Now, i’m not going to go down the longest list you ever heard concerning examples of heroes, the list would go around the earth several times. But what i do want to convey is that you, yes you, are a hero and a champion if you are in Christ. And yes, i do stipulate the “if you are in Christ” part simply because being a hero is about more than just an action. In God’s book it starts with the heart, after all, terrible people can do really good stuff, but doing a really good thing, a hero does not make. It is when our heart, mind, and soul surrender all in the moment and abandon ourselves, we throw ourselves into accomplishing the task in front of us.

At that, let it be known, God doesn’t ask us to do anything we can do on our own, He only uses broken things. So not only do we do what we cannot do, but we are, in Christ, who we never could be without Him, and through Jesus we can now see the unseeable and hear the unheard.

God is the true preliminary model of a hero and champion from which all other forms of heroes and champions are developed and copied. This is the foundation for 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” There is a precedent set in 1 John 4:19 which is Jesus is first in all things righteous. Jesus was the first to fulfill Matthew 22:38 concerning the first and greatest commandment. Jesus was the first to fulfill Mark 9:35 in that He made Himself as the servant of all, thereby setting the precedent of how we should conduct ourselves. He was the example of Proverbs 18:12 in that humility comes before honor and Jesus was the most humble and therefore gets the highest honor. Jesus is the personification of wisdom and James 3:17 testifies that the wisdom from above is first pure. Jesus is first in wisdom, first in honor, first in strength, first in courage, first in humility, first in power, first in resurrection, and first in authority. Always and every time. And if we are born again and Christ lives in us, we have our fingers on the pulse of infinity who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Revelation 1:17-18, speaking of Christ, it says, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

You, yes you believer in Christ Jesus, you are a hero and a champion because Christ lives in you. Don’t misunderstand, your circumstances don’t represent your standing with God. You don’t just survive, you prosper. You are not just “any person”, you are “that person”, specific and named by God Himself. You are not one to conform to the world but one who stands with your arms raised, with hands full of stories of overcoming and becoming. Your roots run deep, in fact, all the way to Heaven, first born blood relative to the Son of God. You’re not a conformer, you are a transformer, and when the fire is at your feet, remember how God promised that when you walk through the fire you will not be burned, nor will the smell of smoke cling to you. When you think you are just done, that you’ve really bought the farm this time and the vultures are circling, declaring doom over you, telling you, you’ve run as far as you can … i say get to your feet and stand up! Friend, you are no mistake or accident, there are no extra or left-over people in the Kingdom of God. When the enemy thinks they’ve finally got you pinned down, reduced to a scrap of crumpled waste paper, you’ll find your Holy Spirit second wind to rise up in the face of insurmountable odds, because that’s what heroes and champions do, and baby, that’s you, yes you.

Victory is in your veins with every pump of your heart. We are the people who stay conscious and present in the room when chaos swirls and contrary winds blow.

There are violent fires burning in our society. Drug wars, AIDS, child abuse, murders, corporate stealing, homeless people, and oh so much more. Just like God is on the move, so darkness is marching too. But just like in Judges, chapters 6 thru 8, during the Midian oppression, God called a mighty man of valor to be a deliverer. Judges 6 declares his call and his commission. The name “Gideon” means “to cut down.” He was called to cut down the oppression caused by the Midianites. Isn’t this what Jesus came to do as the ultimate conflict revolutionist? To do justice and to cut down oppression? According to Acts10:38, He came “healing all who were oppressed by the devil”, don’t we have a similar call of God upon us also? God has not called us and made us heroes and champions for nothing. Friends, we are not conformers, we are called to be transformers because that, THAT is what heroes and champions do.

i certainly hope you take these words to heart, roll them around in your head and let the word of God persuade your heart and mind.

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name Ministries.