Living the Overcoming Life Through the Holy Spirit and the Written Word | May 24, 2025 | PHB

Preparing His Bride | May 24, 2025 As a believer, you have been designed by God to live as an overcomer, not as a victim of circumstances. This overcoming life isn't optional—it's your spiritual DNA and divine calling. Understanding this truth will transform how you approach every challenge you face. Your journey involves conquering several distinct categories of opposition. First, you must overcome sins of the flesh—fornication, lying, stealing, strife, and immoral behavior. These obvious sins can disqualify you from God's kingdom if practiced habitually. But beyond these visible sins, you must also conquer sins of the heart: hatred, murmuring, and hidden resentments that you might camouflage from others but cannot hide from God. Perhaps most challenging is overcoming your personal disobedience to God's specific instructions for your life. These aren't grand biblical commandments, but daily, seemingly small directions from the Holy Spirit: visit someone, give financially to a specific person, spend extra time in prayer, or simply stay home and seek God. Your obedience to these "little" instructions determines whether you'll hear God's voice for bigger assignments. You must also overcome self—particularly vain glory, the desire for human approval and recognition. This subtle sin causes you to structure your actions around gaining applause from people rather than approval from God. Additionally, you're called to overcome trials and tribulations, whether they're daily irritations that test your patience or major persecution that comes because you follow Christ. Finally, you must overcome sickness and death in your physical body, and the snares of this world that would entangle you in ungodly systems and compromise. God hasn't left you defenseless in these battles. The moment you became born again, Christ took residence in your spirit, and the Holy Spirit became your guide. This means the overcoming nature is already within you—you possess the spiritual authority and power needed for victory. However, having this equipment and knowing how to use it are different matters. Your spiritual maturity requires intentional training, just as becoming a medical doctor requires years of study and practice. God wants to raise you from a spiritual child (technon) to a mature son (huios)—someone who can discern and do the Father's will. This training comes through daily disciplines that many believers resist or neglect. You must build yourself up through prayer in the Holy Spirit, allowing this supernatural language to strengthen your inner man. Study God's word not just for knowledge, but to understand His character, judgments, and ways. Learn to recognize His voice above the competing voices of your soul and the enemy. Most importantly, submit to the Spirit's leading in seemingly insignificant daily matters. When He prompts you to help someone, visit someone, or sacrifice something, your obedience in these small things trains your spiritual ear for larger assignments. Disobedience in minor areas will eventually cut off your ability to hear God's voice entirely. God needs mature believers who can be led by His Spirit to accomplish His work on earth. Many Christians never enter the first phase of their true ministry because they remain too busy for genuine fellowship with God, mistaking their own thoughts for His voice, or prioritizing their comfort over His training. Live each day expecting God to train you. When trials come, ask not "Why me?" but "What are you teaching me?" When you face daily irritations—difficult people, frustrating situations, inconvenient demands—see these as opportunities to demonstrate Christ's character. Submit your schedule, your finances, your relationships, and your ambitions to the Holy Spirit's direction. Don't argue with God or negotiate His instructions. Like Moses waiting on the mountain for God to appear, develop the patience to wait for divine timing rather than rushing ahead