The Greater One
I have been meditating on 1 John 4:4 for several days now. It grows stronger and stronger in me every day. It is a very familiar scripture to all of us. We so blithely quote it all the time----greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
I looked at it in the Amplified Bible again and it “grabbed” me. Listen with your heart.
Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.
In 3 John 4, John wrote this:
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. He was reflecting the essence of our Heavenly Father. It gives God great joy to hear that we as His children are walking, living in, the Truth of His Word. Truth is what you know in your heart to be a guiding pathway for you. There is no higher truth than what God says. And this Bible, His Word, is the ultimate Truth. What the Word says supersedes any other word, any word of man that is spoken that is opposite to the Word of God. If a doctor speaks a word over you from his earthly knowledge, there is a higher Truth that overrides what he says. If a banker or anyone speaks a word over you from his earthly knowledge, there is a higher Truth that overrides what he says.
Hear me now. Even though you may know that the Truth of the Word of God overrides what you have been told in the earthly realm, there may be some natural things that you have to do before you come to the point in your life that the Word of God is your ultimate source. On our way to becoming people of faith in God and His Word, we must deal with those things that confront us. If you are sick and go to the doctor and he tells you to take a particular medicine (and your faith is not developed to the point where you can do without it and live), take the medicine, believing God to strengthen you until you don’t have to take it any more. Do you get my point? Do you understand what I am saying?
Having said what I have said, now let’s look at 1 John 4:4 again.
We are God’s children. He is our Heavenly Father. Jesus is our elder brother. We are family. We are the family of God. We are the Body of Christ. We are of God. We do belong to Him. We are members of Father’s household. And as members of our Father’s household, we have many rights and many privileges. We see one of these rights in this verse. It is a big one.
We belong to God and have ALREADY defeated and overcome the agents of antichrist. That is a powerful statement. Do you realize what that statement means to you personally? First of all, the agents of antichrist are the demonic forces that would attempt to overcome you and control you. They are principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high heavenly places. This verse says that you have defeated and overcome all of them. How is that possible? You and I belong to God; we are in Christ Jesus when we accept Jesus as our Savior. Jesus has already overcome and defeated the demonic forces, including the devil, not for Himself, but for you and me while we are living here on this earth in the here and now present time.
Look at the verses that talk about what Jesus did, what the Father did through Him. Let’s start with Colossians 1:13,14 in the Amplified Bible, which I quote many times in our Pearls of Wisdom. And I am going to keep on quoting it until we get it.
[The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have our redemption through His blood [which means] the forgiveness of sins.
Tomorrow we will continue our study of 1 John 4:4
I looked at it in the Amplified Bible again and it “grabbed” me. Listen with your heart.
Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.
In 3 John 4, John wrote this:
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. He was reflecting the essence of our Heavenly Father. It gives God great joy to hear that we as His children are walking, living in, the Truth of His Word. Truth is what you know in your heart to be a guiding pathway for you. There is no higher truth than what God says. And this Bible, His Word, is the ultimate Truth. What the Word says supersedes any other word, any word of man that is spoken that is opposite to the Word of God. If a doctor speaks a word over you from his earthly knowledge, there is a higher Truth that overrides what he says. If a banker or anyone speaks a word over you from his earthly knowledge, there is a higher Truth that overrides what he says.
Hear me now. Even though you may know that the Truth of the Word of God overrides what you have been told in the earthly realm, there may be some natural things that you have to do before you come to the point in your life that the Word of God is your ultimate source. On our way to becoming people of faith in God and His Word, we must deal with those things that confront us. If you are sick and go to the doctor and he tells you to take a particular medicine (and your faith is not developed to the point where you can do without it and live), take the medicine, believing God to strengthen you until you don’t have to take it any more. Do you get my point? Do you understand what I am saying?
Having said what I have said, now let’s look at 1 John 4:4 again.
We are God’s children. He is our Heavenly Father. Jesus is our elder brother. We are family. We are the family of God. We are the Body of Christ. We are of God. We do belong to Him. We are members of Father’s household. And as members of our Father’s household, we have many rights and many privileges. We see one of these rights in this verse. It is a big one.
We belong to God and have ALREADY defeated and overcome the agents of antichrist. That is a powerful statement. Do you realize what that statement means to you personally? First of all, the agents of antichrist are the demonic forces that would attempt to overcome you and control you. They are principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high heavenly places. This verse says that you have defeated and overcome all of them. How is that possible? You and I belong to God; we are in Christ Jesus when we accept Jesus as our Savior. Jesus has already overcome and defeated the demonic forces, including the devil, not for Himself, but for you and me while we are living here on this earth in the here and now present time.
Look at the verses that talk about what Jesus did, what the Father did through Him. Let’s start with Colossians 1:13,14 in the Amplified Bible, which I quote many times in our Pearls of Wisdom. And I am going to keep on quoting it until we get it.
[The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have our redemption through His blood [which means] the forgiveness of sins.
Tomorrow we will continue our study of 1 John 4:4
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 9:03 AM
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