Back in 2024, I shared a prophetic word that the Lord placed on my heart. He told me that we were about to enter into a season of war, and He instructed us to “batten down the hatches.” It was a warning to prepare spiritually because turbulence was coming, and indeed, we have seen turbulence in the spiritual, political, financial, and even religious realms during the year 2025.

However that prophetic word is not just true for the previous year. The fact is that there will always be conflict, turmoil, and warfare in the world all around us, especially in these last days. Yet through it all, the Word of God makes it clear that we are called to be victorious, right up until the very end. My friends, all of us have been given a faith that overcomes the world, and I want to share with you how to live an overcoming life.

First John 5:4 says, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” If you’ve been born again, this verse is describing you, and it directly links you to the words “overcometh” and “victory.”

Both of these words are translated from forms of the Greek word nike (νίκη), which denotes a champion, a victor, or one who possesses superiority. In the verb form, it can be translated to conquer, to defeat, to master, to overcome, to overwhelm, to surpass, or to be victorious, and in Greek literature, it was used to portray athletes who had mastered their sport and ultimately reigned supreme as champions in the games. It could also be used to describe a military victory. In short, it means to be permanently and consistently undeterred in one’s efforts to overcome and to obtain a lasting rather than temporary victory.

Friend, when John says, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that whatever is born of God overcomes the world, it’s quite a statement. He is saying that you are to surpass and be victorious over the whole world, everything in this world’s system. We are to take control of our environment — and we are told to do it using our faith!

This is a vital commandment, and one repeated all throughout the Scriptures. We find in Romans 12:21 that we are called to subdue evil, to master it and defeat it with good. First John tells us, “ye have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2:13-14), and later, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Notice the tense in both of these verses: “have overcome.” This is not something for the future, but a current fact, a victory already accomplished because the Greater One lives inside you. In Christ, you are not the underdog — you are the prevailing force!

Friend, this is the direct result of Jesus’ resurrection. I want to take a moment to show you exactly what happened when Jesus descended into hell after His work on the cross for you and me. It is so important that we understand this event as fully as possible, because it reveals to us exactly the kind of battle we are in.

The victorious moment at the end of Jesus’ three days in hell, the moment when He rose back to life, is described in Colossians 2:15, which says, “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he [Jesus] made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

There is such a show of victory and power in this verse, and it starts by understanding the word “spoiled.” This is the Greek word meaning “to put off or to strip off as one would strip off garments,” and at the time it was being written, it was a technical word that was used to depict the disarming of an enemy, stripping the enemy of their weaponry and artillery so as to leave them absolutely nothing at their disposal to retaliate with. This word could also mean “to strip an enemy completely bare, to the point of complete nakedness.”

This idea is supported by the phrase “made a shew of them.” This is the Greek word which means to display or to expose something, and it was used to denote the display of captains, weaponry, and trophies that were seized during war on foreign soil.

A third term that really confirms what kind of picture Paul was trying to create is “triumphing.” The word used here describes a general or an emperor returning home from a grand victory. At that time, when a war was won, crowds of people would fill the streets of Rome and throw a celebration for their emperor or for a grand general who had returned home after a notable victory in battle. At the very front of the parade, the emperor or general would ride through the city in his chariot, which was decked in gold and pulled by magnificent horses.

Behind him were carts loaded with treasures and trophies and all kinds of other wealth that he had seized from the foreign territory he’d conquered, and among those spoils would also be the enemy leader who he had defeated, bound in chains and often in a cage or forced to walk in shame and disgrace. For the returning emperor or general, this was a moment of great glory and triumph because he was returning home as a hero, showered in praise and riches. But for the defeated foe, this was the greatest shame and humiliation of all.

This is what Jesus did through His resurrection, friend, and the enemies that He humiliated, according to this verse, were “principalities and powers.” In Greek, the word “principalities” refers to all high-ranking beings of a spiritual nature, but in this case, it specifically refers to dark spiritual beings, those of the satanic or demonic realm. Similarly the word “power” in this context refers to those who exercise authority in the dark, demonic realm. This is every single demonic being, no matter how powerful!

Think about this, friend. There Jesus was, in hell, and for three days, the enemy thought he had won. But on the third day, God supernaturally energized Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, and He came right out of hell, re-entered His body, and completely stripped all principalities and powers of the demonic realm. He stripped them bare to the very core as He ascended back into Heaven, leaving them humiliated and with nothing to retaliate.

Not only that, but the Greek describes this moment as one of great boldness and confidence, a very public affair! Jesus had been into the very depths of the depths. He had spent three days in hell, but in a figurative way, Paul tells us that when He ascended, He returned like a reigning emperor, and Heaven threw a party! Jesus’ display of mastery over Satan was done openly and loudly. He displayed this now defunct enemy to all of Heaven’s host and revealed that He had plundered hell and seized all the artillery and weaponry of the defeated enemy!

This is why we can confidently claim our victory, friend. Our enemy is already defeated — completely disarmed and publicly humiliated by the One who lives on the inside of us! Second Corinthians 2:14 gives us an example of the appropriate response to this fact when it says, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.”

If you’re not triumphing over everything in your life right now, then take a close look at what you’re believing, because you’ve not hit the mark yet. Victory is ours to claim! God has called us to be overcomers, and that means having victory over the enemy in every way. Strife, sickness, failure, negative self-image — God has called you to triumph over them all and to put the defeated enemy on display, just as He did during His victory parade back into Heaven.

So when the storms of life come beating against the door of your home, exercise your faith and use your God-given victory. You have the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and have been called to be an overcomer in all things through Him. Take a stand, use your authority, and push back against Satan and the forces that are trying to overcome you. Your enemy has been stripped naked by Christ, and right now, at this exact moment, the devil and all of his works are under your feet. You are fighting a foe that has already been defeated.