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"A Conquering Attitude"

Ro. 8: 35; 37-39 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

For the last 3 weeks we've talked about attitude--The Magnitude of Attitude, An unselfish attitude, and A Winning Attitude.

We've focused on the exhortation given to us in Philippians to "have the same attitude in you that was also in Christ Jesus."

We've defined attitude as "a settled disposition or frame of mind toward a person or thing."

Your attitude is the lens through which you view life!

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Someone once wrote about attitude:

It is the “advance man” of our true selves.

Its roots are inward but its fruit is outward.

It is our best friend or our worst enemy.

It is more honest and more consistent than our words.

It is your outward look based on past experiences.

It is a thing which draws people to us or repels them.

It is never content until it is expressed.

It is the librarian of our past;

It is the speaker of our present;

It is the prophet of our future.

You can’t keep an attitude a secret!

You will show it in your face, your voice, and your actions.

However much you are for or against something – your attitude will show through to those around you.

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I want to close out this series by looking at an attitude that is crucial to our victory as a Christian...

That is---a conquering attitude.

Now, the winning attitude we talked about last time has to do with how you view life in general.

But a conquering attitude is how you view your battles in particular.

Do you face your battles with a defeated, "I'm a victim," loser kind of attitude?

Or do you face them with a confident, faith-filled, "I can do all things through Christ," conquering attitude?

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FACT: The attitude with which you face your battles will decide whether you win or lose!

ILLUS: The 12 spies...

The first report came from 10 of the 12 spies, who said:

33 "There we saw the giants...and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

Notice, it wasn't the giants that defeated them, it was the lens through which they saw the giants that defeated them.

And the lens was their defeated attitude.

They were defeated before the battle even started!

The giants didn't have to lift a finger--the spies defeated outlook did the work for them!

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But two of the twelve men had a conquering attitude!

Listen to their conquering attitude in what they reported:

"Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it" (Numbers 13:30).

Instead of saying "we can't," they said "we can!"

Then in the next chapter they spoke out again:

"Don't fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them" (14:9).

Don't fear them, we will consume them, they have no protection, and God is with us!

Notice how the two groups totally differed in the attitude with which they viewed the enemy...

The ten men with a defeated attitude talk about the size of the giants, how they imagined the giants saw them, viewed themselves as defeated and weak, and of how impossible it all looked.

But the two men with a conquering attitude saw the battle already won, that God had removed the giant's protection, and that the Lord was with them.

Unfortunately, the bad report of those with a defeated attitude won the day and over a million Israelites lost their inheritance!

This is why I've talked so much about the Magnitude of Attitude!

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Now, the Apostle Paul, who I call the "king of a positive attitude" lays out for us in our text what a conquering attitude looks like.

In fact, If you read Romans 8:28-39, you will find the blueprint for a conquering attitude unlike anywhere else in the Bible!

Let me summarize it today...

The person with a conquering attitude knows three things:

First...

God has decreed my victory

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son..." (Ro. 8:28-29)

Here we're told that God has DECIDED something...

He has decided that those who come to His Son Jesus Christ will become like Him...

And He has DECREED that no matter what God's children experience in life--good or bad--will be made to serve this purpose...that we are shaped into the image of His Son...

It is a DECREE...He CHOSE them to be like His Son!

The Message Bible says, "God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son."

God decreed that those who come to His Son, Jesus Christ, would be formed into His image--would love like Him, walk like Him, and ultimately receive a glorified body like Him!

So if God decreed that "All things" would work for our good, who can defeat us?

This is the conquering attitude on display.

That God makes everything in our life BOW to His purpose for us!

Again the Message Bible says, "That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good."

So if God has decreed that everything Satan can throw at me, or that man can do to me, or that circumstances can hand to me will only work for my good...I'm in a win/win situation!

How can I not have a conquering, victorious attitude!

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The second key to a conquering attitude is in knowing,

II. God is FOR me

In light of the overwhelming evidence in our favor, Paul asks the question, "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

The answer to the question is, "NO ONE!"

Paul's not saying that No one can come against you, because people and devils came against him, and people and devils will come against us.

He's saying "Who can successfully come against us if God be fighting for us?"

Because He has decreed that His children will ultimately win!

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Now, one of Satan's favorite tactics is to try to convince us God is not on our side, that He is NOT for us.

This is exactly the lie he used against Eve way back in the Garden of Eden.

He said to her, “That’s a lie!” the serpent hissed. “You’ll not die! 5 God knows very well that the instant you eat it you will become like him, for your eyes will be opened—you will be able to distinguish good from evil!” (Genesis 3:4-5)

The devil is telling her that God has an unjust motive for telling them not to eat of the tree or they will die.

It's not for their good that he forbade them, but in order to exclude them from their privilege and right.

In other words, "God is holding you back from a blessing...He doesn't want the best for you."

Bottom line, "God's not really for you, Eve!"

And she believed the lie and fell in defeat.

And this is why the belief that God is FOR YOU is so important to victory!

God is pulling for you, is on your side, wants you to win, if fighting for you!

He even sent His Spirit to live inside of you and to PRAY AND INTERCEDE on your behalf!

"And in the same way—the Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying. For we don’t even know what we should pray for nor how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words" (Ro. 8:26).

God has withheld nothing in His attempt to see us through to victory--He is FOR US!

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A final key in Paul's conquering attitude is in his unfailing trust that...

III. God loves me

You see, In Paul's mind the certainty of God's love in any and all circumstances only strengthened his conquering attitude...

He wrote:

35 "Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?"

The answer, of course, is NO!

Then listen to what he says next:

"Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

You see, this exposes another one of Satan's standard lies--that when we go through trials, tribulation, or tough times....

When things don't go our way...And answers to prayer seem to tarry---that this somehow places God's love in doubt.

But a conquering attitude says, "Nothing can separate me from Christ's love!"

Not personal mistakes and failures, not letdowns and betrayals, nor faulty friends or disloyal lovers.

Hard times, says Paul, have nothing at all to do with whether or not He loves us.

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You see, we think that if He loved us, He would stop the things that hurt us...He would intervene to keep us from pain.

But no, His love is manifested in all and through all of our experiences in His decree that He will work them for our good!

Besides, it's the struggles that make us strong!

ILLUS: It a known fact that a forest that has been subjected to storms is much sturdier than trees that grew in protected areas. 

When a protected forest is eventually exposed to a storm, virtually all the trees will be leveled.

But a forest constantly tested by adversity will grow and endure due to the deep roots the trees have put down in adversity.

Likewise, challenge and adversity are the winds that make you stronger.

BOTTOM LINE: Jesus loves you TOO much to keep you from all trouble!

So rather than proving He doesn't love you, adversity proves that He does!

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The person with a conquering attitude believes:

He has decreed my victory, He is for me, He unfailingly loves me...

LET'S PRAY