OVERCOMERS!!

This is a posting taken from someone else and reprinted here..it basically ties into my blog title:

"And they overcame [the dragon] by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their Testimony, having loved not their own lives unto the death (Revelation 12:11)."

How many Christians would like to be described as overcomers? Here we see that there are three main characteristics of the one who overcomes. To overcome is the normal Christian life, and not for a select few to enjoy. It is a fact that few Christians live as overcomers; nevertheless, the Christian life is characterized by victory, not by defeat. If this is not our experience then we have much yet to learn. We should not accept things the way they are, but we should press into God and ask Him to show us the Truth.
It is helpful to identify the three enemies that present themselves to us, then the above verse will make even more sense. The overcomer must learn how to defeat each one. So what are they? First, there is the enemy of Sin. Second, the enemy of Self. Third, the enemy of Satan. All contrary things, whether they be of spiritual, natural, or human origin, find their root in one of these three sources.
The glorious thing of course is that God's provision meets all three enemies and defeats them in order to demonstrate the preeminence of Christ. This, in essence, is what it means to overcome. It is to demonstrate the preeminence of Christ over all things. Of course, if He does not have the preeminence in us individually as disciples it will be impossible for us to demonstrate His preeminence elsewhere. We need not travel too far outside of ourselves. We can begin right in our own backyard, right in our own home, right in our own lives.
So what is God's provision against these three enemies? For the enemy of Sin, there is the Blood. For the enemy of Self, there is the Cross. And for the enemy of Satan, there is the Throne. These three are sufficient to answer to everything which we may encounter. They are contained in the verse cited above: "the Blood of the Lamb" of course is the Blood of Jesus; "the word of their Testimony" speaks of the Throne; and "loved not their own lives unto the death" speaks of the Cross. We will look at these more particularly. I pray God will encourage us to overcome through these truths.

MORE LATER..