How do you survive and overcome in this battle of life? St. John tells that our greatest weapon is our faith: "This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." That faith is in Jesus, the Son of God. He has won the victory, and we share in his victory as we trust in him. "He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Cor.15:57)

How do you define faith? As a noun it denotes the faith of Christ. As a verb it denotes how we live out our beliefs in life -- to believe what you know to be true but cannot presently see: "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't see" (Hebrews 11:1). It is trust in the person of Christ as the way, the truth and the life.

There have been many great battles in the history of the world. This past week in Veterans' Day we remembered the Armistice that ended the frightful battles of the First World War. There have been many victories that have been celebrated. But even the best of them are passing. Alexander the Great wept for no more worlds to conquer and then died an early death. He could not conquer his last enemy. But Jesus did. "Where, O death, is your victory?" (1 Cor.15:55)

How does the man or woman who has faith in Christ overcome the world? How do we win this life-long war in which we are engaged? When wars are begun the optimists think that they will be over in a few months, but they find that years go by and they are far from an end. They under-estimate the enemy and over-estimate their own strength. We are involved in a war which will not cease until our resurrection. It is a battle for the mind, a contest of the heart, a struggle of the spirit, a strife of the soul.

First, we have to overcome the world by our faith when we take up arms against the culture that seeks to influence us to compromise our beliefs in order to conform to its standards. We are told to leave our religion at home or at church and not bring it into our business or office. But our faith will not be compartmentalized or muzzled for the sake of accommodating the world.

Second, we have to overcome the world when we are pressured to go along with others in order to avoid criticism, slander, persecution, affliction or mockery. Life in the world can injure us, deal us hurtful blows, can wound us and seek to destroy us. In the midst of such discouragement and in the face of despair we put our faith in the Cross of Christ and seek his power to endure and to overcome.

Third, we have to overcome by our faith when we are rewarded by success in the world. Opportunities beckon us to prosper. We are admired and flattered and become popular. All people speak well of us. Fortune smiles on us. The money rolls in. We can become intoxicated with our prosperity and think that we deserve it. But our faith in Christ protects us from such illusions. "The true child of God is as safe when the world smiles, as when it frowns. He cares as little for her praise as for her dispraise. If he is praised and it is true, he says, 'My deeds deserve praise, but I refer all honor to my God.'" (Spurgeon) "This is the victory that overcomes the world."

Fourth, we have to overcome the world by our faith when the world turns upon us. Affliction and sorrow attacks us until life becomes a prison and the world its jailer. We find how firm is our faith when life sends us losses and griefs that we find hard to endure. Money becomes scarce, friends become few, sympathy is lacking, and the prospects seems dire. In this testing time we are tempted to curse God and lose our faith. But we know that Jesus was tempted as we are and yet did not sin. We call upon him to strengthen us as he cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane with "loud cries and much tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission." (Hebrews 5:9)

We can only overcome and be victorious in the battle of life by our faith. We do not triumph over the world by our reason, or common sense, or education, or social advantages. All these things are important and valuable, but they will not of themselves give us the victory. Who wins the battles in this world? The person who has faith that they can win, that they can achieve, that they can persevere and do the hard work necessary to be victorious. Men and women with faith achieve far more than those who are fearful of failing.

"Faith is the monarch of the realms of the mind. There is no being superior to its strength, no creature which will not bow to its Divine prowess. The lack of faith makes a man despicable, it shrivels him up so small that he might live in a nutshell. Give him faith and he is a leviathan that can dive into the depths of the sea. He is a warhorse that cries aha! Aha! In the battle. He is a giant that takes nations and crumbles them in his hand, who encounters hosts and at a sword they vanish. He binds up sheaves of scepters and gathers up all the crowns as his own. There is nothing like faith. Faith makes you almost as Omnipotent as God, by the borrowed might of its Divinity! Give us faith and we can do all things!" (C.H. Spurgeon, Sermon #14, March 18, 1855)

Our faith is in Christ, the Son of God. He gives us his companionship to endure suffering. He gives us his resurrection hope to sustain us. He gives us his sacrificial love to comfort and strengthen us. He gives us his Spirit to empower us to overcome. But we need to be born of God if we are to overcome the world. We need a new heart and a new spirit which can only come through faith in Christ. There must be a change of heart. You need the gift of faith. "For by grace you are saved through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." Seek this faith.

(Ted's blog is found at www.tedschroder.com SOUL FOOD: DAILY DEVOTIONS FOR THE HUNGRY, Vol.4, October, November and December is now available on Amazon.)