Episode 4: “More Than Conquerors: Living in Victory Every Day”

In this episode we discuss ways to live our life victoriously and how to be more than a conqueror. Even in the uncertainty of life and the challenges that we must work hard to overcome, we can trust that God is good, and He is for us! May this episode encourage you to pursue self-growth and choose to be better not bitter. Let's Go!

Faith in Action // Change in Motion

Transcript

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Well, hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to the Change Chasers podcast today, y'all. I'm pretty excited about this topic'cause we're going to be talking about living out the theme of how do we live victoriously And so our focus of paying attention to God's promises and learn how to. The power and the purpose that he has for each of us. And so I am just so thankful for the gift of your time today. I've put together the content for this episode and I feel like this is what the Lord would have me to share. And so I'm just saying, Hey, thanks for tuning in sweet friends. And again, I am Mandy Ledford, and I'm just pumped to have this sweet time with you. I pray that it will be a time of fruitfulness for us both so that we can both learn. How can we navigate life and how may we be more than conquerors? And so when I hear that phrase more than conquerors, I immediately think about scripture. I think about how the phrase comes from Romans chapter eight, verse 37. The verse says, know in all of these things that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Oh, that's one of those verses that. Makes me feel like I'm having my heart hugged, right? I mean, I'm just so thankful to be able to know as a woman of faith, a personal relationship with the Lord. And so I hope that if you're listening to this and you're not a person of faith, that you won't tune out. I've hopefully got some good hot takes in here for you as well, that it's gonna encourage you and inspire you, and help you to know that you are seen, that you are valued, that you're loved, and I want you to know that wherever you are in whatever walk and stage of life you are, that. I loved you and that he wants you to be able to know how to live victoriously. And so when I think about the idea of what does it really mean to be more than a conqueror, and how we daily live, you know, our lives in the sense of how do we live in victory when life feels like, hmm, sometimes a constant battle. And so I would encourage you if you'll just, Hey, just stick with me and let's kind of navigate and unpack this together. Because when I stop and I think about the powerful truths that are out there and for us to be able to clinging to the truths of scripture and God's word, but the promises and the good people. We just had an episode before this about friendship and who is it in our lives that. Really makes our life better, right? And so the idea of continuing this mantra of growing as we're going that together, hopefully we can think about like some powerful truths and discover how to live as overcomers and every area of our life. And so, starting out, my hot take, number one is understanding the context. And so with that, I think about the Romans 8 37 and the part of the verse, and I believe, obviously, I think it's one of the most powerful chapters. In the Bible is the verses leading up to it. Paul talks about trials and hardships and persecution and even death. I. Y'all, these struggles were really, really real, right? And so the things that I also think about the really, really real stuff in our own lives that we may face in one way or another. And so yet, whenever we look at this scripture reference, we know that Paul, he boldly declares that none of these things can separate us from the love of Christ. And not only that, but that we are more than conquerors. Through him who loves us. So what does more than conquerors mean? Well, to me, I believe that being a conqueror means defeating an enemy or overcoming a challenge. And so maybe you're a sports guru and a former athlete or a coach out there and you're like, well, what do is win, win, win? You know, like we are all out there trying to secure the Ws in the game of life or on the court, on the field, or just whatever it is that we love to do. Or maybe we're. We just love to watch sports. I mean, whatever it is, or, hey, maybe you're a big time fisherman and you get that big fish coming in. I mean, whatever it is that you feel like, Hey, I just overcame this challenge, right? The reality of it is, in all seriousness, is that I think that being more than a conqueror means living in victory, a victory that's already been won for us. Through Jesus. We don't just have to think, oh, how am I gonna survive this? What am I, how am I gonna make it through this? Like the reality of it is, is that. Being more than a conquer means living in victory, y'all. That has already been one for us. And so that is through Jesus. And so, uh, my encouragement is for us to pivot our perspective as we've previously talked about on this podcast, is that we don't just have to try to figure out how are we gonna survive life's battles, but that we can thrive. Knowing the outcome is secure, and that sure does give me a whole lot of comfort, and I am so thankful to know that where my security lies, and it's my hope that you'll as well. And so my