Mensa Otabil - The Greater One In Us
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Welcome to day number 16 of our 40 days of power. We’re getting stronger and stronger in the Lord, and remember, this week we are talking about overcoming limitations. Whatever is a barrier to you, you can overcome it. We have looked at different characters in the Bible and how they overcame their limitations. Now we are in the New Testament, and we are looking at overcoming as Jesus wants us to.
1 John chapter 4, verse 4: «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.» The Apostle John was concerned about the prevalence of false teachers in the church at the time. The false teachers were promoting doctrines that undermined the reality of Christ. Some actually said that Jesus did not even come in the flesh. John is counteracting this because he is a first-generation, firsthand witness of Jesus Christ and His power, His death, and His resurrection.
John talks about the victory that we have in Christ Jesus. He saw that the messages these preachers were delivering would make Christians feel defeated by Satan because he calls these kinds of teachings as coming from the spirit of the Antichrist. What John is saying is that this is a demonic onslaught or a demonic attack against the gospel of Christ. He discusses three realities that Christians must bear in mind, and these three realities we must also remember if we’re going to walk in victory.
The first one he says is: «You are of God.» To be of God means you belong to God. You are God’s own; you have His nature in you, and that’s why we overcome. We are of God, not of ourselves but of God. He calls them little children, and he doesn’t use that phrase to imply that they are small or insignificant, but because they are children of God. When we are in God, even the least one is mightier than any power of the enemy. The greater is always with the children of God.
So, the first thing you need to know when seeking victory in Christ is that you are of God. The second thing he says is that you have overcome them. That phrase in English is in the perfect tense. The perfect tense talks about something that has happened and continues to happen. Thus, he says, «You have overcome them.» You did it in the past, and you continue to do it. How did we overcome them in the past? Through Christ Jesus, His death, and resurrection. When we are in Christ, we walk in that victory, and that’s how the Christian victory is. We have overcome—perfect tense. It’s done in the past and is being done in the present. We are always overcomers in Christ Jesus.
The third thing he says, the third reality we must keep in mind, is that the greater one lives inside of you. This presupposes that what is outside of us may seem great, but we must never lose sight of what is inside of us. The strength of a Christian is not outside of him or her; the strength of the Christian is inside us. The Holy Spirit lives in us, the power of God resides in us, and the nature of God dwells in us. Because of what is in us, we overcome the world, and these are the three realities that enable us to walk in victory: that we belong to God, that we’ve already overcome—we’re not trying to overcome; we’ve already done it—and that the greater one lives inside of us.
Remember these things as you confront all that comes against you in life: you have the victory because you belong to God, you have overcome, and the greater one lives inside of you. Let us pray. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, you are greater than everything I come against in life. By Your Spirit, I am an overcomer. In Jesus' name, Amen.»