Dr. Brian J. Bailey
Looking at the Lord Jesus Christ in visions that God has given me concerning His life here on earth, the one thing that amazes me is that He was always a conqueror in every given situation, and we are told to walk even as He walked.
Apostle Paul says in Romans 8:37, that we are in all things more than conquerors. Greater is He that is within us than he that is in the world. We are called to be kings, and in Romans 5:17 we are to walk and reign in this life and we are to do so through the abundance of grace and the gift
of righteousness.
I want to touch on the thought of the abundance of grace. The Apostle Peter, writing in 1 Peter 1:4, speaks of manifold trials, and that word ‘manifold’ in the Greek could be interpreted as many colours or many hues. We know that trials do come in many various colours. We have grey trials, blue trials, and yellow trials but the Apostle Peter says in chapter 4:10 that God gives manifold grace. What does that mean?
Well, basically, it means that for every hue or every colour of trial that you experience, God has a matching colour of grace. The thought is that where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. In other words, there is much more grey grace to compensate for a grey trial. In every situation that we find ourselves in, we are ordained to be more than conquerors, and the reason we can be that is because there is a matching colour of grace for the colour of trial that we are going through. We are to call upon God in every trial and ask Him for the matching colour of grace.
It is interesting that the Apostle Paul, in Hebrews, speaks of those who failed of the grace of God.
The thought is that in a certain trial, they did not call upon God for that appropriate colour of grace, and therefore they failed. In the Word of God, it is evident that we as Christians are to be always victorious in every situation that we are in. Romans 5:17 declares that we reign in life. That means that we are above the problem.
I am amazed by how the Lord Jesus Christ exemplified this when He was on earth. He was in control in every situation, even before Pontius Pilate, who marvelled at the composure of the Lord. He said to the Lord, “Don’t You realise that I have the power to crucify You, or set You free?” And the King of Kings, looking at this representative of Rome’s Caesar, says, “You would have no power whatsoever except to be given to you by My Father.”
In the Word of God, it is evident that we as Christians are to be always victorious in every situation that we are in.
He was in control even at His own trial. He was receiving grace and anointing from God to be in control in every situation. Pontius Pilate almost yielded to Him and asked Him, “What is truth?” In other words, he was
asking the prisoner, “You know, help me, I don’t know where I am.”
Here was Jesus reigning even in the court, and this is where we are to be, to be more than conquerors in every situation that we find ourselves. In Revelation 6:1-2, by contemplating the rider on the horse with a crown and
bow, and how He went forth to conquer, we know that we can be more than conquerors in every situation. But how is that possible? It is possible through receiving the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.
Psalm 45:7 tells us that if we would love righteousness and hate wickedness, God anoints us with the oil of joy as He did His Son above all fellows. It is the love of righteousness that will allow us to be overcomers. Psalm 45:3 says, “Gird thy sword upon thy thigh,” and because of three things, truth, meekness and righteousness, and go forth to conquer.
We need to be filled with truth because the Lord Jesus said in John 8:32, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” In every situation that you find yourself, call upon God, “Lord, show me truth, show me this situation as You see it,” and as the Lord opens your eyes, you see the situation that you are placed in from God’s standpoint, and you are liberated.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The attitude of meekness is the holy acceptance of
a situation permitted by God. That situation is not meant to defeat you but is to enable you to advance to a
higher realm in Him. In every situation that comes into our life, we are to be more than conquerors. We are to have the victory. We are ordained to be victorious in every situation, and this is the message that must be wrought out in our spirit.
We do so by being filled with righteousness, because the righteous are as bold as a lion. Sometimes I have
people who are deceptive, wicked, or jealous, but they can’t stand before righteousness; they cringe; they go
back. The righteous are as bold as a lion.
My wife and I were in Kenya when the Lord spoke to me the morning before a drive into the forest. That day,
a missionary was going to graciously take us in his truck through the woods.
He spoke to me from that Scripture, “A lion out of the thicket,” so I said joyfully to my wife, “Oh, we’re going to see a lion today.” I couldn’t understand why she didn’t rejoice. Anyway, I was looking for my lion and I had already alerted the missionary. I said, “You know, we are going to see a lion. When we do, you stop because I want to get out.” So, we’re driving through this forest area, and he stops. I said, “Well, where is my lion?”
He says, “There’s a rhinoceros there and I’d like you to get out and look at it. Don’t worry it will charge at us, but it will be a fake charge. Just a few yards before it comes to us, it will shoot off.
