Do You Have an Overcomer Mentality?

Joel 2:25-29
25 'I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten-- the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm-- my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.
28 'And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

4 things about an overcomer mentality
1. This great promise in Joel does not mean that it will automatically come to pass.
2. We need to do our part in providing an overcomer mentality. We must do everything we can to recover everything the enemy has stolen from us. We will never experience this supernatural restoration power if we passively sit back and never take action to recover what the enemy has stolen from us.
3. We need to start expecting things in our favor.
4. We need to be stronged will, determined and courageous about the right things.

David was a prime example of this:
David had an Overcomer Mentality, he had been through some very devastating times. He suffered some major setbacks. Never gave in, never gave in to mediocrity, he never sat back and took it easy. Never allowed the enemy to dominate him. He had sticktoitness

1 Sam 30:1-25
1 David and his men reached Ziklag (sicklag) on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it,
2 and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.
3 When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.
5 David's two wives had been captured-- Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.
7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the ephod." Abiathar brought it to him,
8 and David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?" "Pursue them," he answered. "You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue."
9 David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Ravine, where some stayed behind,
10 for two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the ravine. But David and four hundred men continued the pursuit.
11 They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat--
12 part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.
13 David asked him, "To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?" He said, "I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago.
14 We raided the Negev of the Kerethites and the territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag."
15 David asked him, "Can you lead me down to this raiding party?" He answered, "Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them."
16 He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah.
17 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled.
18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives.
19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.
20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, "This is David's plunder."
21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Ravine. They came out to meet David and the people with him. As David and his men approached, he greeted them.
22 But all the evil men and troublemakers among David's followers said, "Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go."
23 David replied, "No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and handed over to us the forces that came against us.
24 Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike."
25 David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this.

600 men out protecting, while away the enemies came in and took their women including David’s wives and burned the city to the ground.
David could of, gotten down, depressed, woe is me, distraught, how could this happen to me.

David had an overcomer mentality, (def of a champion)
Overcomer:
1. Overcomers are champions, they get knocked down but not knocked out.
2. Overcomers are encouraged and strengthened in the Lord
3. Overcomers may fail but they will try again.
4. Overcomers may lose a battle but they win the war.
5. Overcomers may experience setbacks but they arise and recover all.


David and the 600 hundred men got:

1. Family back
2. Herds back
3. Recovered all their gold and treasures
4. Received everything back that was taken
5. Received bounty of the Amalekites

But God is not satisfied to bring you out the same way you came in.
1. Bring you out in abundance
2. Better off then before the fact. Saw what the enemy had and David and his men walked out with more then they had before.

Obstacles to overcome.

There are three things that are the same in this parable and one thing that is different, what are they?
Matthew 7:24-27
24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

The three things that are the same is they both built houses, they both heard the word of God, and they both experienced storms. The thing that is different is that one did the word of God and other did not. The thing that was different was not where they built their houses, by doing or not doing the word of God determined where they built their houses. So consequently, following through or not following through with the word determined if their house would stand and where it would be built. It is your attitude that determines the end outcome, stronger and healthier, or defeated and broken.

The Word does not call us as survivors, we are more then survivors,
Rom 8: 37-39 We are more then conquerors
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

All this depends on your attitudes; your attitude determines your altitude.
1. Rule over your emotions.
2. Doing what’s right even when you don’t feel like it.
3. David recovered all that the enemy stole from him because he had this Overcomer Mentality.

But he was King, He was called, He was anointed over all of Israel.
David’s Grandson Rehoboam did not have Overcomer Mentality.

IKing 14:25-28
25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.
26 He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.
27 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.
28 Whenever the king went to the LORD's temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.

Lost everything they had, just like David.
Vs 27 replaced with bronzed shields,
1. Lowered the standards.
2. compromised and settled for less.
3. It’s really not even worth the fight, These bronze shields look just as good as the gold ones.
4. We talk ourselves into living with things that are far less then God’s best.
5. We compromise with living with depression, poverty, marital problems, and constant pain.
6. We give up on our dreams because it is not worth the fight.

Rehoboam compromised and settled for mediocrity.
1. Did not put forth effort
2. Did not want to put up a good fight of faith. 1 Tim 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called.
3. He did not want to stand strong and missed out on God’s best.

God wanted to do the same for Rehoboam as He did for David. So He wants to do to you.
1. Overcomer Mentality
2. Joy to be full, John 15:11, John 16:24, 1 John 1:4, 2 John 1:12
3. Prosper and be in health, 3 John 1:2
4. Bring out of the battle better off then before 2 Chronicles 20.
5. Stand strong and refuse anything except for God’s Best. 1 John 5:4
6. Refuse to lower the standards in your life.

Rev 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.