hot take number two is I want us to talk about living as more than conquerors. And so the idea is like, let's break it down. What does it look like to live as more than conquerors? Well, my point number one is I'm thinking knowing who you are in Christ. And so the key is. You know, gosh, to be more than a conqueror, y'all. It starts with your identity, your intrinsic value. How do you see yourself? How do you perceive yourself? Who do you believe that you are? Because I believe as seeing myself with my identity and the trinity is what I like to say as one of my expressions is knowing that Father God knows me, and I know with that connection and that personal relationship I have with Christ, that I know that I'm loved. And so sweet friends listening to this, I wanna encourage you as well to know this. I pray that you embrace this. If you don't hear anything else, I really say today, know that you were loved, you were chosen, and that you are empowered by God because your victory isn't based on your own strength. Your victory isn't based on your own performance, but it is on Christ who has finished the work on the cross. And so I just really felt led to just share this in this content today because as I was studying and reading through, and I just think about the scriptural context and the reminder in Romans 8 31 that says, if God is forced, then who can be against us? Hmm. That's a good word. Right? And so when you truly understand who you are in Christ, then fear, doubt, and even insecurity can lose their power over you. It helps you to kind of take your thoughts captive as scripture tells us, and as I've already stated before, to have no stinking thinking. And so thinking about some real life practical application, I'm all about that. I mean, I don't wanna be all stuffy and above reproach and make you guys think that I think that I know it all.'cause I, I'm gonna tell y'all straight up, you've already figured it out. And I'm just gonna be real untransparent. I do not know it all. And I am, you know, I'm just simple and I am just seeking. To serve and hopefully bless your day and your time that we're spending together. And so as I'm just thinking about some real life application, what are some ways that we can all, again, like I'm said, I'm growing with y'all, right? So I'm grateful to be a teammate with you on this journey of having the idea of that. If we can just take some time this week to maybe meditate on scriptures that affirm our identity in Christ, maybe even go another step further to write them down and then speak them over your life daily. So if you're listening to this though, and you aren't a follower of Jesus Christ, then I just wanna say, please don't tap out. You know, I wanna ask you to continue to listen and, and just maybe receive the encouragement, maybe even call it a challenge, however you wanna view it. But it's for you to consider that. Maybe you could take the challenge of going and Googling some Bible verses that fit a specific topic or growth that you are seeking for your own life, and then speak those verses over your life. You know, finding the, you know, just. What is scripture saying about this specific topic? Whatever it would be for your own real life application. I'd love it if you'd do that and then, hey, reach out. Let me know, Hey, how did that work for you? Because here's my why on that, because I know from living, I'll say straight up the wisdom that I have learned in living my life this way to allowing scripture to be what is spoken over me and in me. Is that real life experience tells me that we hear everything that we say to ourselves. Maybe not ever stopped and thought about it that way, but I believe that we hear 100% of what we say to ourselves. I. And so ideally, I would love to encourage you as I'm also encouraging myself to be careful what I speak over myself to be willing to, hmm. Maybe if I'm like, Hmm, I'll tore up from the floor up and I'm having a hot mess express moment, instead of saying something negative and demeaning that I can just practice the pause, right? And so my encouragement to you is, y'all, let's speak love. Let's speak life. Let's speak kindness. Let's speak affirmation. Over ourselves. My number two. Next best advice that I'd love to share is trusting God in the battle. Being more than a conqueror doesn't mean life is free of challenges. It means that I think that we face those challenges with faith, trusting that God is working all things together for our good, right? And so scripturally, we have the example of. David facing Goliath, right? If you know, if you've been in church at all, you've, you've heard this story most likely, but thinking about David facing Goliath, he didn't win the battle because of his own strength. He won the battle because he trusted in God's power. I. Man, that's encouraging for me to stop and think about that is that whenever we may be facing battles of our own, maybe you're walking through a journey right now and it's a battle. It's a, you feel like you are going up a hill with roller skates on, right? I mean, you got the visual. It's like, oh man. You just can't gain any traction. And before you know what, you're rolling back down. So whatever your battle may be that you are facing today, I want you to remember that God is bigger than your problem. