Although Jesus told us in this world we would find trouble, He also offered us ways to overcome in overwhelming times. He taught His followers what I like to call 5 Steps for Overcomers—look within, look to Him, look ahead, look out, and look up. Looking in each of these directions will help us to overcome our everyday challenges, and help us to encourage others to do the same.
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Day 1
Scriptures: 1 Samuel 16:7, Matthew 24:4, Mark 13:32-37, Luke 22:24-32, Psalms 51:10-15
Step #1 for Overcomers: Look Within
I’m sure Jesus was used to people asking Him about the end times, but rather than answering with the when, what, where, why, and how directly, He gave answers designed to help prepare His followers for the days to come. He focused on helping them understand who they were in the sight of their heavenly Father and how to live in this world because of it. In effect, He told them the same thing He is still telling us today: What you know or don’t know about the end times isn’t nearly as important as who you are when I return.
We live in perilous times, but also times of tremendous opportunity. We can be strong and courageous overcomers, even in the face of overwhelming troubles, because we serve the God of hope. The first step we can take toward living as overcomers is this: look within.
What’s going on in the outside world can be disturbing and distracting. In fact, the enemy of our souls likes to use what I call weapons of mass distraction to get our eyes off where they should be. The kingdom of darkness sees Christians as HVTs—a military term that means high-value targets. Did you know that as a believer living in the end times, you are a threat? Satan knows God has given you the keys to the Kingdom. If you know how to pray, fast, walk in the Spirit, love and forgive, you’re an HVT, and hell is sending its best forces against you. This is actually good news because it’s evidence that you are an asset to God’s Kingdom!
That’s why it’s so important to take Step #1 and look within. When we take heed to what’s going on inside us, we guard ourselves against deception and stay focused on our relationship with Christ and His ultimate end for us—spending eternity with Him, and bringing as many other souls as possible with us.
How do we make looking within a priority? Compare the amount of time you listened to podcasts or scrolled through social media last week to the time you spent in God’s Word. Which wins? Don’t get so busy with entertainment, politics, and all the things of this world that you lose track of what’s eternally important. Be on your toes. Make godly choices. Your goal is to endure to the end and live as an overcomer!
Day 2
Scriptures: Hebrews 12:1-3, Matthew 24:6, Proverbs 3:5-6, Matthew 14:22-33, Luke 8:22-25
Step #2 for Overcomers: Look to Him
The minute life gets overwhelming, we tend to stop looking at Jesus and we focus more on the problem. Sometimes it’s hard to stop thinking about the issues we face long enough to look to Him for direction and help. Yet the moment you gave your life to Jesus, He began to direct your path. And while His plan for you and me would include storms, it also provides a rescue.
Life requires faith to endure the storms. Once I heard someone say we’re either in a storm, heading into a storm, or getting out of a storm. I imagine if you are reading this, you are as familiar with stormy weather in a metaphorical sense as I am. I have often reached the verge of disaster because my eyes were on the storm. My eyes were not fixed on the most important point, Jesus. Has that ever happened to you?
The message God wants us to embrace in the storm is what Jesus told His disciples: See to it that you are not troubled. Those words hold the same power now as when Jesus first spoke them. The scene may be different, but the truth has not changed one bit. How do you keep from being troubled? Keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep looking to Him.
Looking to Jesus is the gold standard for surviving the storms of life. It’s what Peter discovered when he stepped out of the boat and began to walk on water toward Jesus. When Peter had his eyes on the Lord, the miraculous happened. When he shifted his gaze to the storm, gravity took over. There’s a lesson in this story: Don’t take your eyes off Jesus; look to Him. He’s got you!
Satan, on the other hand, wants you to drop your oars and give up. He will try to discourage and distract you from keeping your focus on Jesus—the One who can still any storm, or safeguard you through it.
God never lets go of us in a storm, but sometimes He lets us encounter wild weather! Why? Because He knows that we learn some things in a storm that we would never learn from the safety of the shore. If the winds are howling and the waves are raging in your life today, realize that God is still with you, and watch for a lesson you can only learn by riding out the storm.
Day 3
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Matthew 24:13, Hebrews 10:35-37, John 14:25-27, Isaiah 50:4-5
Step #3 for Overcomers: Look Ahead
Jesus endured the cross because of the joy set before Him. He looked ahead to His resurrection. Don’t let what’s going on around you sabotage what God is doing within you. Instead of feeling frustrated where you are, focus on where you’re going. Look ahead, and you’ll get there!
As a runner, I’ve learned an important secret about successful runs. I make up my mind beforehand exactly how far I’ll go. If I don’t take that important step, my body quickly decides the run is over. This secret to running is also a secret for living: Finishing the race requires looking ahead and knowing your end goal before you even take that first step.
