I smiled as I sat on the edge of the bench in the locker room. There they were on the floor in front of me; a brand new pair of tennis shoes. It didn’t matter who made them, they were new and they were mine. They fostered images of a 9 second one hundred-yard dash or a stolen base or perhaps even the winning basket with no time left on the clock.

They weren’t very attractive!

They were white canvas high tops and somehow I knew that the added support was where the secret was hidden. Or maybe it was in the thin red line that ran around the bottom edge of the sole or the big rubber toe that made them special. All I really remember was the round rubber ball on the ankle … they were RED BALLS! To this day I still think there was some magic in those tennis shoes.

I didn’t grow up in the era of designer sport shoes. I grew up in the era of “tennys.” Names like Nike didn’t exist.  The name wasn’t important, we just wanted to jump higher or run faster and any edge was eagerly anticipated. We weren’t trying to make a fashion statement. To a bunch of kids in small town Iowa in 1950 it was just the fact that they were new and THEY WERE MINE!

We all believed they made us faster, especially for the athletically ungifted like me. Somehow they made a difference — magic perhaps — but they made a difference. I think it’s the same today because kids somehow still believe in the magic. Adults just believe in the image!

I wonder if that’s why the Nike Company chose their name.  Did they understand the importance of the name or did it just sound good? Did they really know what a powerful a word they chose.

In his first letter, the Apostle John writes to us about The Way of Life and our New Relationship With Jesus. This is a way of life about which John could speak with first hand knowledge and experience. If we look at the first few verses we get a good look at his credentials and the message he wants to convey:

1John 1:1-3 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled and of the Word of life; 2. (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and; and was manifested to us) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.  

It was this life, this logou tees zooees, this Word of Life that John wanted his readers to understand. That life which he saw, heard, looked upon and touched, he bears witness to is zooen teen aioonnion; eternal life. And if that life is eternal then it is most certainly a victorious life; a life born of God … a Nike Life!

1John 5:4-5 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5. Who is he that overcometh the world,  but he believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? KJV

The Greek word , or as we pronounce it, Nike, means conquest, the means of success or victory. John uses that word in verse 4 and the related word  which means to conquer, overcometh or prevail; to get the victory. Overcometh is in the present tense and indicates that we are dealing with an ongoing or continuous battle.

This is the only place in the New Testament that the word nikee is used but nikao (overcome) is used in a number of places, the most important usage was by Jesus in John 16:33 when He said … be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. This is where we want to focus our attention. Let’s take a long look at this little word and see what the Lord has for us between the lines with our Nike Life.

A number of years ago a friend of my, Pastor Lane Courcamp, delivered a message on this subject and it has stuck with me ever since. Every now and again, in a moment of apparent defeat, the Lord recalls this little word with it’s built in challenge. I may not recall all of Lane’s message but what follows are his key points with the personal revelation that God has given me in applying it to my life. This message is just as powerful now as when I first heard it … we are more than conquerors.

N … reminds us that we must Never Quit. Once we have identified our God-given desires and goals we are to continually speak them forth in the spirit realm. Our words are powerful and they either speak life or death, victory or defeat into those goals. It is our words that keep us going when everything around us screams QUIT!

What we utter with our lips speaks volumes about our faith. It is important to remember that whatever is going on in our natural life today is the result of what has already taken place in the spirit. What we are living today is directly related to what we spoke yesterday. The spirit realm is the real realm, not life here in the natural. Our battles are not in the natural but in the spirit.

2Cor 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds) 5. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

That is why Paul reminded us of our spiritual armor in Chapter 6 of his letter to the Ephesians. If we are going to have the Nike Life, then we must focus in the spirit for our victory, but that does not mean that we are to disregard the life we live on earth.

I … reminds us that we are to Invest In The Kingdom. This not only means that we are to invest our financial resources but even more importantly ourselves. James put it well:

James 2:17-18 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

One of the ways that we can put action to our faith is to invest in the needs of others. It is the investment of us into the lives of others that brings about victory in their life, in our life and in the Kingdom of God. Our prayers are foundational building blocks; they are a part of our works of faith. There is no more powerful investment into the Kingdom of God than our prayers.

James 5:16 … and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

K … reminds us to Kill The Old Nature Daily. Nothing will defeat victory in your life quicker than your old nature. Paul tells us repeatedly in his letter to the Romans that we must put our flesh and its desires under submission. We need to bring our members into submission to our spirit.
Rom 6:11-13 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Here also we find that our tongue has a great influence on our success in living the victorious Nike Life. It is one of our members that needs to be killed every day. What we say has a profound impact on our life. What our inner man hears it acts upon. What crosses our lips is a direct mirror of what we have been putting into our mind. Jesus Himself stated this in the strongest of terms:

Matt 12:34-37 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.  35. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.  36. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  37. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

1Ptr 3:10  For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:

What comes out of our mouth either speaks life or death into our life and the lives of others around us. The victorious life — the Nike Life — chooses to invest in the new life and not the old life. It chooses to speak life and life victorious.

E … reminds us to Energize Our Spirit. We energize our spirit by being proactive in our approach to spiritual warfare. We need to be daily users of the armor that God has provided for us … it was given with a purpose. It is our choice to put it on. 
The armor is designed for protection in our spiritual battles but it does not cover one very key member … our tongue. Just as we can speak life into our spirit, we can completely de-energize it by the words that come out of our mouth. A vital part of the Nike Life is the Word of God and having it locked deep into our heart is a must. It affects every aspect of your life, starting with the very foundation of our Walk With God … our faith.

Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Reading and speaking the Word of God energizes our spirit and at the same time it executes judgment on the enemy. Satan’s war is with The Word (Jesus). He hates the Word and every time we choose to use our tongue to speak it he receives the judgment that it contains. When you think about it we get an old fashioned “two-fer.” While exhorting and energizing ourselves and others as we speak the Word of God, we inflict pain and suffering on the enemy in the spirit realm. He hates the Word and won’t stick around to hear it. The father of lies cannot stand the truth. So let’s energize our spirit with the Word of God and watch the enemy leave the battlefield.

Nike.  What a powerful word; a word of victory; the watchword of a victorious life. As we look back at our text in 1John 5:4 let’s note one very key word in that verse … whatsoever. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh (nikeesasa) the world: and this is the victory (nikee) that overcometh the world, even our faith.

“Whatsoever” comes from two words in the Greek: pan to. Literally translated it means “all or any; he or she” and that means anyone of us; everything which is begotten of God. Anyone who chooses to accept the Lord Jesus as his or her personal Savior is automatically born of God. Therefore, since we are “born of God” we have overcome the world because He has already overcome the world. Overcome here carries the implication that it is “habitual.”  We habitually overcome all that the world is or represents, and that includes our flesh.

In other words we have the Nike Life! And how do we have it? By the same way we have our salvation; by faith! Faith is our weapon or as Matthew Henry put it … faith is the cause of victory, the means, the instrument, the spiritual armor and artillery by which we overcome.

You don’t have to have the latest Nike sport shoes to be successful in the game of life any more than I had to have those Red Balls. You already come into the game with the victorious life – the life of Jesus – the life that overcame the world – the Nike Life. What more could you possibly need?

Just choose to live it!
You have already overcome!