BORN AN OVERCOMER

Monday 28 October

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. 1 John 4:4 (NKJV)

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. 1 John 5:4 (NKJV)

When we study the scriptures it is of paramount importance that we look at the tenses in which it is written. In 1 John 4:4 the first thing we need to establish is who John is writing to. ‘You are of God little children’. In other words, every child of God. Every believer whose origin is of God, or hails from God.

Next we see the phrase ‘and have overcome them’. Firstly, take note that this statement is made in the past tense, which means it has already taken place. Secondly, who are the them? Every Antichrist spirit that will ever try to come against you. Every devil that tries to hinder your progress.

Antichrist here has 2 meanings. Against Christ and in the place of Christ. One is the blatant rejection of Christ and the other subtle deception pretending to be Christ. Neither tactic will work on the children of God. Why?

BECAUSE…

‘He who is in you is greater’. Who is the ‘He’ being referred to here? The Holy Spirit. ‘Christ in you the hope of glory’. Jesus without limits. The same one who told us to ‘be of good cheer for I have overcome the world’. Notice that this statement is also made in past tense. Think about it. The one who defeated Satan and all his demons now lives in the Christian. What does that tell us? We were born to be overcomers in Christ.

1 John 5:4 confirms this truth. ‘Whatever is born of God overcomes the world’ when we read this first part of the verse it is written in the present tense. The next part is in past tense. ‘And this is the victory that HAS overcome the world— our faith.’ It’s telling us that the faith of we received in salvation has already overcome the world because we carry the spiritual DNA of God.

Remember Jesus came from God and overcame the world for us. We came from Jesus who is the new creation prototype so it is natural for us to be world overcomers.

So what have we already overcome? The world. The word for ‘world’ here is ‘kosmos’ in Greek and it means essentially the universe, the earth itself, the inhabitants of the earth, the ungodly multitudes who are hostile to the cause of Christ, world affairs and all things earthly. In other words, anything or anyone.

What about spiritual things?

With us In Christ and with Christ in us we have overcome Satan, sin, sickness, poverty, death, disease, depression, and any debilitating force that can be unleashed on us.

1 Peter 1:23 also tells us in Christ we are born of the person of the Word Jesus Christ and the life we have received is incorruptible and indestructible. It can never be destroyed because it is eternal and so neither can we. Even death is just a doorway to greater life.

Be encouraged. We can never be defeated because Jesus has given us the ability to overcome any situation and come out victorious every time. Jesus overcame for us so we could reign in life with Him ‘far above all principalities and powers and every name that can be named both in this life and in the life to come’.

In Christ, there is no circumstance or situation that you cannot overcome. Why? You are an overcomer. You were born that way.

APPLICATION

Meditate on these two scriptures, declaring that you are an overcomer in Christ Jesus and walk in the light of your true identity and victory in Christ.