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Have you ever limited God by settling for mediocre because it sounded easier or you weren’t willing to expect more? I must admit that I’ve done it a time or two. I’ve played it safe and settled for “good enough” when “awesome” was just around the corner. There have been times when I should have expected more or put in a little more effort. I don’t want to ever fall into that trap again. I never want to limit God.
James 4:2 says, “You do not have because you do not ask.” I think you should ask for everything that God has promised to give. You should expect everything that would benefit you and those you are called to help. God’s Word clearly shows that He wants to lavish His blessings on you. Don’t settle for anything less.

To be an overcomer, you have to realize that your God is a big God! He is well able to deliver you from any adverse situation. And He wants to! No situation is hopeless when He is on the scene.

First John 4:4 says, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” God is making sure you overcome. Don’t limit the greatness of His power toward you (Eph. 1:19), and don’t settle for less than His best.

Karen writes, I once heard a story about some college students who settled for less. On the day of their literature final, their professor stood before the class and offered them a choice. He said, “If you want a guaranteed automatic C, you can leave right now and not take the test.” Half the class left, delighted that they would pass the class without having to take the test. To the remaining students who stayed behind, the professor spoke about ten minutes, sharing some things from his heart. He told them that he was proud of them for aiming higher than a C, and that good things come to those who are willing to work hard, maintain their character, and help others. He also told them to expect good things, and to keep demanding more of themselves than mediocre. Then he said, “For those of you who stayed behind and were willing to try for better than a C on the test, I’m giving you an automatic A. You’re dismissed. I imagine that when the first group of students heard what had happened, they were kicking themselves. They had been willing to settle for a C. To be safe, they had limited their potential, and they missed out on a greater opportunity.

Intro:
We have just finished Rejoice 2015 Ladies Conference at Amazing Grace Fellowship, and I had asked our special speaker to be a guest blogger last week. Well, she gave me enough writing to do another whole week. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your daily eword. Karen Jensen Salisbury is an author of two great books, and is a wonderful writer and speaker, who also is a wonderful friend. I know her words will encourage you to overcome in every area of your life. Thank you ladies, who attended our Rejoice 2015 conference. Here is more on how to overcome in life. Enjoy Karen Salisbury’s words as you listen to (read) your dailyeword.

When Karen’s first husband died, their associate pastor and his wife gave her a brand new Amplified Bible as a gift to encourage her. I spent hours reading it. She had always been a Bible-reader, but at that time she spent every spare moment in it. She would run her finger down the pages like a five-year-old child learning to read. She absorbed it. She was desperate for it.

During that time period she fell more in love with Jesus than ever, and eventually she came out of the valley of grieving. She overcame the sadness, loss, and grief. This all happened while she was reading her Bible.

Psalm 119:92 says, “Without your Word I would have perished in my affliction.” Those words described her. In the midst of her questions and fears, in the midst of leading a church by herself, and in the midst of raising two sons, she clung to God’s Word and built herself up in God’s Word. She knew she had to. All of that time spent reading and meditating on the Bible settled her. It established her path. That is what it is meant to do. And it can do the same thing for you.
Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (KJV). The Word paints a picture of how God wants you to live. If you’re not looking at the Word, you’re liable to have the wrong picture, the wrong vision for your life. You’re liable to get caught up in the hopelessness of this world and live a much lower life than God wants to provide for you.

The Bible isn’t just another book. It is God’s very being. You can’t separate Him from His Word. His Word is His bond. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” So hide the Word of God in your heart. That will build up your faith so you can use it to overcome the troubles and trials in your life.

It’s going to take faith for you to overcome life’s troubles. First John 5:4 says, “This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” Your faith overcomes the trials and troubles in your world. If you want to build up your faith, then turn to the Word of God.

Faith is simply believing what God has said, more than what you see happening around you. It’s believing something you can’t see yet based on what God has promised in His Word. And it is your victory. You were never meant to live on this planet without the Word of God. It’s your lifeline, your instruction manual.

Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Sadly, many Christians allow the Word to dwell in them poorly. They don’t read it at all, or they read just a little bit. Every day you go without reading your Bible is a day you’re trying to live life in your own strength, and it’s too hard for you. The more you read, the better you live.

Karen wrote this:It takes faith to be an overcomer. And as we have discussed, faith only comes from one place. Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” If faith came another way, I would tell you. But it doesn’t – it comes from reading your Bible and doing what it says.

I’ve heard people say, “If I could just see a miracle, then I would have faith.” If seeing miracles were enough in themselves, then the children of Israel would have had more faith than anyone, and they would have believed God about entering the Promised Land.
The book of Exodus records tons of miracles: water turns into blood, sticks transform into snakes, seas part. There are hundreds of miracles in the Old Testament and the New Testament, yet Hebrews 3:19 says, “We see that they could not enter in [to the promised land] because of unbelief.”

Faith doesn’t come from seeing miracles or hearing other people’s testimonies; rather, it comes from hearing and believing the Word of God. The children of Israel didn’t believe God’s words; they believed more in the giants they could see. So they didn’t get to enter into the Promised Land.

Karen writes this: Determine that you’re going to keep your eyes on the Word, no matter how difficult your situation. Determine that you’re going to believe it, no matter what else is happening all around you. Don’t believe more in trouble than you believe in the Word.

What does it mean to believe the Word? It means that in the face of everything you encounter, you refuse to quit. You stand firm (Eph. 6:13-14). First Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

How do you remain steadfast? Instead of focusing on the negative aspects, decide to think on God’s Word. Choose to believe the promises it contains. Opt to hide the Word in your heart concerning your situation, and continue to speak what it says until there is a change.

Isaiah 55:11 says, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” God’s Word never returns void. It always accomplishes what God has sent it forth to do. If you quit, you won’t gain anything. Keep putting your trust in God, even if you’ve suffered a loss, a surgery is pending, or the bank is calling. You have everything to gain because the promises in the Word are true, and they’re yours to claim. When trouble comes your way, it is not the time to let go of the Word or drop your faith. Keep reading, and keep believing!

I’ve had people say to me, “I’ve read the Bible. It didn’t work.” To that, I say, “Read it some more.” If you feel like you are forcing yourself to read the Word, ask God to give you a desire for it. And keep reading.

I heard one minister say, “What you give yourself to, you create a desire for.” I think that is true in every realm. Take golf for example. Years ago my first husband’s uncle taught him how to play golf. At first Brent didn’t want to go to the golf course every day, but he kept going and kept playing. After a while, he loved golf. He created the desire for the game by doing more of it, not doing less. It is the same with the Word—you can create a desire for it by spending more time reading it.

The Word of God is truth. Your circumstances are subject to change, but the Word is not. It has never failed in thousands of years, and it is not going to fail now. Read it some more.

Karen Says this: I’ve met some Christians who say, “I wish Jesus would talk to me.” I tell them, “Read your Bible. That’s Jesus, the Word made flesh (John 1:14) and that’s Him talking to you.” I’ve also heard people say, “I wish I knew God’s will for my life.” I tell them, “Read your Bible. His Word is His will.”I know those answers might sound too simple. You might be thinking, “There’s got to be more to overcoming than read your Bible, read your Bible, read your Bible.” But if there were, I would tell you! Instead, I’m telling you that your answers are in the Word. Your faith gets built up when you read the Word. You can’t expect to be an overcomer in this life without the Word of God in your heart, in your mind, and in your mouth.
Please understand, you don’t read the Bible in order to earn and deserve God’s blessings. It’s not: “I’ve read my three chapters today. I’ve been a good Christian. Now I’ve earned my blessings!” No. All the blessings already belong to you, in Christ. You didn’t earn or deserve any of them. You received them by faith (Eph. 2:8-9). You get them by believing in the covenant that Jesus bought and paid for in His death, burial, and resurrection.
No, you and I read our Bible to remind ourselves of those blessings. To feed and solidify our spirits and renew our minds to God’s way of living (Rom. 12:2). That’s the way we overcome the troubles of life.

