January 20

The Overcomer

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God. — Rev 2:7 BSB

No one can turn back in the day of battle or refuse to join the holy war. We must fight if we want to reign, and we must continue the battle until we overcome every enemy. This promise is only for “the one who overcomes.” We are to overcome the false prophets who have entered the world and all the evils that come with their teachings. We are to overcome our own faint-heartedness and tendency to drift away from our first love. Read the whole message the Spirit gives to the church in Ephesus.

If by God’s grace we win the day, as we will if we truly follow our victorious Leader, then we will be welcomed into the very heart of God’s paradise. We will be allowed to pass by the cherubim and their flaming sword and come to that guarded tree, and when we eat from it, we will live forever. We will escape the eternal death that is the consequence of sin and gain the everlasting life that is the mark of innocence, the result of godly principles of holiness. Come on, my heart, take courage! To flee from the conflict is to lose the joys of the new and better Eden; to fight until victory is to walk with God in paradise.