1 John 4:4 --- Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
We've been through the 1 John chapters 1-3 bootcamp and we should have rock solid assurance we're God's children and abide in Christ Jesus. We need it because in the first 3 verses of chapter 4 we're already given 3 major things:
A warning (don't believe every spirit there are false prophets/teachers in the church)
A command (test the spirits to see if they are from God)
A test for identifying false spirits/prophets/teachers (Does what they say about Jesus line up exactly with what the Bible says about Him).
Those things make us alert, give us direction, and equip us with a means to check things but today's verse is where we need that rock solid assurance because if we ARE NOT abiding in Jesus (rooted in/knitted together with Him) and we aren't solid on KNOWING that we KNOW Him, then verse 4 sounds fantastic but ultimately will be empty and powerless.
For those who do have that assurance, today's verse is a GBU-43/B MOAB!
What's that some may ask? That would be MOAB - Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, also known as the mother of all bombs. It's one of, if not the, most powerful non-nuclear bombs out there. It's so big it must be delivered by a C-130 cargo plane and when this is dropped there isn't anything left of the target area. It's gone, totally obliterated.
Followers of Christ Jesus have nothing to fear from the spirit of antichrist, false spirits, false prophets, false teachers when we truly stand, unwavering, unshakeable on God's word because HE WHO IS IN YOU IS GREATER THAN HE WHO IS IN THE WORLD!
We have nothing to fear and can boldly step forward alert from the warning of what awaits, driven by the command to confront these false spirits, armed with the test of Jesus and FEARLESS to face whatever or whoever is in/of this world because He is greater!
I came across the following in Guzzik's commentary:
"The believer has a resource for victory, the vital presence of the indwelling Jesus, which makes victory always possible – if we will rely on HE WHO IS IN YOU instead of relying on ourselves.
i. This understanding gives great confidence and spiritual power. For those walking in this truth, victory is assured – they have overcome them. It is a positive statement, not a wishful hope."
So, one final thing the Lord put in front of me. In this verse there are three verbs. ARE, OVERCOME, IS.
ARE -- in the Greek is Present tense, happening now, ongoing.
OVERCOME -- in the Greek is Perfect tense, it's completed in the past, once and for all, not needing to be repeated.
IS -- in the Greek is Present tense, happening now, ongoing.
What I love about this is the overcoming, the victory over these things is done, it's finished, it's complete and doesn't have to be redone!! What's even more awesome is knowing presently and ongoing that HE IS IN US! That just fires me up this early Sunday morning!!!
Well, I don't know about you but having a GBU-43/B MOAB of truth like this, fills me with confidence, boldness, and peace to stand firmly, unafraid before whatever spirit of lies, falsehood and twistedness the world has to throw at me.
Be the Berean! Don’t take my word for it, make the sacrifice to spend time with Him, in His word, in prayer talking to Him. See what He has to say to you about this!
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