Maybe you’ve heard people say, “God’s put this trouble/trial/sickness on you to teach you something.” Or maybe someone’s well-meaning advice was: “God has allowed this trouble/trial/sickness to come upon you to help you grow.”Not true! It may sound spiritual to say something like that, but it is very, very wrong. If you think that, then you won’t know what to stand against. If you think God caused your trouble, how can you believe Him to deliver you from it? You can’t. We have to get this straight: God is good and the devil is bad. Don’t get confused about it, because it can undermine your faith. Know who your enemy is!

Say, for example, someone needs to overcome sickness. If they say that God put sickness on them to teach them something, then they’re saying that it is God’s will that they’re sick, right? But then they take medicine or go to the doctor to try and get the illness to go away.I want to say to them, “Wait a minute. If the sickness is God’s will for you, if this is how He’s going to train and teach you, then why are you taking meds and going to the doctor to try and get out of God’s will?” Of course we can see that’s ridiculous. Of course a person who is sick wants to get better. And God wants that person to get better too. It’s never His will for people to be sick; it’s always His will to heal us. He always has been and always will be a healing God. He said, “I am the Lord who heals you” (Exod. 15:26). Jesus Himself bore your sicknesses (Matt. 8:17) and by His stripes you were healed, more than 2,000 years ago (1 Pet. 2:24).

Part of the confusion comes because people do learn lessons and gain insights from God when they’re sick or in trouble. This happens, though, because when trouble comes, they run to God, press into His Word, listen to all their teaching CDs, and take lots of notes at church. If they’re confined to bed, they have plenty of time to seek God and listen to the Holy Spirit. I think most of us have pressed into God when we’re in trouble, and He has answered. But of course, we could have learned the lesson at hand without being sick or in trouble! God doesn’t need us to be sick to teach us something. Every time we press into God, He is there to meet us, teach us, and help us grow.

God teaches us by His Word and His Spirit, not by trouble, trial, sickness, or any other tool of the enemy! You can avail yourself to His Word and His Spirit any time you want. In fact, it pays to seek Him before trouble comes so you’re ready to stand up strong and overcome by enforcing your covenant. Yes, there are tests and trials in life. Here’s how to know if it’s God or the devil: if it’s not good, it’s not God! Know your enemy, and stand against him.

Intro
This week we are preparing for Rejoice 2015 Ladies Conference at Amazing Grace Fellowship, and I have asked our special speaker to be a guest blogger this week. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your daily eword. Karen Jensen Salisbury is an author of two great books, and is a wonderful writer and speaker, who also is a wonderful friend. I know her words will encourage you to overcome in every area of your life. And Ladies, don’t miss our Rejoice 2015 conference Feb 26-28th. She will be speaking at both services at Amazing Grace Fellowship on Sunday as well. Enjoy Karen Salisbury’s words as you listen to (read) your dailyeword.

We all like to hear about being an overcomer, but here’s the thing: any time you hear about someone overcoming, it means there was something to overcome. In other words, there was trouble! So we can’t be surprised about facing trouble in this life – we live on an earth with a curse. Trouble is going to come! Jesus Himself said in John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation…” He warned us! So we shouldn’t be surprised when trouble comes. But we should be ready. And we should know where the trouble comes from – it doesn’t come from God! We have an enemy, Satan, and if we don’t understand that, we won’t be able to overcome him.

Thankfully there is more to that verse in John 16. Jesus finishes His sentence by saying, “But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” That’s great news! If Jesus overcame, we can overcome. It’s our very nature to overcome. Jesus gave us His authority to overcome every trouble the enemy sends our way (Luke 10:19).