7 Ways to be an Overcomer According to the Bible
Did you know that as a Christian, God wants you to be an overcomer in every situation? He wants you to rule and reign in life as a king! Life is not supposed to be defeating you!
For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17 NKJV
God has actually put all things under your feet and made you an overcomer in this world!
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, Psalm 8:6 NKJV
Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:5 NKJV
So why is it so often that Christians are not overcoming? Perhaps we are not using the tools God has given us to be an overcomer. Let’s look at 7 ways to be an overcomer according to the Bible:
1. Know Who You Are
God says you are an overcomer. If you don’t know this or believe this reality, you won’t experience it. Knowing that you are an overcomer is the first step. Believe who God says you are. Believe that you will overcome in every situation life throws at you.
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, an overcomer is: a person who overcomes something : one who succeeds in dealing with or gaining control of some problem or difficulty
Dictionary.com defines overcome as: to get the better of in a struggle or conflict; conquer; defeat, to prevail over (opposition, a debility, temptations, etc.); surmount: to gain the victory; win; conquer.
Do you believe these things about yourself? Take a moment and sit still with yourself. Do you believe that you have these qualities? It’s so important that you believe what God says about you, because as you think in your heart, so are you. What you think about yourself is what you will experience.
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7 NKJV
Because you are a child of God, the victory is always yours. Everything you need for this life is within you.
as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 2 Peter 1:3 NKJV
Do you believe that you have everything you need to overcome in every situation? Do you believe the victory is yours and that you have what it takes to be victorious? If not, spend some time meditating on who you are in Christ until your heart is convinced of the truth!
Free Affirmations About Your Identity
2. Stay Intimate with God
So many times we try to receive the benefits God has for us without intimacy with Him, and it leads to so much frustration. Everything in God’s Kingdom works through love (Galatians 5:6). God wants your heart. He wants to know you and become involved in every detail of your life. He wants to be that Friend that sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). He wants to be the Father you’ve never had. All the blessings He desires for you come through this love relationship with Him.
The Bible says that you are strengthened through your relationship with God.
In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [draw your strength from Him and be empowered through your union with Him] and in the power of His [boundless] might. Ephesians 6:10 AMP
The victory is yours in every situation. As you stay in connection and close intimacy with God, His desires, plans, and wisdom is imparted to your heart. The direction you need to walk in victory comes through relationship with Him. You can be of good cheer, He has already overcome what you are trying to overcome!
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33 NKJV
Knowing how much God loves you is your strength, your superpower. It makes you an overcomer.
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 8:37 NKJV
Intimacy with God does not come through keeping rules or tradition, it comes through revelation of His love for you. When you know and receive His extravagant love in a real way, everything that the Kingdom of God has available for you is able to flow into your life, making you an overcomer in every situation.
3. Believe What Jesus Has Done
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11
The blood of the Lamb has caused us to overcome in this world. The blood of the Lamb has washed away all our sin and given us the very righteousness of God, the righteousness that causes us to rule and reign on the earth (Romans 5:17).
Jesus has secured the victory through His death and resurrection. Many Christians don’t even know this! Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), Galatians 3:13 NKJV
Everything bad you could think of is listed under the curse of the law in Deuteronomy 28. And Jesus has redeemed us from all these things! The curse of the law was for sinners, and because of God’s forgiveness and free gift of righteousness, we no longer have to suffer under the punishment of sin. We are free!
Jesus will always lead you into the victory he has obtained. He didn’t die in vain. There is real victory for you through the cross. This is not just some religious saying. It is reality!
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18 NKJV
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV
4. Act on the Truth of the Word
It’s not enough to mentally agree with what the Bible says. Plenty of people say that they believe what the Bible says, but when you look at their life you can clearly see what they actually believe.
You have to let the truth of the Word of God take root in your heart to the point where it influences your actions. Then, when you really believe something, you will act in accordance with it and see God’s will come to pass in your life.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22-25 NKJV
Jesus told a story about two houses, or two people’s lives, that were built on two different foundations. One built on sand and another on rock. When the storms of life came, only the one who was built on the rock stood. Jesus compares this house built on the rock to the person who hears His sayings and does them. The person who built on sand also heard His sayings, but did not do them. This was the difference in the house standing or falling- whether or not they were doers of Jesus’ sayings.
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: Matthew 7:24 NKJV
5. Use Your Authority
Not using our authority as Christians is probably the number one reason Christians aren’t overcoming in life.
If we allow the circumstances of life to have their way, we will be overcome by the evil of this world. The old saying “whatever will be will be” should NOT be the anthem of a spirit-filled believer. We are supposed to be taking dominion of the earth (Genesis 1:26), not just allowing anything to happen as it may. God wants us to bring His will to earth, just like it is in Heaven.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 NKJV
Jesus have given us the very authority of God to use on this earth. Don’t just accept everything that happens in life. Use your authority to overcome evil.
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Luke 10:19 NKJV
We are not without power- far from it. We have the power of God and the resources of Heaven within us.
And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:19 NKJV
To learn more about your God-given authority, read: Does God Control Every Little Thing?
Free Affirmations About Your Authority
6. Stand in Faith
Faith is a spiritual force given to us by God, and it is supernatural. By faith God created everything in existence (Hebrews 11:3). This same faith has been given to you. Faith is the victory that has overcome the world!
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1 John 5:4 NKJV
The very faith of Jesus has been given to you in order to be an overcomer in this world. Without faith, overcoming would be impossible.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 NKJV
To be an overcomer, it requires standing on what God says no matter what. This is the premise of walking by faith. Faith does not back down, and when partnered with patience, doesn’t give up until it sees what God says become a physical reality.
It is so important to learn to walk by faith to see victory in your life, because the Bible says we live and walk by faith (Romans 1:17, 2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith is how we receive what God has provided for us.
For more about faith, read: Can Faith Be Taught?
7. Forgive Everyone
When you’re offended, you’re trapped and can be controlled by the enemy. We must let go of all offense and forgive everyone who has wronged us. Unforgiveness is a strategy of the enemy to stop you from being an overcomer. You can’t overcome if you are bound by resentment.
Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices. 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 NKJV
This verse is saying that if you hold on to unforgiveness, Satan can take advantage of you. If you are someone who is easily offended, you will be very easy prey for the enemy, and fall right into his trap. This is why we are constantly exhorted to walk in love. It is a protection against the enemy’s plans.
Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2 NKJV
Forgiving others is so important that when explaining to His disciples how to move mountains and be an overcomer, Jesus did not leave out the need to forgive all who had wronged them, all the time. This indicates that unforgiveness could hinder their ability to operate in faith effectively.
And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him… Mark 11:25 NKJV
For more about forgiveness, read Is Forgiveness an Emotion?