Learn to be Victorious and Overcome! | Elijah List

"Learn to be Victorious and Overcome!"

Todd Bentley, Charlotte, NC

Experiential Authority — Training for Warfare

God is going to bring the breakthrough all the way through for you! "Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies" (Psalms 60:12). Let's declare the words of David from Psalms 68:1: "Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those also who hate Him flee before Him." But let's not forget that simultaneously, as God brings the breakthrough, He wants to train our hands for war and our fingers for battle (Psalm 144:1). "He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze" (Psalm 18:34). As we allow God to train us in warfare we'll be wearing those "robes of authority for those who overcome."

It's vital that we learn how to overcome. God wants us to see that we are more than conquerors through Him (Romans 8:37). But unfortunately, a lot of the time, we just don't see who we are in Christ or who we are positionally in Christ. And that means we don't see who we are experientially either, or what authority we have as Believers. But having said all that, I heard the Lord say, "I want you to speak about the victorious, triumphant Church!" Just because sometimes we don't "get it" that doesn't mean we're stuck in that mindset, because God wants us, the Church, to walk in experiential authority—to be that victorious, triumphant Church.

Understanding Our Riches in Christ

With that in mind let's turn to Ephesians, one of my favorite books written by the Apostle Paul. It's the book that's all about the revelation of the victorious, triumphant Church and the victory of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians we learn how to triumph over our enemies, about our place in the spirit or heavenly places, and what that looks like, how to walk in power and authority, and how to overcome and have wisdom, revelation, and knowledge in our lives now! Paul the apostle came to the people of the church in Ephesus, because they were living as beggars without the revelation of their inheritance, their wealth, and the unsearchable riches that they had in Christ. Paul came to remind them about who they were, what they had, and what they were becoming; because he knew that if the Church (Believers) didn't see it or have a revelation, then they couldn't walk in it.

It's the same in our day. Most Believers don't see the victorious, triumphant Church, either. But the Church is going to triumph in Christ, and God is bringing a release of anointing. He is equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry. It's not just the clergy in ministry. I believe the "clergy vs. layman" mentality is being torn down. God is calling and He is giving an invitation to His Body all over the world to get involved and be a part of what He is doing.

I realized a while ago that if God could choose and anoint, for the work of the ministry, the men and women who served Him long ago, and those who serve Him today, then He could do the same with me. Thoughts like this began to take root deep in my heart, and I really believed this. When I eventually put action to my beliefs, I began walking in experiential authority. That's what God wants for ALL of us.

Identity, Inheritance and Transformation

God is inviting all of us to be as full of His Spirit as everyone else who is mature, anointed, and operating in the gifts and power today. It's in God's heart that we all come into the fullness of what He has for us. He wants us to press in to attain this, so that we're well-engaged as an integral part of what He is doing all over the world. What an honor! Don't miss this! We must dare to believe God, and begin to reach out and allow the Holy Spirit to use us in whatever sphere of influence He has placed us.

So, let's keep focused and go back to Ephesians 1:17-18. The apostle Paul was praying that the Ephesians (ourselves, too) would receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. But he was also praying that the eyes of their (our) understanding would be enlightened. It's like he was saying: "I want you to see and have wisdom and revelation about the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of inheritance in the saints. The hope of that calling is for everybody."

In this hour I sense the Lord is saying: "For some, I want to give the hope, the meaning, and the revelation that now is the time for the manifestation of their calling; that they would begin to step into what I have prepared for them to fulfill their divine destinies." So today, God wants to open the eyes of your understanding and take you beyond positional truth to experiential truth through a revelation of who you are, what you have, and what you are becoming.

Who You Are—Your Identity

We are sons and daughters of God, blessed by adoption: "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father'" (Romans 8:15). We are chosen sons and daughters of God, adopted into the family of God. The Father loves you! God made a choice! He did everything He could to choose you. You didn't just show up by accident after one night of passion. He said, "I want you. I choose you." That's what so beautiful about adoption. "I chose you and picked you out because I want you to come to Me," says God.

However, sometimes we have a "servant-slave" mentality under the guilt and condemnation of past failures and mistakes and we're not free to receive the Father's love. We get stuck trying to work and earn what we know God wants to give us, instead of freely receiving everything by His grace. He is saying: "I want you to have a revelation of My love—'who you are' as My son and daughter—so that you can receive and experience all that I want to give you."

What You Have—Your Inheritance

We have been blessed with an inheritance which is every spiritual blessing: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). God has provided an inheritance for us in His Kingdom. We have an account in Heaven, and in Heaven is everything we have need of to do everything God has called us to do on the earth. We just need to learn how to access the "ATM" that God gave each one of us, and go into that account to access the blessing that He has already given to us. The full meaning of the word "spiritual" in the above verse contains the sense of: (1) supernatural, (2) charisma, (3) connected to the gifts. God has blessed us with every supernatural blessing! We can tap into the supernatural, enduing power, the gifts, and charisma of everything in 1 Corinthians 12 because God has blessed us.

But when we don't have a revelation of the Father's love for us, as well as what it means to be His sons and daughters, we can easily forfeit the spiritual blessings that God has reserved for us. After all, we are joint-heirs with Christ, and God wants us to act like it! The fact is, God made us to be blessed with every spiritual blessing. It's our inheritance. Some of you still need a revelation of God's love and "what you have," which is your inheritance, spiritual blessings, that God wants you to receive and enjoy. We have been blessed to know, and to be transformed by, the exceeding greatness of God's power.

Source: Elijah List