Overcomers will receive blessing and an inheritance in heaven. God gives promises to His children, to overcomers. But even if you receive powerful promises from God, if you don’t overcome yourself and your sin, you will not see the fulfillment of those promises. Disobedience will destroy God’s promise in our lives. To fulfill the promises of God in your life, you must first overcome.

Why don’t people overcome? They forget about God. What causes you to forget about God? Your pride. People forget about God because of their pride. Moses was very concerned about the pride of the people of Israel. When you walk in pride, you try to do things by yourself. You forsake God and instead want to become like God. That is what happened to Eve. She wanted to become like God.

Deuteronomy 8:14
14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

When your heart becomes lifted up, you will forget about God. When you forget about God, you will lose God. Then you will be in big trouble; trouble will come from every different direction. God will give you a promise, but you must overcome in order to make it happen.

Jesus spoke to seven churches in the book of Revelation. He commanded them to overcome. Every promise that he spoke was to “him who overcomes.” (Revelation 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:26, 3:5, 3:12, 3:21, 21:7)

What do we need to overcome?
#1 Tests

James 1:4
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Why did God call Abraham friend? He overcame himself and he overcame his son. When Abraham was younger, he was obsessed with having a son. He went into sexual sin with his concubine so that he could have a son, Ishmael. God was not pleased with this. But later, when Abraham changed, he had a son, Isaac. God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, to test him. Abraham tied up Isaac and was about to sacrifice him to God. God spared Isaac and called Abraham his friend. Why? He put God before his son. He showed God that he loved God more than his son, his old obsession.

God calls overcomers His friend.

The reason that you aren’t God’s friend is that you haven’t overcome those things that you need to overcome.

When Satan came to Job and brought diseases and made his life miserable, Job had to overcome. Satan destroyed his finances and his family piece by piece. But Job overcame. In the end, God blessed him more than ever before. He was very blessed after he went through this trial and test.

Those who forget about God will not overcome. They will stay in the cycle of failure and loss. Those who pass the test and hold onto God will be blessed in the end.

There are two types of tests: one from Satan and one from God.

A test from Satan comes through an open door in your life – through your sin. When you allow Satan to enter into your heart, you slowly turn away from God and His promises. You will feel anxious and unsettled. You will focus on the promise more than on God. You will become obsessed with things, with relationships, with money, with your children. Life will lose meaning because you are unsatisfied with the way that your life is right now and only see what you are obsessed with. When you allow Satan to come into your life, you will be miserable.

When God tests you, He wants to bless you. When God tested Abraham with Isaac, He wanted to bless him in the end. We must overcome tests like Abraham, Job, and others in the Bible. God gives abundant life to overcomers. He blesses overcomers. After they overcame, God fulfilled the promise in their lives.

God bless you,
Pastor Sun East

Other messages in this series:
You must overcome in order to receive God’s promise
Overcome tests and trials by faith
Overcome through spiritual battle
Overcome by overcoming yourself