Samuel Rodriguez: Embrace Your Identity as an Overcomer

Read Time: 3 Minutes 7 Seconds

Without a doubt, from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is not a book of perfect people—it is a book of overcomers!

While you may be tempted to view people in the Bible as perfect saints, they are just as flawed as you and me. God’s Word, from beginning to end, is not a catalog of sinless, always-obedient, picture-perfect lives, but instead, it shares the stories of flawed-but-faithful men and women persevering amid trials and tribulations. They faced overwhelming obstacles, seemingly impossible situations and dangerous dilemmas that forced them to trust God.

Rather than a roll call of saints, the Bible is a book of overcomers. Just consider some of the best-known believers and what they had to overcome. In the Old Testament, Abraham had to overcome the deceit of others as well as his tendency to deceive. God promised that he would be the father of many nations. Yet into old age, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, had never conceived—until God gave them their son, Isaac—forcing them to overcome their doubts and the limitations of biological logic.

Consider Joseph, Abraham’s great-grandson, and all that he overcame: abandonment in the pit, betrayal by his brothers, the lies of his boss’s wife and incarceration. Yet Joseph ended up as Pharaoh’s right-hand man, overseeing the harvests, storage and allocation of grain—leadership that saved not only the Egyptians but also Joseph’s own family and the nation of Israel.

Many generations later, when the Israelites became enslaved in Egypt, Moses overcame his past, his temper and even Pharaoh to lead God’s people through the Red Sea in pursuit of the Promised Land.

Story after story repeats this theme of overcoming—and the New Testament also reinforces it. Peter overcame his impulsive nature. Mary Magdalene overcame her past mistakes and residual reputation. The apostle Paul overcame angry mobs, jail time, earthquakes, shipwrecks and snakebites. And Jesus, the Son of God and our wondrous Savior, overcame darkness, death, defeat and everything in between!

So, follow the example of the overcomers before you and refuse to give up the fight. Don’t allow your circumstances to determine the direction of your life. Your battle may not be over, and you may feel weary from the struggle, but God’s power in you through the Holy Spirit will always prevail. When you have the Spirit in your life, you no longer depend on your abilities and limited resources—because you have the unlimited, infinite and eternal power of the living God inside you!

Once you live in the Spirit, you are never the same.

In Christ, by Christ, through Christ and for Christ, you are an overcomer!

First John 5:4–5 says, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Today, losing your spiritual momentum and getting distracted from what’s truly important is easy. You want to strengthen your faith and live in the power of the Holy Spirit, but so many emotions cripple your progress. This is why you need a spiritual second wind and a fresh burst of God’s power infusing every area of your life.

If you want to experience the power to persevere in your life, then it’s time to live as a co-heir with Christ instead of a distant relative ashamed to show up.

It’s time to stop trying on your own and rely on the Spirit.

It’s time to start living in the fullness of the power of God’s Spirit dwelling in you.

It’s time to claim what is rightfully yours and surrender what’s no longer your concern.

It’s time to persevere with power every day!

Excerpted from “Power for Your Day” by Samuel Rodriguez provided by Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Copyright 2022. Used by permission.

Samuel Rodriguez is the President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC), the world’s largest Hispanic Christian organization with 42,000 plus U.S. churches and many additional churches spread throughout the Spanish-speaking diaspora. Rodriguez stands recognized by CNN, FOX News, Univision and Telemundo as America’s most influential Latino/Hispanic faith leader. Charisma magazine named him one of the 40 leaders who changed the world.

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