On countless occasions, when I have prayed with someone to accept Jesus as their personal Savior, I point them to 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.” I always emphasize the first two parts of that verse. First, we are made an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb. We are not capable of saving ourselves; we can only be born again through the sacrificial death of Christ.

While ministers and laypeople play an essential part in helping bring people to a moment of decision, no human has the power to save us. No member of the clergy, whether preacher, priest, or pope, can forgive. If our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, it will be because we knelt as it were at Calvary and asked Jesus to forgive us. As an old song says, “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” We are made an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb.

Secondly, if we genuinely wish to be an overcomer, we must share our testimony of what God has done for us. Every time we stand up for Christ and witness for Him, our faith grows stronger and our walk with Christ more determined. I know from experience that not everyone will be happy when you become a Christian. It’s probably worse now than it was when I made that decision. Christianity is being attacked as never before in our lifetime.

While persecution has been a common part of the Christian faith in other parts of the world, it has now landed on the shores of America in ways we have not experienced in the history of our nation. It takes courage to stand for Jesus in our day, and yet, that is precisely what the world needs. We need to unashamedly say along with the Apostle Paul, “I know in Whom I have believed.” (2 Timothy 1:12)

But I think perhaps more attention is needed to the third part of that verse where it says, “And they loved not their lives unto the death.” When you think of the examples I’ve mentioned in the three previous devotions on the Bible, not counting the innumerable missionaries who have given their life to take the Gospel into all the world, it should really make us appreciate and love the Bible more than ever. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s Word will endure.

The word that sets Christianity apart from other religions is “love.” While God does indeed judge sin, the overwhelming theme of the Bible is love. It is God doing all He can to redeem fallen man. If you can’t see the love of God when you read the Bible, then you’ve missed what it’s all about. “For God so loved the world, that He gave…” (John 3:16)