Mensa Otabil - He Who Is In You (11/03/2025)
Welcome to day number 16 of our 40 days of power. We’re getting stronger and stronger in the Lord. Remember, this week we are talking about overcoming limitations. Whatever is a barrier to you, 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 focusing on overcoming as Jesus wants us to.
1 John 4:4 states, «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. These false teachers were propagating doctrines that undermined the reality of Christ. Some actually claimed that Jesus did not come in the flesh, and John is counteracting this because he is a first-generation, firsthand witness of Jesus Christ and His power, His death, and His resurrection.
John speaks about the victory that we have in Christ Jesus and observes that the messages these preachers were putting out would lead Christians to defeat by Satan. He refers to these teachings as coming from the spirit of the Antichrist. What John is conveying is that this is a demonic onslaught or a demonic attack against the gospel of Christ. He talks about three realities that Christians must bear in mind, and these three realities we must also keep in mind if we are going to walk in victory.
The first reality 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-because we are of God, not of ourselves, but of God. He calls them " little children,» not to imply they are small or insignificant, but because they are children of God. When we are in God, even the least among us is mightier than any power of the enemy; the greater is always with the children of God.
So the first thing to know when seeking victory in Christ is that you are of God. The second reality he presents is that you have overcome them. That phrase in English is in the perfect tense. The perfect tense describes something that has happened and continues to happen. So, 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 victory, and that is how Christian victory is defined: we have overcome.
The third reality he emphasizes 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 the Christian is not outside of him or her; the strength of the Christian is inside us: the Holy Spirit who lives in us, the power of God resident in us, the nature of God resident in us. And because of what is in us, we overcome the world.
These are the three realities that enable us to walk in victory: we belong to God, we have already overcome; we’re not trying to overcome; we’ve already done it; and the greater one lives inside of us. Remember these truths as you confront all the challenges that come 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 and Amen.