One of the greatest biblical stories of overcoming is the story of Mordecai and Esther.  Faced with destruction by the most powerful empire in the world, God brought them through their struggle and even elevated them to become rulers in that empire.  We all face struggles but many Christians seem to only barely scrap by or be completely defeated all the time.  God’s desire is for us to thrive not just survive.

Name a struggle, big or small you are going through at this moment in your life.

Read Esther 2:10-11 & 4:14 and Galatians 5:25.  To be an overcomer we can learn a lot from Mordecai and his struggle with the royal Prime Minister Haman.  The first thing we notice about Mordecai is that he was always looking for God’s hand at work.  Overcomers understand that God is in control and continually ordering our everyday steps and actions.  We all know that God works in our lives but overcomers continually watch for those places God is moving.  And if God designs it, God will accomplish it.

Describe a time when God's hand was at work in your life and you didn't realize it.

How can you begin to improve perceiving the hand of God in and around your life?

Read Esther 3:2-4 and Psalm 37:5-6.  The second thing Mordecai did in overcoming this struggle was to adamantly resist compromise.  He first of all was completely dedicated to God and refused to bow down to Haman, but also his whole life was lived in integrity.  From raising Esther as his own daughter, to thwarting the assassination of the King, Mordecai’s integrity put him in the right place, at the right time, to be used by God to overcome the plot to kill all the Jews.  We too must resist compromise and short cuts if we are to victoriously thrive.

Name something in your life that continually challenges your dedication to God alone?

Name a time your integrity helped you through a situation.  Has a lack of integrity ever hurt a situation for you?

Read Esther 4:16-17 and John 14:13.  Finally overcomers must advance into faithful action is we are going to succeed in the plans of God.  Faith is like a muscle and the more we use it, the stronger we become.  Mordecai was a man of faith and his action plan involved activating the community of faith as well as moving forward in God’s behalf.  In encouraging Esther and getting the community behind her, She found success with the King and the ultimately the Jews were saved.  It is imperative that we too activate our community around us when we are having a struggle or trial and in doing so we will thrive through whatever we encounter, big or small.

Name a person who has strengthened or activated your faith by their actions or faithfulness.  What happened?

Has a cell group or another person helped you through a tough situation or struggle?  Explain.

In the struggle you named before, big or small, what do you need to do today to begin being an overcomer?  How can your cell group help?