I’m not really that familiar with it (like not at all), but I know that there’s a whole genre of video game, I’m guessing a multi-million dollar industry, obsessed with winning the battle. That there are a lot people . . . I’m guessing mostly boys and men — don’t know personally of any women . . . who will spend hours and hours, and dollars and dollars in equipment and game accessories, in order to simulate doing battle and coming out victorious. But this morning I’m reminded of the reality that I don’t need a video game to enter a battle . . . I don’t need some fake simulation to enter the fray . . . I don’t need shoot-em-up special effects to take down strongholds . . . I’m pretty much promised to enter enemy territory, in real life, every day. And my weapon of choice? The ultimate assurance of victory? Christ in me.

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?    (1John 5:4-5 ESV)

Repetition attracts attention. Three times in these two verse I encounter the word “overcome.” The word in the original is built off a root word for “victory.” To overcome is to “get the victory” . . . to conquer . . . to prevail . . . to subdue. It implies conflict . . . it reminds of only two outcomes to a battle — win or lose . . . it presupposes an enemy. My enemy, also mentioned three times in these two verses, is “the world.”

There is a system out there that is counter-Kingdom. A way of thinking . . . an approach to doing life . . . a set of societal and moral norms . . . which are in opposition to the those who are born of God. Last night in our men’s study, as we talked about the book of Proverbs, we were reminded that the world takes on the nature of a seductress . . . enticing words . . . big promises . . . a deadly trap. Mine is to come out swinging . . . to engage in hand-to-hand battle . . . to recognize the conflict and stand fast against the world’s allure.

My weapon? Not my ninja skills . . . not some immense fire power I can put together . . . not my military intelligence. Nope . . . what I bring to the battle is Christ living through me.

By faith I overcome the world. Not that the power is in MY faith . . . but in the object of that faith. Galatians 2:20 reminds me that it’s not me who enters the battle . . . for “I have been crucified with Christ” . . . dead to any thought that I’ve got what it takes to subdue such a formidable enemy. “It is no longer I who live by Christ who lives in me” . . . I can overcome because He overcame . . . I can stand fast because He is the Rock of my salvation . . . I can conquer because He is the King leading the charge. “And the life I know live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” . . . I’m going to finish up here . . . shower . . . head out of this house . . . and spend my day in “enemy territory” . . .and I will do so by faith in the Son of God . . . that He who loved me will live through me by His blessed Holy Spirit.

That’s my not so secret weapon . . . Christ in me.

Christ Jesus is the One who died–more than that, Who was raised–Who is at the right hand of God, Who indeed is interceding for us . . . in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.    (Romans 8:34, 37 ESV)