No Christ, No Victory

As we move into 1 John5, John continues to defend that only in Jesus do we experience all God has for us.

1 John 5:4–5 (NLT) For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. 5 And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus is not just our salvation.  Jesus is our deliverance.  The world is not our home.  Do not be surprised, Christ follower, when you start feeling like an alien in the very world you used to see as your home.  I find that the more you know of God and Christ and the Word, the more uncomfortable you are living in this present world.  

Not that we wish to escape the world for fear of harm, in that case we would be useless and purposeless in the world.  No, the discomfort comes from knowing this world is backwards.  Up is down, left is right, in is out.  And it seems like no one notices except those found in Christ.

As he says in 1 John 5:19 (NLT) We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.

The world is under the control of the evil one.  The children of God are under control of the Lord Jesus and the evil one cannot touch us.  How great a deliverance and victory we are promised in Christ.

No Christ, no victory.  Morality?  Sure.  Doing better in some areas?  A possibility under the common Grace of God.  But to experience the empowering victory of God in our lives and this world is to know Jesus Christ God's Son and give our lives only to Him.

PRAYER:
Father, I pray for victory in my family and my ministry.  I thank you that I am in no way subject to satan, but that through Jesus, satan is subjected to me.  Thank you Lord.  Help me to live in that victory every day.

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