Saturday, August 1, 2020

Those Who Belong to God Have Conquered

By J. Randal Matheny

    The obvious ceases to be obvious when we listen to voices that are misinformed or spouting false teaching. It was the latter who were bellowing in the first century, leaving the true children of God confused, when John wrote his first letter.
You are from God, little children, and have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4.4)
    Excuse me for repeating this so often, but God is in us when we obey the word of Christ, John 14.23. In a dissolute and perverse world (as it has always been), which gives itself, unrestrained, over to carnal passions and personal pleasures, the followers of Christ do God’s will and receive in their hearts the presence of the Lord.
    Through his living in us, his power works to give us the victory. If we do not have the victory (note: the verb conquered is in the past tense!), we need to ask ourselves why. It is entirely possible that we are still rebelling against complete obedience to the Lord. In what area do we still refuse to submit ourselves to his will?
    Or perhaps we do not recognize the nature of this victory. It is not freedom from trials and suffering, nor is it a comfortable financial situation or a healthy body. The victory does not consist of physical comfort. We have victory when our hearts are secure in God and spiritual peace possesses us, even when the storms of life through their worst upon our heads.
    We enter into victory because God is greater than the evil one and because he is within us, reigning in and over us.

- J. Randal Matheny edits and writes UPLift, an inspirational ezine. He
may be contacted here. When reprinting this
material, please include the following:
Copyright (c) 2016 J. Randal Matheny
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