More Than Conquerors - Part II
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Romans 8:37 -- “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
Victories do not usually come because we have no problems, but rather through problems that Satan designs to try to defeat us, which God turns around for our good.
So, each problem that God allows in our lives is really an opportunity for God to work miracles. In God, they are not stumbling blocks but steppingstones. Not only does He want us to overcome temptations and problems, but through them, He also wants to give us blessings and victories.
We must realize that there can be no victories without battles, no mountaintops without valleys, no overcoming without obstacles, and no healing without sicknesses. So, only as we keep our faith in Christ will we be more than conquerors.
Let us look at the three Hebrew children who were captured and taken hundreds of miles from Judah to Babylon to be groomed as officers in the court of the ungodly king of Babylon. Everything possible was done to get them to compromise and fit into the heathen society.
As teenagers, they had been taken away from their families, familiar surroundings, the temple, and all godly influence. They were pressured to eat and drink things contrary to their beliefs. The Babylonians even changed their Hebrew names, which emphasized their relationship with God, to names that identified them with some of Babylon’s idol gods: Hananiah (gift of the Lord) was changed to Shadrach (command of Aku, the moon god); Mishael (who is what God is) was changed to Meshach (who is as Aku); and Azariah (whom Jehovah helps) was changed to Abednego (servant of Nego, the god of science and literature).
To top it all off, the king built a huge idol and required everyone to bow and worship it. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused, they were told that they would be thrown into a fiery furnace if they would not bow and worship the idol.
The three Hebrew children said the king’s demand was not something they had to carefully consider or think about before they responded. They were unafraid of not being politically correct. They did not have to wait to see which direction the political wind was blowing or consult with a focus group before they answered.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had determined a long time ago that, regardless of the consequences, they were going to serve only God. They said that they knew their God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace and the king, but even if He did not, they were willing to die. They would not worship or serve the idol.
So, the fire in the furnace was made seven times hotter than usual, and the three Hebrew children were tied up and thrown inside. It was so hot that it killed the men who threw them into the furnace. But God delivered the three Hebrew children from the fiery furnace without any harm coming to them. They were not killed, their hair was not singed, and their clothes were not burned. They did not even smell like smoke. All that burned was the rope that was used to tie them up (Daniel 3:24-28).
God turned their impossible bondage around to bring judgment on evil, freedom and deliverance for the righteous, and great testimonies to the world. God promises to walk with us through suffering (Isaiah 43:2) and to provide deliverance (Isaiah 61:1).
This shows that God uses the very circumstances that Satan intended for bondage to bring about freedom and to make us more than conquerors.
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