A friend of mine, Steve, grew up in Oklahoma, where Oklahoma Sooner football was (for some) not just a way of life, but the very meaning of life. That's because in the 1970's the OU Sooners were a college football powerhouse. (Which, by the way, it appears that they have become once again--they won their seventh National Championship last year.)

In those days, the Sooners didn't just defeat their opponents, they obliterated them. It was not uncommon to see the Sooners score 60 or 70 points in a game. And no one could accuse them of running up the score, because their offense was not pass oriented, it was run-oriented. The only way the Sooners could have scored fewer points would have been to intentionally fall down when they got the ball.

In those days, OU won by large margins because they were so much better than most of the teams they played—it just wasn't a contest.

Just as Oklahoma University won at football by a lopsided margin, we've been promised the ability to win at life by a lopsided margin. In the 8th chapter of Romans, Paul says...

(v. 37) In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

I love that phrase: More than conquerors. It reminds that God didn't create us to limp our way through life, being knocked around by the devil, by our circumstances, by our enemies, or by anything else. We were made to win—and not just by a narrow margin in the closing seconds of the game. We were made to win by a blowout. We're not just conquerors, we are more than conquerors.

For those who are striving to become holy, this is great news. Too often, it seems as if the battle against sin is one that we are destined to lose. But I want you to understand that we only lose when we choose to lose, when we don't take advantage of the weapons God has provided for each of us.

We've been talking about holiness—How to Become Good—and the theme we keep coming back to is the fact that holiness begins in your mind: What you believe about God, about yourself, about salvation, about sin, and about God's power in your life. The key to holiness is also found (as we saw last week) in controlling your thought life—setting your mind on what the Spirit desires. This week we'll see how the ability to overcome sin—to be more than a conqueror—is a matter of finding strength in God's goodness.

After the hostage crisis in Iran in the late 70's, one of the hostages gave an interview and said (paraphrasing), "We had no idea that amount of publicity our situation received in America. If we had known about it, it would have made our captivity more bearable, so our captors did everything they could to make us think we had been forgotten by our own country."

Romans 8 teaches us that God is on our side. He is absolutely 110% for us, but if we don't believe that, we can't experience the benefits of his goodness.

Suppose two lovers are separated by distance. The young lady has undying devotion to the young man, but he doesn't know it. For him, the separation will be like torture. Instead of finding strength in the fact that he has found his true love, he spends his time wondering if she really loves him, if she'll still be his when he comes home, or if she'll have forgotten about him. No matter how much she loves him, if he doesn't believe in her love, he'll find no strength and comfort in her love.

It works the very same way in our relationship with Christ. He has made promises to us that guarantee us a victorious life, but if we don't believe those promises, we'll never experience their benefits. If we don't trust in his goodness and power, then his goodness and power go to waste in our lives. God has promised to you the ability to be more than a conqueror in life, but if you don't take him up on that offer, you'll never experience his power.

Today we'll look at three things God does for you to help you be more than a conqueror in life. These are three things that you cannot do for yourself—he does them for you. As you live your life day-by-day, if you will rely on him to do these things for you, if you will trust in his goodness along the way, you will experience his power—you will be more than a conqueror in life. Here are the three things we need to keep in mind.

1. The Holy Spirit is your prayer partner.

Paul said...

(v. 26) ...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

About a year ago I began the habit of writing out my prayers in long-hand. I got the idea from Bill Hybels, who, I think, got the idea from King David. My reason for developing this habit was to be more attentive, more focused, and more disciplined in my prayer life. It's worked very well; I recommend it for everyone.

However, there have been a number of times when I haven't known what to pray for, or how to pray about a particular situation. There have been times when I was so frustrated, or so discouraged that I didn't have the words to pray. During those times I could only yield my prayers to the Holy Spirit and allow him to pray for me.

That's one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit. He talks to God the Father on your behalf. He prays for you. You may not know what to say, but he does. And he always prays the right prayer for you; he always prays in accordance with God's will.

(v. 27) And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

I always pictured it to work this way. When my kids were little, they would come into the kitchen and say, "I'm hungry! I need a snack! Can I have a cookie?" Their mother would say, "Of course, you can have a snack. Here's an apple."

My kids recognized they had a "need", but they didn't always know what to ask for, but Mom knew how to translate their request and give them what they needed, rather than what they asked for.

I also remember there were times when my children didn't have any idea what to ask for. Their body had a fever, their stomach was too upset to hold down food, and all they could do was cry. During those times, their Mom heard their cries, and she knew what they meant, and she gave them the medicine they needed.

When you pray, keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is interceding for you. We don't always know how we ought to pray, but he does, and he intercedes for us according to the will of God.

Have you ever heard the saying, "Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it." The only way you can believe that statement is if you don't believe in the goodness of God. A cruel apathetic God might not stand in the way of our getting some of the foolish things we ask for—just like a bad parent might give their kids cupcakes every time they ask for them—but our God isn't that way. When you don't know how to pray as you ought—when you ask for things that aren't beneficial and aren't in accordance with God's will for your life—the Holy Spirit searches your heart and intercedes on your behalf.

So, keep this in mind: when you pray, you have an all-powerful, all-knowing prayer partner. In fact, not just one prayer partner, but two. Look at verse 34.

