I have been reading through the book of Revelation recently. I believe we should read this book of the Bible often. We don’t always understand everything that is written but the closer we get to the end, the more we will understand the revelation John saw on the island of Patmos.
I was very challenged as I read Revelation 15:2, 3. John was looking into heaven and writes: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the
victory OVER the beast,
and OVER his image,
and OVER his mark,
and OVER the number of his name,
stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.”
We need to confess this Scripture out loud repeatedly to get it into our being. God does not want us to give in but to have the victory OVER all evil and deception, and particularly the beast and the mark which we will face in the coming days.
We must also prepare our children for what is coming. We must prepare them to be strong and courageous. We must teach them to NEVER take the mark of the beast. I would encourage you to take this Scripture as a memory verse and memorize it together as a family. I have just memorized these verses myself.
You could say them together OUT LOUD each day when you sit at the table together. And put the emphasis on the word OVER or whatever word your translation gives you. Many translations use the word CONQUER. Doing this will prepare you to live in victory and never cave into Satan’s plans for your destruction.
The word “victory” means to subdue, to conquer, to overcome, to prevail.” It is the same word used in Revelation 12:11: “And they OVERCAME him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
It is the same word that speaks of Jesus going “forth CONQUERING and to CONQUER” (Revelation 6:2).
When God commanded Joshua to take the land God promised to the children of Israel, He not only encouraged him to be strong, but to be “Strong and VERY courageous” (Joshua 1:9). I believe we must learn to exercise courage NOW. Courage is far more than an attribute. It is a muscle that gets stronger with use. If we don’t exercise courage, we atrophy and stay weak and wimpy. It takes courage and effort to do something that is not easy. Even if we only have a little courage, if we exercise it, our muscle courage will grow stronger and we’ll find it easier to do difficult things, to stand up for truth, and to resist evil and tyranny.
We must prepare ourselves and our children NOW for that day when we cannot buy or sell if we do not take the mark. We don’t wait until then to be strong. We prepare NOW.
I think of the great heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11. Verse 34 tells of those “who out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of aliens.” They didn’t start out strong. They were weak in faith and courage. But as they exercised their courage, they became stronger. They “became strong out of weakness, became mighty in war . . .” (Darby).
As families, (father sand mothers and our children), let’s cultivate the right attitude now—overcoming, prevailing, conquering, and victorious as we stand strongly against all deception, all evil, and all tyranny.
We don’t want to experience what happened in Nehemiah’s time: “They have dominion over our bodies . . . at their pleasure, and we are in great distress” (Nehemiah 9:37).
Be encouraged today,
Nancy Campbell