When life’s chaos blocks our view of the hope set before us, how can we run our spiritual race with endurance? I want to share six different ways to build up our endurance so that when seemingly impossible moments come, we’re ready to embrace the resistance and push through it. Here are six ways we can put into practice looking ahead:
1. Create the right atmosphere: Praise. When you can’t change your circumstance, control the atmosphere with praise-filled thoughts and words that shift the trajectory of your day from worry to worship, from panic to praise.
2. Connect to the right power supply: the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our constant companion and teacher. I’ve found it’s impossible to function without the Holy Spirit’s fire!
3. Get the right information: God’s Word and truth. What does the Lord say about your situation? That’s the only information you need!
4. Get in the right location: Be open to where or what God has for you. Don’t live in yesterday’s expectations. Go or stay where God calls you to be today.
5. Get the right focus: we must shift our attention off of ourselves and onto others. We all have needs, of course, but when we focus on the needs of others, everything changes. What you keep in your own hand shrinks, but what you put in God’s hand multiplies.
6. Get the right timing: God’s timing, not always ours. All His promises have a time frame. He is not a right-now God; He is a right-time God. You need to know what time God’s clock is on and get in sync with it, which will help you keep looking ahead.
Day 4
Scriptures: John 4:35-38, Matthew 24:14, Mark 16:15-20, Proverbs 24:11-12, Luke 10:1-9
Step #4 for Overcomers: Look Out
Jesus didn’t tell us to stay put or keep quiet. He expects us to go beyond the walls of our church community to share His message and love. The joy of living for Jesus is not just going to church and enjoying our small group. It is when we get so full of the living water that we can’t help but share our joy in the Gospel with others. How long has it been since you shared the Good News with someone? The fourth step you and I need to take as overcomers- is to look “out”. You are not looking out for yourself. You are looking out for others. Our purpose in this life is not just to grow in our relationship with Jesus and be prepared when He returns: we must also reach the lost.
The responsibility of evangelism is entrusted to every believer. That includes you and me! There is an urgency attached to the Gospel. There are unbelievers who may never hear the truth of Jesus Christ if you and I do not bring it to them. When you share the hope of Christ, invite someone to church, or tell another person about your faith, you’re planting a seed in a moment that cannot be relived. God has placed you in that path for such a time as this and has entrusted you with His hope, His Word, and His story. You never know what will lie on the other side of your obedience. Where would you be today if someone had not shared the Savior’s story with you? We say we “follow” Jesus. But if we are not compelled to share His love, then it’s time to reevaluate what we truly believe.
God expects more of us than trying to be good people. We must get a vision for souls. Winning souls to Jesus is serious business. It’s not a suggestion or a nice idea. It’s a command. I want to challenge and motivate you to share the Good News with others. This Good News is good for a reason. I’m confident that it has changed your life, brought you out of darkness, given you a reason to get out of bed in the morning, and provided you with the strength to face the day. Why wouldn’t you want to tell others of the Person who has changed your life, and transformed you for the better?
Day 5
Scriptures: Hebrews 9:24-28, Luke 21:25-28, Jeremiah 29:11-14, Acts 1:1-8, 2 Corinthians 4:7-14
Step #5 for Overcomers: Look Up
Not only should we look out for others as the end approaches; we must also look “up”. Yes, bad times are striking with more frequency in these last days. Yes, enemy attacks are worsening the closer we get to the Second Coming of Jesus. When we see these things, we have a natural human tendency to look down. Stress weighs heavy on us and slumps our shoulders forward. Yet Jesus’ last words on this topic of the end times were not words of doom and gloom. In effect, He told His disciples, “I don’t want you to walk around depressed and defeated. You are not victims. Look up. Lift up your heads!”
He is telling us the same thing today. It might seem like a strange thing for Him to say—that amid tumult and uncertainty we need to keep looking up. But He wants us to stay watchful and hopeful. He wants us to maintain a look-up spirit!
Jesus told us in this world we would have trouble, and troubles come our way both large and small—from huge issues like wars and rumors of wars to little everyday issues we face as imperfect people living in an imperfect world. Whatever is trying to overwhelm us on any given day, one of the key steps to overcoming is to refocus our gaze and look “up”.
The troubles we face are just signs that we can look up and see God’s Word coming to pass. His plan will not be frustrated—not by what we read in the headlines, not by a shortage of gas or toilet paper, not by an injustice that was done to us. We will succeed because God has already determined our destiny, now and for eternity. Dark days don’t last forever. God sets limitations on trouble. Always in control, He determines the end from the beginning. He will get you and me to our expected end.
In the meantime, we have a job to do. Our job is to show ourselves alive. That’s what Jesus did after facing the worst that all the powers of hell could throw against Him. He walked out of the tomb and showed Himself alive. Because He made it, you and I can make it, too! So keep taking steps to be an overcomer. Look within. Look to Him. Look ahead. Look out. Look up, and live!