You Can Be An Overcomer

by Aleta Kay



You have anger issues. You’ve tried to calm down. You’ve attended anger management classes and still rage raises its ugly head in a heartbeat. Before you know it, you’re ranting, raving, and acting like a lunatic. You hate yourself for it. You don’t want to treat your family this way but you can’t seem to stop. Don’t give up. There is hope.

First, you must realize that this rage, this anger is sin. We are all born with a sin nature, so it really doesn’t matter where the rage or anger came from. We are all born with the capacity for this rage.

Secondly, you are not the only person with this problem. There are many people in prison who are there because of their anger, rage and bitterness. There is hope for them too, if they will but believe and receive it.

Romans 3:10-18 says, “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre (grave or tomb); with their tongues they have used deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.

If you think this describes you, read on.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Now I hear a lot of people say they believe in God, and that’s good but the Bible tells us the devil believes and trembles. The devil is definitely NOT going to heaven to spend eternity there. Read John 3:16 again. It says whoever believes on Jesus has everlasting life. We must believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, that he lived a perfect, sinless life, that he was crucified on a cross for our sins, that he was buried and rose again the third day. We must place our trust in him and ask him to be our Lord and Savior. We must tell him we are sorry for our sins (and truly be sorry, not just say the words). We must be willing to turn away from our sins and ask him to help us overcome our anger, bitterness, depression, rage, drug addiction, alcoholism, etc.

We must be willing to let him replace those things with his goodness, with what the Bible calls the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, temperance, meekness and faith (Galatians 5:22, 23). If we want to get rid of something negative we must replace it with something positive. We cannot do these things on our own and keep up with them apart from the power of the God the Holy Spirit, who takes up residence in our hearts once we confess our sins to God, repent (turn away from them) and ask Jesus to be our Lord and Savior.

To implement and keep up with this change you must find a Bible-believing church to attend on a regular basis. Go to the Sunday school class appropriate for your age group. Many churches have a beginner or new believer class designed to help you grow in your faith and knowledge of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit (see fruit of the Spirit listed above): for without me ye can do nothing.”

Take time to read and mull over these verses. Let them take root in your heart so you can apply them to your life. I can’t tell you which denomination of church to attend but I can offer some of my own personal experiences.

First of all, there is no such thing as a perfect church because there are no perfect people. Many churches today offer a contemporary service with a band and peppy, upbeat music. The music stirs up your emotions so you feel really good and happy. My experience with these churches (and I have attended several in various states) is that you feel great when you’re there, but when you leave and church and go home nothing is changed. There’s very little, if any, meat in the sermon and it doesn’t take very long for your mouth to start spewing nastiness and negativity again. I call these dessert churches. Dessert tastes good and is very pleasing, but a steady diet of just dessert will make us fat, lazy, and in poor health.

There are churches that teach that if you don’t follow a certain set of rules you can’t get to heaven. This is works salvation and is not what Jesus taught. The Bible tells us that by the works of the flesh shall no man be saved. This would allow us to get to heaven on the basis of our goodness. Remember Romans says there is none good, no not one.

Many churches use different kinds of Bibles, but there is only one true Word of God: the King James (at least in the English language). It is the most accurate translation. It does not change the meaning of words to suit our modern day and does not take away from the virgin birth or the blood sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Many people say they can’t understand it. It is written on a 3^rd grade level. Also it takes the Holy Spirit of God to help us understand it. The Bible, God’s holy Word, is a spiritually inspired collection of books and must be spiritually discerned.

Look for a church that has a reputation for teaching and preaching the truth straight from the King James Bible, a church that doesn’t compromise and doesn’t fellowship with churches that do compromise. Commit yourself to learning about your Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be an overcomer. God bless.