To "overcome" means that at any given point of challenge we are doing the Lord's will. Every time we have been pressed with worldliness, or the lusts of our flesh, or a willingness to persist in our own path instead of obeying the Lord, we have yielded to the Lord and acted according to the commandments of Christ and His Apostles. Nothing less than this is accepted if we hope to return with Jesus Christ and rule with Him.

In order to overcome there must be a point at which we declare ourselves crucified with Christ and risen with Christ. Until we do this we cannot gain the victory over sin. We will wrestle with this lust or that ambition but never succeed in gaining total victory.

We have to count ourselves crucified with Christ and risen with Christ. We are not "trying to die," we are dead. Then as we meet the daily challenges of the evil in our personality we turn away from sin and the Holy Spirit gives us the power to remove ourselves from temptation. We have declared ourselves to be dead and we behave in a manner suited to our declaration. There is power to do this if we are abiding in Christ.

We do not wrestle ineffectually with sin or self-will. We declare we have died with Christ and have risen with Him. Then we look to God for grace each day to act according to our declaration. This is what it means to "overcome."

We have to keep on doing the will of Christ until we die or He returns and catches us up to meet Him in the air. If we put our hand to the plow of the Kingdom and then look back we are not fit for the Kingdom. We keep on, keep on, keep on. We do not look back. We keep on doing the will of Christ.

The believers today are saying, "This is too strict. This is too hard." In some instances their ministers are encouraging them in this rebellion against the Word of God.

The gospel that is being preached today is not the Gospel of Christ, in many instances. The believers have been pampered until they no longer fear the Lord. They and their ministers will spend eternity together, but they will not return with Christ to govern the nations of the earth.

We must overcome and we must obey Christ until the end of our life or until He returns. These conditions cannot be changed. If we do not meet them we will not be given authority over the nations or the morning star. Can you say "Amen" to the Word of God?

"I will give authority over the nations." It is important to remember that the term "nations" does not refer to the kind of nations we have today, such as France, Germany, and England. Large nations of this type did not exist when the New Testament was written. The Roman Empire was in power.

"Authority over the nations" merely means authority over people, the right to command what they do, a right backed up by the iron of the Spirit of God.

To be continued.