Attitude of an Overcomer

A few years ago I was watching the news coverage of the annual Boston Marathon. As I was watching, one of the commentators made several references to the phrase “The Wall” as he was reporting on some of the athletes and how they train. I didn’t quite understand the reference so, having my google app on hand, I looked it up. A Marathon is a 26.2 mile footrace. The phrase “The Wall” is a term for the invisible moment at about the 20 mile mark of a marathon when the body is wracked with fatigue, and an apparently insurmountable physiological barrier stops the runner in his tracks. Though I was a soccer player in high school and college, and on some of the good seasons I would average five to seven mile runs a day during training, I never experienced, and will probably never experience first-hand “The Wall”. Apparently, “The Wall” is when an athletes glycogen reserves are depleted, and the body makes a shift from its normal fuel source to its fat reserves as a fuel source. Veteran long distance runners may feel temporarily out of steam when they come up against “The Wall”, but the more inexperienced runners will suffer from additional physiological problems including sever muscle cramps and dehydration. Those who train for marathons prepare their bodies by forcing themselves to this point. They force themselves to come up against “The Wall”. They train their bodies to accept this change over from their glycogen fuel source to their fat reserve fuel source by doing a number of long distance practice runs that endure through this fuel change zone. Once a runner is through “The Wall” the worst is over and providing there are no other ill effects, the finish line should be inevitable.

This fascinates me, and reminds me of the words of the apostle Paul found in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV) that says: “…Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong”. What better description of “The Wall” effect than this. We run a spiritual race that brings us a spiritual reward, but we live in a physical body that carries with it physical weaknesses and limitations. Paul understood that in order for us to run this spiritual race with the limitations of a physical body, our flesh must switch over to an auxiliary fuel source; the auxiliary fuel source he calls “Christ’s Power”. Paul says that he is able to delight in weaknesses, insults, persecutions, and difficulties when Christ’s power comes upon him. He delights and boasts about all the things that initially have the potential to hinder or halt a person’s progress on their spiritual journey. In other words, these weaknesses and difficulties are the moments in his spiritual race that cause a switch over from the natural fuel source to the supernatural fuel source of God’s Holy Spirit. There is a lot I can say about the power of the Holy Spirit given to us as our alternate fuel source that helps us accomplish our God-given mission, but for now I want to remind us of another one of Paul’s writings that talks more about the attitude that these athletes need in order to train their bodies to come up against “The Wall”. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV) says: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize”. Think about the discipline it takes to go into strict training. Think about the attitude it takes to beat your own body into submission, forcing yourself to come up against “The Wall” so that when you run the actual race that counts “The Wall” will not be something that stops you from crossing the finish line.

When I think about this kind of an attitude, I think about the attitude that young David had during the epic battle he had with Goliath. David’s attitude was one of an overcomer. David displayed an attitude that we need to establish in our own life if we are going to get to the point of moving past those “Wall” moments that come about. It’s this attitude, which once established in our life, will lead us to the point where we can delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, and in difficulties. David’s life is a perfect example of the life of an overcomer. The life of an overcomer must have, at its core, the attitude of an overcomer. Attitudes are developed deep down in our spirit. They are characteristics that define us. We know and label people sometimes by their attitudes. We may look at one person and know him to be a hard worker who is always determined to do a good job, while also knowing someone else as having a lazy, make any excuse to get out of work, attitude about them. Attitudes can be changed however, and the characteristics that form our attitudes can be strengthened and developed. When I refer to David’s attitude as being the attitude of an overcomer, I am referring to that deep down in the gut characteristic that refuses to accept things the way they are. David approaches the valley of Elah early on his spiritual journey, and as we read the story we can see some characteristics already established in him that can help us develop and strengthen a breakthrough attitude in our own life.

1 Samuel 17:20 (NIV) says this: “Early in the morning David left the flock with a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry”. Notice how this verse says that David left early in the morning. Why do you think David left early in the morning? I realize that David was only a delivery boy for his father at this point in time, but something tells me that David wanted to do this. I don’t think that his father had to ask twice before David said yes, or looked for an excuse to stay home. I’m not sure how long of a trip it was from David’s home to the battle field, but he left early enough to get to the battle field in time to see the armies take their battle positions. I believe that he left early enough in the morning because he didn’t want to miss a single thing that was going to take place that day.