Don’t worry. “ “Oh,” I said, “Thank you.”
The righteous are as bold as a lion.
And I said to my wife, “Don’t worry the rhino will turn.” So, the missionary and I are watching this 2,000-pound, heavy equipment rhino, and he takes his time to charge towards us. The missionary said, “He will get up to twenty miles an hour as he comes, but even in full speed, he will turn. Don’t worry.” I said,
“Oh, thank you.”
Sure enough, he finally gets our scent as his eyesight is very poor, and now he’s really pounding. I said, “It seems that he’s got up to twenty-five mph.”
“No, he can’t do more than twenty,” said the missionary. As he’s pounding towards us, my wife is near to fainting in the truck, but sure enough a few yards before us, he panics and turns and shoots into the thicket.
Afterwards, just before we are going to get back to the truck, I said, “That’s my lion,” but it wasn’t a lion, it was a lioness. A lion sleeps all day and wakes up only when he wants to eat. She is the one that attacks, not the lion – he’s too lazy – and this lioness has been in a fight, she’s bleeding. But I’ve got this promise, “A lion out of the thicket.”
So, I get my camera while my wife is making all kinds of noises behind, and I’m walking towards the lioness, and the lioness observing me coming, stops. I can look into her eyes very clearly and she can look into my eyes. She’s confident that I am not going to hurt her and I’m confident that she’s not going to hurt me. Then she moves a bit and I follow, observing that I’m following, she stops and turns. God has given me the promise – I shall see a lion out of a thicket. Adam had dominion over the animals, and I was perfectly confident that this lioness would not attack me. She was confident that I wouldn’t attack her and so we kept moving like that for a little time until she disappeared.
The thought that I want to bring out here is that we do reign in every given situation. I want to look at a few scriptures with you and give you a few illustrations so that you may realise that you can reign in any situation as well.
It also depends on where we are dwelling, spiritually speaking. In Psalm 91:1, it speaks of “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High.” That is speaking of being under the wings of the cherubim in the Holy of Holies. There are promises given to those who dwell in the secret place; they shall not be afraid of the terror by night.
I was in Medan, Sumatra a couple of years ago, ministering in the churches there, and one night an earthquake happened. It was maybe in the 7.9 to 8.1 range in terms of magnitude – a very strong earthquake. I had been put up in a very nice hotel on the top floor, and when a powerful earthquake happens, you are bound to move. It was crunching and I was in bed thinking, “What should I do? Should I get up?” It seemed that the whole building was going to fall. Then I thought, “Well, no, I’ve got my message for tomorrow morning, so everything’s going to be all right. I would not have received a message if I was going to be thrown out on the streets.”
I felt peace, so I was not afraid of the earthquake, and I turned over. Of course, the earthquake stopped after a minute or two, but coming down for breakfast in the morning, I met the General Manager. I had already been told of terrible damage in certain parts of the city, so I said, “How was the hotel?” “Oh,” he said, “One or two frescoes fell off.” I said, “That’s remarkable.” He said, “No, not really. Prayer does wonders.” It turned out
that he was the worship leader of the local Pentecostal church, and so the whole building was under the protection of the Lord. We are more than conquerors.
We are ordained to be victorious in every situation, and this is the message that must be wrought out in our spirit.
The Apostle Paul, in Romans 8, brings out 17 things that cannot separate us from the love of
God. I want to consider some of them and give little illustrations.
I was in the land of Jordan many years ago when the Palestinians were already overrunning the country. We were on a hill in Amman with a missionary doctor from Egypt, his wife, and a little girl called Margaret. The Palestinians were firing all around us. The doctor had to dodge bullets from his house to the bakery, and he prayed that God would get him to the bakery and back safely.
God gave a vision to this little girl and the Lord said, “Next Sunday, the Palestinians are going to come
down the road by your house and they are going to go out of Jordan. And daddy will have no problem
whatsoever in getting food for you after that.” So, mummy and daddy are listening to little Margaret, and
they say, “Are you sure, dear?” “Oh yes, Sunday, they’re going by.” On Sunday, they watch and behold, the
Palestinians come down, and they leave Amman, and they leave the country.
