OVERCOMER

We have to come to the place where we live from our heavenly Father. We have to live from Him and not from what we have. Many times our reliance can be on what we have and not on our Father. In your growth in God don’t rely on the financial assistance of others because God will remove every source of trust that is not Him. Our dependency must be on our Father. We must know that He is our Father. Many people may make empty promises and leave you stranded so don’t just take peoples word for it. As you develop set yourself up financially so that you don’t rely on people financially. Financial problems are one of the biggest pressures of life but these must not affect your life with God. Your thoughts and your words must not change even in the midst of your difficult circumstances. Even when you have abundance you have to live from the Father and not depend on your abundance. When you live from the Father your words will carry weight.

Phil 4:10-13

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. NKJV

Our hearts desire must be to know the Father and to long for Him. The life of David is a life that illustrates divine sonship. When you look at the characteristics of the life of David you begin to see the things that must be evident in our lives.

David had a repentant heart

Ps 51:10-11

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. NKJV

David also had an understanding of the sovereignty of God

Ps 139:1-5

O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.

3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.

5 You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. NKJV

BUILDING SPIRITUAL CAPACITY

We have to know how to build spiritual capacity in our lives so that we can speak from the Father. We are the temple of God and therefore there must be continuous development of the temple. We must develop ourselves so that we come to the point where we reflect and reveal who our heavenly Father is. It is important for us to know the way in which the temple is being built. The understanding of the building pattern is the key. The wineskin of fathers and sons is how the temple of God is being built and an understanding of this wineskin is critical for our development as his sons.

Hag 1:7-9

8 Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified," says the LORD. NKJV

The key words in the instruction that was given by God are “go up”. The mountain is an accurate spiritual location but the mountain is also a picture of your spiritual father. Your

father is the one who will begin to give you the instructions on how to build. As a son you must have a relationship with your spiritual father so that you can ascend. The father’s ranking in the kingdom is higher than that of the son because he carries grace for the life of the son. Brothers also carry grace and as a result we have to know how to access grace from our brothers. This means that we have to be wise in the way in which we treat one another.

Not everyone has the ability to go up to the mountain. This requires the ability to hear by the Spirit. In the letters to the seven churches certain things had to take place before John was called to come up higher.

Rev 4:1

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." NKJV

You must be able to discern the “after these things” and work out what you need to deal with in your life in order for you to come up higher. In your life you have to be an overcomer. In your life God gives you promises but these are locked up in your ability to overcome. The greatest obstacle that you have to overcome is yourself. You have to overcome your mind and the things that get to your mind. Many times our battle is with the mind so we have to know ourselves and how we can overcome ourselves.

We must begin to develop a burden for the world. The world is covered in deep darkness at the moment and things are going to get worse but this world is not going to change if we do not change as God’s people. As the church we set the moral compass for the rest of society and determine the moral standards of the world.