You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4 NABRE
John writing to his community in this section of the letter discusses those who belong to God and those who belong to the world. John tells them there are opposing spirits and it is important to determine which spirits belong to God and which do not. Simply put he says those who acknowledge Jesus belong to God, and those that do not acknowledge Jesus do not belong to God, these are evil spirits. He continues writing to them acknowledging that they do belong to God, because obviously John’s community of disciples do acknowledge and work for Jesus. John tells us they have also conquered false prophets. They defeat false prophets by refusing to accept their teaching and holding to the proclamation that Jesus Christ came to deliver salvation. Then John tells them the source of their strength is one who is in them and is greater than the one (the evil spirit) in the world. Jesus Christ has defeated the evil spirit, we can recall His words to His disciples, “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33) Through the indwelling of the Spirit, Christ Himself, the one who conquered the world, lives in them (and us), so they (and we) have the power to be victorious over the evil one. We can conquer evil, we can conquer temptation, through Christ who dwells in us.
We can avoid all that leads us astray by calling on Jesus who dwells in us who believe. Without Jesus we cannot defeat the attacks of evil, but with Jesus we cannot lose. Allowing evil to distract or seduce us when we can be strengthen by Christ is foolhardy. Call on the one inside you to keep the sins of the world away.
How often do you call on Jesus? What seduces you?
We can avoid all that leads us astray by calling on Jesus who dwells in us who believe. Without Jesus we cannot defeat the attacks of evil, but with Jesus we cannot lose. Click To Tweet#bible #godisgreat #jesus #christianity#dailybibleverse @youversion#BeAnEncourager #indwelling #strength#John #everybodyalways #god #jesuschrist#jesussaves #godisgood #dailydevotion#biblestudy #scripture #bibleverse#verseoftheday #pray #prayer #goodnews#loveeachother #godisgreat #bocaraton#youversion #everythingalways