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. Hmm. I'm so thankful for that. I mean, that's one of those, raise your hand and praise. Right? That's an awesome reminder that God's power lives in us as believers. And so my point number three that I would love to give you as a hot take is walking in victory every day. How do we do that? Or why do we do that? And I think our wise, because I really believe that victory isn't just about a destination. It's about how we live day to day, right? So being more than a conqueror means choosing to live in peace. Joy and confidence. Even when our circumstances shoot fire, they just don't, they don't look perfect. Right? I don't know about y'all, but none of my days look perfect. And so just the whole idea of that even when our circumstances don't look perfect, that we can walk and embrace the whole idea that, hey, the day is the day that I'm gonna. Yo, I'm gonna choose peace. I'm gonna choose joy, and I'm gonna choose to walk in confidence. The confidence of Christ. And so maybe the encouragement for you today in a mindset shift is instead of asking yourself, why is this happening to me? Right? Anybody ever have done that? I'm like, oh my gosh, poor pitiful me. Why is this happening to me? Then maybe the idea is that you can start asking yourself, Hmm, okay, well how can God use this for his glory? How can I grow? How can I work to let this situation make me better, not bitter? Just a few questions to maybe stop and let you ponder on. As my mentor says, we, we do a lot of pondering with some of the brilliant things that she says, but how can we allow situations to make us better, not bitter. So my next hot take I wanna share, friends, is practical application in the sense of start your day by declaring victory over your life. Right? Saying, I am more than a conqueror through Christ, who strengthens me through Christ, who loves me. What a gift that is. And so I'm gonna share with you guys that my morning routine consists of me clearing out loud. Now, this is really real. I do do this, uh, before I even get out of bed. I'll go to get up, and as I do, I will say it's gonna be a great, great, great, great, great, great day. Now don't worry, I'm not going to sing anymore because I do sound like a bullfrog going through puberty, and I will always say that whenever I get to heaven, come look me up, because in heaven, not only will I be able to sing. But I'll be able to dance and I'll be able to slam dunk, so please come find me. Right? Uh, but it is gonna be a great day, is what I declare, and I just choose to believe that. Right? And so I would love to encourage you that even though my little jingle, that might be annoying to all of you non mourning people, but it works for me. And so I would just say, Hey, you do you. Whatever works for you. Figure out some type of positive approach of how, how are you going to get up and start your day with excellence and with the idea of how you can be more than a conqueror, right? And so part of that is taking your thoughts captive and choosing joy and choosing to say, Hey, it's gonna be a great day, right? Whatever it is, in whatever way that we can try to program our mind to think positively. And so the next point I'd love to make on that is the whole idea of being able to give ourself permission to celebrate small wins, celebrate those small wins. It doesn't have to be this big, huge, elaborate, you know, X, Y, or Z kind of thing. Like just celebrate the small wins and trust God with the bigger battles. Alright, friends, hot, take number three. When I stop and I think about. Ways that I like to be sharpened and how do I learn the best? It's really honestly from other people. And so some stories of some overcomers I wanted to share on this episode with you is that, you know, I think sometimes when we do get to hear real life stories, it can help us to see what it means to live as more than conquerors. And so story number one, the power of forgiveness. And so the power of forgiveness, I think is. Whew. That's how we can live is more than a conquer, right? If we can forgive how to or figure out how to forgive those who have done us wrong, it can be a game changer. You'll hear the expression often that forgiveness is more for you than it is even the other person. And I think that's some pretty solid wisdom too. And so thinking about someone that I know who overcame a really deep hurt from a broken relationship, so instead of staying bitter, they chose to forgive. They started just trusting God with the whole situation and as I like to say, released for peace. And, and so God ended up healing their heart and that decision didn't just set them free. It showed others the power of God's love too. What an awesome way to be able to live with a tangible example of God's love and action. Right? And so another story when I think about faith and financial struggles, and so, I just, I know that sometimes we. I mean, gosh, stuff's expensive, right? Everybody's like, yeah, girl, I just paid$8 for a dozen of eggs. I mean, it is cray cray how much everything is costing nowadays. And so when I stop and I think about a friend who was drowning in financial debt, but she chose to trust God and follow biblical principles for managing money, and then y'all, through prayer, through discipline and through faith. She not only paid off all of her debt, but she also then got to become a huge blessing in the lives of others by helping them