is for me, who can be against me? romans 8:31
3. i choose to believe the best about everyone until proven otherwise; romans 14:10
4. i will follow the golden rule and look out for the interests of others. matt 7:12; luke 6:31
5. no matter what happens, God will never forsake me. hebrews 13:5
6. i can do all things thru christ who strengthens me. phil. 4:13
7. i will ask God for wisdom, and He will give it to me. james 1:5
8. i will remain steadfast, knowing that nothing i do for God is in vain. 1 cor. 15:58
9. i will do al things without complaining or murmurering. phil. 2:14
10. i know that whatever i sow , that i will also reap. gal. 6:7

& overcomers guard their minds + emotions

> emotions are easily manipulated than cognitive thoughts. love can become lust; anger to vengeance; fear to incapacitation; sorrow to uncontrollable grief. what started out as a simple, honest emotion, not evil at all, soon begets sin. emotions not evil in and of themselves. every one of them can be used for good. what you channel emotions into may be evil. 

overcomers.

once in position on the throne of God’s authority, we can expect to experience firsthand three realities

1. ‘he who overcomes shall inherit all things’ rev. 21:17

2. ‘and i will be his God’ rev. 21:7

3. ‘and he shall be my son’ rev. 21:7

we have been elevated to rule and reign with Him. we don’t have to wait for heaven. it begins now, right where we are.

defining a warrior

besides alertness to potential assaults and attention to spiritual armor, five distinguishing features

1. never focused on fear

2. is right with God

3. knows how to fight on any battlefield

4. knows what he is fighting for

5. knows that losing is not an option

wimpy warriors

3 factors

1. intimidation fo the enemy

2. self doubt

3. self condemnation : don’t think they could win. they forgot about God. 

1 sam. 17:8-11

1 sam. 17:26-28

1 sam. 16:18

quote p 43-44: the modern world is full of supervisors, managers, admins, and execs, but vry few warriors (outside of the nat’l armed services). that puts us at a disadvantage. we don’t have much of a concept of what a warrior is like, nor do we have an appreciation for soldierly behavior. for lots of good reasons, we value peace-making and compromise. but the main spiritual result produced by our compromising ways is that we do not know how to fight and win the great battles of the human soul. both the world and the body of christ desperately need real warriors who know how to engage in ultimate, extreme, external battles.

for inner healing and spiritual freedom,

K’s or millions of strongholds that the enemy exploits.

most common ones fall into 6 categories:

1. fear

2. anger

3. rejection

4. depression

5. self hatred

6. abuse

these emotions can be attacked. if the enemy has set up housekeeping in that part of your life, it’s as if he owns that emotion. satan runs a stealth operation. of course he doesn’t want people to know they have strongholds. he knows you’ll leave him alone if you think your chronic emotional and relational problems are your own fault, or that you can blame them on your parents. he also knows you will leave him alone if you feel ashamed of your behavior, so he makes sure you feel vulnerable and fearful about sharing your need with others. the enemy will lie to you. 

key to forgiveness is doing the second step. completion.

1. forgive them, forgive yourself, ask for forgiveness.

2. ask for desire TO BLESS them. then bless them. 

and always bless yourself as you bless others. even if you dont know it, you end up blessing yourself when you bless others.