Calculus (math that doesn’t make sense) was very nearly the end of my senior high school career. That’s overly dramatic, but the unfortunate truth is, that, despite my distaste for it, I took the class twice. Once during the school year and once again in summer school. I still believe that my teacher gave me a passing grade the second time around out of pity.

I struggled to understand equations that seemed completely nonsensical to me at the time. As you can imagine, now, nearly forty years later, I remember none of what was taught in that nightmare of a class.

But I do recall a nugget or two from a math class that made far more sense to me – algebra. I remember that equations must be balanced on both sides of the equal sign, and, that there are often both constants and variables in an equation.

Fast-forward to a recent Wednesday morning when Holy Spirit brought an equation to my mind. Unlike calculus, this was a formula that immediately made sense to me, but it came with a twist.

Earlier that week I’d been pondering Revelation 12:11. It says, “And they overcame and conquered him [the devil] because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, for they did not love their life and renounce their faith even when faced with death.” (AMP)

That morning I saw the verse as the following equation:

overcoming = the blood of the lamb (a constant) + the word of my testimony (a variable)

I sensed Holy Spirit reveal to me that when I operate under the constant of the blood of the lamb (the finished work of Christ) and testify the truth of God’s faithfulness to fulfill his promises then I will overcome. It’s an equation, and it’s always accurate and true.

But the word of my testimony is a variable. Too often I’ve testified (spoken out loud) about the problem, rather than the truth of God’s promises. And that’s how the very formula that was intended to produce victory (overcoming) becomes a failure formula. It would be written like this:

failure = the blood of the lamb (more than sufficient for every victory) + the testimony of my problems

Christ’s once-and-for-all sacrifice contains more than enough grace and power for us to overcome every obstacle. It is constant. But when we testify of our problems we fail to operate in the faith that’s required to see God’s limitless power overcome the difficulty that we’re dealing with.

The end of Revelation 19:10 says, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (TPT)

As we testify of the victory of Christ over sin and all of its consequences (sickness, pain, depression, poverty, addiction, etc.) we prophesy the manifestation of his promises in our lives.

As long as we persist in faith without wavering (see James 1:6) God’s promises will come to pass in our lives because of the constant of the completed work of Christ.

So if you’re struggling in any areas of your life right now take note of your testimony. Are you pondering and speaking of God’s faithfulness and his promises or have you been prophesying the very problems that Christ already overcame? If so, simple repentance will bring freedom. No shame, no guilt. Just a humble change of direction into God’s limitless grace.

If, like me, you need to be reminded occasionally to testify of the finished work of Christ over your life I encourage you to listen to Jeremy Camp’s song, Overcome. Soak in the empowering truth and belt out the bridge, “We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, everyone overcome”.