Distress can be minor or it can be intense. I was in Oregon and some friends talked me into going to
the country and they said, “Look, we’re all going for a horse ride and you come with us.” I said, “I’ve never
been on a horse.” They said, “Oh, that’s no problem. Old Bess is so tranquil, you don’t have to worry.” Old
Bess was way up there, and the stirrups were down here, and I was wondering how to get on.
Well, they saddled Old Bees and got me up on her. Now a horse knows if the rider knows how to ride, and
Old Bess knew that this rider did not know how to ride. That was my first time, so I said, “What do I do to
get Old Bess moving?” They said, “Don’t worry, we are going to trot out in line and Old Bess will automatically
follow.” I said, “Are you sure?” “Oh, yes, Old Bess is very docile. Old Bess will follow.”
Well, they trotted out, and I’m waiting for Old Bess to move, and Old Bess does not move. And I’m thinking,
if Old Bess had been a car, I’d have put in a key, turned the ignition, put it in gear, put my foot on the pedal and guided Old Bess out. But how do you get a horse to move? There is no ignition key, there’s no gearbox or anything like that.
So I’m saying to Old Bess, “Bess, why don’t you move?” I didn’t know what to do with the reins and so forth, all I know was the Word of God. So, I thought I better go to Genesis. “Bess, it is written that Adam was given dominion over all the animals, and Bess, I am a son of Adam. Now, I command you.” I put my finger in between her ears, tapped her and said, “Bess, I command you to follow those other horses,” which by now had nearly disappeared. I said, “In the name of the Lord, I’m taking dominion over you. And Bess, you are to move, and you are to follow.” And she did. So, when you are in distress, quote the Word of God.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. Psalm 91:1
Another situation that the Apostle Paul speaks about in Romans 8 was famine. I was in the country of Wales many years ago when I was a student and I met some Pentecostal brethren who told me this story.
They said that some years before, Wales was going through economic distress and there was great
unemployment, and yet the Lord spoke to the Pentecostal brethren to stay in Wales and to trust in Him. There was no social security in those days, so if you didn’t have any money, you had nothing.
They also did not have refrigerators in those days, but they had larders, which were basically cupboards with a hole in them so that the air from outside can go in and keep the goods cool. It wasn’t very luxurious, but that’s what it was. They said, “We obeyed God and the result was that our money ran out. We had no jobs, so we prayed.” There was nothing whatsoever in the larder, and they cried out to God, “Lord, You commanded us not to leave Wales and not to go to England where there is employment. So, Lord, help us.”
Not every root of bitterness will permit a demon to come in, but a root of bitterness will dry up your spirit. And you are to be free today.
They felt the presence of God and heard Him say, “Well, go to the larder.” When they opened the empty larder,
it was filled with food. Their glass bottles of milk never ran dry. The bread remained fresh and was always
there even after cutting it, and all the necessary food was replenished. God had miraculously provided in famine.
A few years ago, in the United States, some enterprising brethren produced Tribulation food consisting of dehydrated food that would last a year. They charged $2,000 for a year’s supply, and people bought the Tribulation food because they anticipated that the Tribulation would be immediate. They had read Matthew
24 of the conditions that would come before the Tribulation.
A trial is to make us better and not bitter, but trials can make us bitter if we do not appropriate the grace of God.
The Lord spoke to me, “Tell them about Elijah, that when Elijah had need, I provided, and the oil never ran out until the time of the rain.” God is Jehovah Jireh and He will amply supply in a famine or in a time of need.
In whatever situation we are in, we are to appropriate the grace of God, and we are intended to always walk in
victory. There is a grave danger if we fail the grace of God. In Hebrews, it says a root of bitterness springs forth because one fails of the grace of God.
A trial is to make us better and not bitter, but trials can make us bitter if we do not appropriate the grace
of God.
In the journey of Israel, they crossed over the Red Sea and they came to the waters of Marah. The
waters of Marah were bitter, and so they murmured.
Not every root of bitterness will permit a demon to come in, but a root of bitterness will dry up your spirit. And you are to be free today.
I am going to make an appeal because you are to go out of here more than conquerors; you are to go out of here triumphant, and you are to go out of here victorious in your life now. So, I am going to ask you in your hearts to confess to God that root of bitterness, to ask Him to remove it, and in its place, to give you your Manasseh (Genesis 41:51 – forgetfulness of the past).
This article is an excerpt from Chapter 7 of the book, Like A Mighty Army. It has been reprinted with covering permission from the late Dr. Brian J. Bailey. Scriptures quoted in this article
are in the King James Version.
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