Confidence To Face Opposition

In review of 1 John 4:4 it says, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

Bottom Line:

You are of God, therefore the Spirit that lives within you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

What this means to me:

Because I’m God’s child, I have a Spirit within me who is greater than the spirit and false prophets who live in this world.

Today's verse comes from the first part of 1 John 4. In it John is telling us about discerning false prophets. He tells us that we are not to believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. We must test them to see if the spirit they have really comes from God. For there are many false prophets around us.

We can test if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet but does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist.

John reminds us that we belong to God, as His children. As such we have already won a victory over the false prophets, because the Spirit who lives in us is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Those false prophets belong to the world, so they speak from the world's viewpoint, and the world listens to them. We belong to God, and those who know God listen to his apostles. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

What I’m reminded of this morning is that life with Christ is full of divine health: mentally, physically, and spiritually. In this place my giants are instantly defeated at the mere mention of Jesus’ name.

Biblically speaking, anyone who attacks me for no reason is my enemy. However, I am more than a victor through Christ Jesus!, I have the ability to defeat the giant in my life just by calling on my Father in my time of need.

After all, I don’t think God wants me to only win halfway; I believe he would want me to gain victory, to have the absolute power. Only God and my choices will ultimately determine my future, not someone else. My future can be saturated with the favor of God as I give up those things that are holding me back and rise to the destiny that He has in mind for me, a destiny of a champion.