to manage their finances. And so this is such a tangible example of someone winning at life, right? Very inspiring. And so maybe that's you. Maybe you're like, I need to get on a debt-free journey, and I, I don't even know how. I would encourage you go to the Dave Ramsey plan. That's what I did. About four and a half years ago, and it completely has transformed my life and I'm so thankful, you know, to where we do not have to be. Scripture says that, the borrower is slave to the lender, and so debt I think can hold us back and can it make us not feel more than a conquer, right? We'll all agree on that, but if you're looking for a way, then hey, find some apps or whatever there is. The every dollar app go by Dave Ramsey that you might wanna check out and see about. That's even free. You can just put it on your phone and do from there. But. when I think about another hot take, I'm gonna go with number four, that God's love is the foundation. So in Romans 8 37, it isn't just about being strong in our own power, I. It's about the love of Christ that gives us strength. And Paul makes it really clear where he says, for I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's a word, right? Romans chapter eight, verses 38 and 39. And so when you know that you're loved unconditionally by God, you can face anything with confidence. And I will share with you guys that I personally believe this with all of my heart. I actually experience God's presence in my life and such a powerful and majestic way. It's even kind of challenging to put into words, but I will share with you guys briefly that the Lord met me. In the trauma room of the local ER minutes after my arrival from suffering a stroke at the local movie theater, what turned into a Saturday afternoon matinee of fun and popcorn and cherry coke, and watching a movie, I was met with the greatest fear and anxiety that I've ever experienced in my life. Honestly, it was, ugh, I gr I'm grateful. It's an experience that I'm declaring I will never have to relive again. I was terrified. I was overwhelmed. But I will tell you that I always say, but God, right, but God, because God and His goodness met me in the middle of that moment with such kindness and peace. It was as though he was in the room with me. And I may share more about that in a future episode, but for now, I will joyfully share with you all of that. He healed me. He healed me, and I am so, so grateful. Um, so as that verse from Roman so powerfully states that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, uh, that's really been applied to my personal life and I am so very thankful. Hot. Take number five is that. Your call to action or as my friend Lee has suggested to me after listening to the first couple episodes that she said, Hey, what if you call this part of the podcast your change chasers challenge? And I'm like, I'm about that. I love it. I love alliteration. And so we got all those three C words together. And so for that, I'm excited. So I say thank you, Lee. For that suggestion. And so I might even call it C3 time, right? Like C cubed, uh, change chasers challenge. And so now for our actionable goal, I want you to remember three points here. Number one, you are not fighting for victory. You're fighting from victory. Jesus has already won. Number two, trust God in every battle, big or small. He is always working for your good. Three, lean into God's love. It's the unshakeable foundation that gives you the strength to conquer anything. And so sweet. Friends, before we sign off, my challenge for you this week is to think about one area of your life where you feel defeated, maybe struggle busting a little bit, and. Maybe write down this truth though that says that I am more than a conqueror through him who loves me. Write that truth down. Maybe you wanna write it down and put it on your bathroom mirror so that every time you brush your teeth and I'm, I'm trusting and hoping that you brush your teeth at least twice a day. If not, then I'll. I tell my youth group, there's a fungus among us and it's you. But maybe put that down. Put that truth down, that I am more than a conquer through him who loves me on your bathroom mirror. And when you brush your teeth, hmm, start saying it right. Brush, brush, brush say that I am more than a conquer through him who loves me. Pray over that situation and a clear victory in Jesus' name. One of my favorite quotes I'll say often is believe and receive or doubt and do without. Sweet friends. My closing hot take is this, you are more than a conqueror, not because of your own strength, but because of Christ's love for you. When you face challenges this week, remember that the victory is already yours. Walk in that confidence and share it with those around you. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Change Chasers. If this episode encouraged you, then I will invite you, please share it with someone who needs a reminder of God's promises. If this content is encouraging you, then please subscribe and then I'll get to see you in the future. On the next episode, as we are going to continue our conversations about pursuing change, growth, and living in the fullness of. God's love and his purpose. So until then, sweet friends, I wanna encourage you, keep walking in. Victory for you are more than a conqueror. Keep chasing change and living with purpose. Goodbye sweet friends.