(v. 34) Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Jesus prays to the Father for you; the Holy Spirit prays to the Father for you. You have an Almighty prayer partner. But, if you don't rely on this promise to be at work in your life, it won't do you any good. You'll face situations and you'll think you're completely on your own. Your prayers will be plagued with doubt because you'll think you have to pray in your own wisdom, and you'll constantly wonder, "What if I pray for the wrong thing?"

If you want to be more than a conqueror in life, you have to trust in God's goodness, and keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is your prayer partner, and he knows how to pray. Secondly, keep in mind...

2. God is in control of the events of your life.

Paul said...

(v. 28) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Do you know what this verse means? It means that if your heart is yielded to God, nothing bad can ever happen to you. Period.

I didn't say that nothing unpleasant can ever happen, or nothing irritating can ever happen, or nothing sad can ever happen. Those things are a fact of life. But when they happen, God has promised to work them out for our good...for our benefit.

How many of you have known someone who was fired or laid off from their job, only to find an even better job? How many of you know someone (maybe yourself) whose heart was broken in a bad relationship, but then later they met the man or woman of their dreams? We've all had the experience in which something that appeared to be negative on the surface turned out to be a positive in the long run.

For people who aren't committed to following Christ, those experiences are just lucky coincidences. But for people who love God, it is part and parcel of our everyday experience. He has promised to take all of the events of our life and work them out for our good.

He has promised to do this, but in order for you to benefit from this promise, you have to trust in his goodness. Otherwise, you'll fall apart every time something doesn't go according to your plan. You'll have one minor setback and you'll think the world is caving in on you and that God has deserted you.

That's not the way God made you to live. He made you to live above your circumstances. Because of this promise in Romans 8:28, you can live your life with absolute, total, and complete confidence. That's why Paul said...

(v. 31) If God is for us, who can be against us?

No situation ever has to get the best of you, because God is in control of the events in your life. That makes you more than a conqueror. But, in order to experience it, you've got to believe it. You've got to trust in God's goodness. Thirdly, keep in mind...

3. You are surrounded by God's inseparable love.

Listen to what Paul said...

(v. 35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...

(v. 37) No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

(v. 38) For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any power, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you have ever been tempted to think that God no longer loves you, I want you to pause for a moment and ask yourself, "What happened that caused me to think such a thing?"

Was it because you had a business failure or financial problems? Paul says hardship cannot separate us from God's love. That doesn't mean we won't experience hardship; it means that when they come along, we can still can count on God's love.

Or was it because you were victimized by some cruel and hateful person who decided for some reason to cause pain in your life? Unfortunately, persecution is a part of life, and there will be times when people decide—for no good reason at all—that they want to "get you." But when that happens, it doesn't mean that God has abandoned you. He still loves you as much as ever.

Or was it because of financial problems that you were tempted to think God doesn't love you anymore? Or health problems? Or the death of someone close to you? Or was it because of a sin you committed long ago? Or a sin that you committed recently? It doesn't matter what it is, because Paul has provided a huge umbrella—he says that there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from God's love.

A friend of mine was in a situation at work where he convinced that no one liked him—and I think he may have been right. Every day at the office his co-workers gave him the cold shoulder. The more he tried to ingratiate himself to them, the more they seemed to despise him. Needless to say, this was devastating to his self-esteem. He wanted to leave, but he was contractually bound to stay.

And then he experienced a profound change in his life. He began to meditate on God's love, and he realized that the one who matters most loves him most of all. And he realized that the people at work—those whose affection he had tried so hard to win—they were really insignificant in terms of the big picture of his life. So, each day as he went to the office, he reminded himself that he was surrounded by God's inseparable love. The more he basked in God's love, the less affected he was by his co-worker's cold shoulder.

The p.s. to this story is that my friend was eventually promoted to manager, and suddenly everyone's attitude toward him changed. When he became manager, he fired about half the people in his office. He told me, "It wasn't about getting even; I just didn't want cold-hearted people working for me—they sap the productivity of others."

There is strength in knowing you are surrounded by God's love. When you focus on his love, the fickleness of others becomes insignificant. He has promised that he will always love you, but if you don't believe that promise, you'll miss out on the benefits. Every time some little hardship comes along, you'll say, "God has abandoned me!" Every time you lose a popularity contest you'll think, "There must be something wrong with me! I'm no good!"

But if you trust in God's goodness, and if you rely with all your heart on the fact that he has promised to love you forever and ever--then you will approach the challenges with a strength and security you never knew you had.

If you want to be more than a conqueror in life, remember that nothing in the world can ever separate you from God's love.

Do you want to become holy? Do you want to become good? In Romans 12 Paul tells us...

Be transformed the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2)

He's saying the battle for holiness is won in the mind. It's all about what you think, what you believe. When you believe the right things about God, you experience his power in your life, the power to become good.

Do you want to be more than a conqueror? Trust in God's goodness. Believe his promises. As you pray, he prays with you. As setbacks come your way, he works them out for your good. And even if everyone else in the world abandons you, his love remains eternally faithful. If you believe this, if you rely on these promises to be at work in your life, they you will become more than a conqueror in all that you do.