I sometimes wonder why God doesn’t move more powerfully or more frequently in our lives or churches today. Why do miracles and Holy Spirit outpourings seem so few and far between? With this story in mind, I have to also ask myself another question: “Why would He?” Why would God come with His awesome mighty presence to a place where his people have a hard time showing up on time, or where they roll into the worship service sometime after the first few songs have already been sung? Why would He pour out His Spirit in a place where the prayer meetings are the least attended service of the week? These things make me wonder how much we really want to be in church in the first place. It makes me wonder how much we really want to experience His presence and a mighty move of His Spirit in our midst. David left early in the morning because he didn’t want to miss a thing. There was an anticipation within him that something great was going to happen, and I believe that perhaps the church has, in large part, lost this sense of anticipation. We don’t rush to church, because we don’t anticipate anything special happening. I don’t want to get too far off topic, but let me say that I believe there are certain things that God chooses to do only in the setting of the corporate body. We can experience personal revival in our lives, but when true revival comes to a corporate body there are things the scriptures show us, and history lays out for us, that we don’t see God doing anywhere else. David left for the battle field early in the morning because He expected to see God do great things. He wanted to be there because he anticipated a powerful victory in the lives of God’s people, and he wanted to be there to witness it. When we begin to re-establish the attitude that expects and anticipates God’s mighty power moving among his people, then you are not going to want to miss a thing. You will find yourself wanting to be where the action is, and no Starbucks line on a Sunday morning will be worth arriving to church late for.

There was a memory that popped up on my Facebook time line recently. It was something that I had posted six years ago. The post reads as follows: “A woman with a rare lung disease was healed in our service this morning. She was on her death bed only three weeks ago, had gone through ten surgeries, in three months. Doctors had given up hope. Our hope, however is in the Lord. This morning she was able to take deep breaths without pain for the first time in three years”. I remember that Sunday very clearly. When she took that deep breath and testified of the Lord’s healing the church erupted in praise. I didn’t get to preach that Sunday. It was simply a day of praise and worship. Unfortunately, I also remember the following Sunday. After the mighty healing that week, I believed and eagerly anticipated God doing even greater things the following Sunday. I couldn’t wait for that next Sunday to arrive. The next Sunday finally came, but to my disappointment there was hardly anyone in church that day. The woman who had been healed hadn’t even showed up. Things like this baffle my mind. I don’t fully understand it except to say that I believe it is part of a culture that has lost the attitude of an overcomer in their lives. It is the attitude that anticipates and expects God to do more than he has before. The attitude of an overcomer doesn’t only want to see victory in their own lives, but wants to see and be a part of bringing victory to the lives of others. The attitude of an overcomer is an attitude that wants to be where the action is.

We must learn once again to be people of action. People of action expect and anticipate God doing great things and they don’t want to miss out on any of it. People of action also rarely have to look hard to find action. David was tending sheep one day when a lion came, so he took action. David was minding his own business on another day, doing his job, when a bear came along, so he took action. He was a delivery boy for his father on this particular day and Goliath showed up, so he was ready to take action. People of action not only rarely have to look hard to find action, but they tend to gravitate towards people of action. When David first arrives at the battle field and begins questioning the soldiers about Goliath his oldest brother becomes angry with him, calling him conceited and wicked. David seems to realize at this point that his brothers were not going to take action, so the scriptures say “He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before”(1 Samuel 17:30). David looked for men of action because he was a man of action. He had that deep down in the gut attitude that couldn’t and wouldn’t accept the situation the way it was. Later on in life, as king, David finds himself getting into trouble with a young married woman named Bathsheba. The Bible says that this happened during a time when kings go out to battle. David should have been on the battle field with his men, but found himself alone in the palace looking down on a woman who wasn’t his to have. People of action must be where the action is, and they must be with people of action. If not, then trouble occurs.

God has called us to advance His Kingdom in the world he has placed us in. There needs to be something deep down in our gut that says “I want to be on the front lines of a mighty move of God”. There must be an attitude deep down in our core that wants to see and be a part of a mighty move of God in our marriage, in our children’s lives, in our neighborhood, in our work place and in our church. People of action cannot sit in the pews week after week without getting involved. They cannot hear about the hurts and needs of co-workers and stay silent about them. People of action cannot see fields ripe for harvest without wanting to get out there and get their hands dirty. People of action never see themselves as just a shepherd boy or delivery boy. David didn’t allow the title he held that day to restrict what God would do through him. People of action always realize that there is something else mighty, powerful, and significant inside of them that God wants to bring out of them. If we are going to be people of action then we must once again begin to expect and anticipate God working in and through us. We must develop and strengthen the attitude that doesn’t want to miss out on anything that God wants to do in and around us. This is the attitude that will help us get past those “Wall” moments in life and help get back to accomplishing God’s mission of advancing His Kingdom. Like David, we must have the attitude of an overcomer.