VIDEO Live in Victory

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

In his first epistle, the apostle John had a lot of say about the devil. He wrote to his churches, telling them they had overcome the wicked one (2:13). The devil, he said, has “sinned from the beginning” and tempts others to do the same, but Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil” (3:8).

John wrote, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (5:19). The One in us—Jesus Christ—is greater than he who dominates the world.

Satan may be a prince, a ruler, and the god of this world, but his power is limited, and his abilities can never match God’s omnipotence. Through Christ, we have overcome the devil, we are of God, and we belong to Him who is greater than Satan by far.

Let’s live like overcomers—unafraid, unintimidated, victorious. Be thankful Satan has limitations and our infinite God knows how to protect us from all evil.

God would not throw us into the conflict if He did not also give us the resources needed to stand against the enemy. Erwin Lutzer

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1 John 4:1–6 • Test the spirits

I Hear You, God!

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. John 10:3

Baby Graham fussed and wiggled as his mother held him in her lap while the doctors inserted his first hearing aid. Moments after the doctor turned on the device, Graham stopped crying. His eyes widened. He grinned. He could hear his mother’s voice comforting him, encouraging him, and calling his name.

Baby Graham heard his mother speaking, but he needed help learning how to recognize her voice and understand the meaning of her words. Jesus invites people into a similar learning process. Once we accept Christ as our Savior, we become the sheep He knows intimately and guides personally (John 10:3). We can grow to trust and obey Him as we practice hearing and heeding His voice (v. 4).

In the Old Testament, God spoke through the prophets. In the New Testament, Jesus—God in the flesh—spoke directly to people. Today, believers in Jesus have access to the power of the Holy Spirit, who helps us understand and obey God’s words which He inspired and preserved in the Bible. We can communicate directly with Jesus through our prayers as He speaks to us through Scripture and through His people. As we come to recognize God’s voice, which is always in alignment with His words in the Bible, we can cry out with grateful praise, “I hear You, God!”

By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray

How has God used the Scriptures to reveal Himself to you this week? How can you speak His wisdom to others who need comfort or encouragement today?

I hear You, God! Please help me receive and share the truth and love You reveal to me as I read the Bible.

Remaining Faithful

Those who drift away from God will always find Him ready to forgive. 1 Kings 11:1-6

God gives wisdom when we ask, but we are responsible for applying that wisdom daily. Let’s consider Solomon again. Despite his great understanding, the later part of his life was marked by a turning away from God. Solomon had clear instruction not to marry foreign women, but he chose to reject God’s wisdom and do it anyway. The influence of those wives eventually led Solomon into the worship of idols.

The unfortunate downfall of the wisest man who ever lived is a helpful warning for us. No matter how strong we think we are, we aren’t above making choices that could cause us to turn away from the Lord. Over time, small decisions to ignore God’s principles can have a devastating cumulative effect: Slight compromises in how we live can put us on a path leading away from God and His perfect plan.

Is there anything in your life that you know shouldn’t be there? Have you been justifying it? If so, ask the Lord for forgiveness and submit that habit, situation, or tendency to Him. He’s waiting with open arms. (See Luke 15:20.) Choose to apply the gift of God’s wisdom to your everyday decisions, today and throughout the entirety of your life. Let’s stay faithful to walk in wisdom at all times.

Knowing and Trusting

“And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” (Psalm 9:10)

When one really knows the name of the Lord, that one will surely come to trust Him. How could anyone fail to trust God and to believe His Word when they know Him to be the almighty Creator (Elohim), the self-existing One (Jehovah), and the gracious Master (Adonai)? When they further learn that He is none other than Jesus Christ (“anointed Savior”), surely they ought to believe and bow in thankful love, calling Him “Lord” by the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 12:3).

The word for “trust” means “take refuge in.” We can trust our Lord for protection from harm, from want, from all the attacks of the wicked one, and finally, from hell itself. That trust is well placed because the Lord never forsakes those who truly trust Him. The Word confirms this truth over and over again. “(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers” (Deuteronomy 4:31). “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25). These are glorious promises, always fulfilled—that is, with one exception.

The only man who always fully trusted God, who was altogether righteous, and who perfectly manifested the Father’s name to His disciples and to the world—that One was forsaken! “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He cried, as He died on the cross (Matthew 27:46).

And it was because He was willing to be forsaken and to suffer hell itself in our place—dying for our sins—that God can make and keep His promise never to forsake anyone who seeks Him and puts their trust in Him, through Jesus Christ. HMM

What Is The Real “Mission”?

Last night I was in the lovely home of a business executive and his wife. The furniture was tastefully appointed, expensive cars filled the driveway, maids scurried about. Impressive and enviable.

This attractive couple routinely host Bible studies, conduct all night prayer vigils, go on mission trips, and consistently lead people to Christ. They are generous with their resources beyond measure. Their commitment to Christ and His cause is without question.

These folks have it together, wouldn’t you say? Sadly, the answer is “No”. How is this possible?

The answer lies in the fact that they are failing in the most basic area of their lives: Their children.

In the home confusion reigns. The children are angry, flustered… disrespectful. There is constant jostling for control between parents and children. The decibel level is deafening.

Guests find it difficult to carry on conversation without being interrupted. Rather than a place of refuge, the home is a center for chaos and discord.

Involvement in God’s work does not absolve us of parental responsibility as Eli, the priest discovered: “For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them. Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli‘s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.“(1 Samuel 3:13-14)

Missionary stateswoman Helen Morken has sagaciously observed, “Many Christians have forsaken their children for the mission, living to see their children undo their mission, realizing too late that their children were the mission.”

Paul reminds us that an elder “must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his household how will he take care of the church of God?)“(1 Timothy 3:4, 5)

The term “manage well” presents the idea of order, discipline, planning, superintending; of giving direction. Literally of “presiding with beauty or excellence.”

The Christian husband and father is to lead his family with dignity. That is, he is to guide them with reverence, respect, gravity and sanctity. It is one thing to control one’s family with harshness and cold directives, and quite another to lead with firm compassion.

It has been our observation that chronic behavioral problems are usually an indication of a failure in parenting —generally centering on the father’s failure to lead his family in a Biblical manner.

May God help us to not miss it here!

“Make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”

John 2:13-25

John 2:13

We have seen him there once before as a son in his own house, and here we see him in riper years as a son over his own house, the heir, exercising authority in the Father’s palace.

John 2:14

They were necessary for public convenience that the worshippers might purchase offerings, and might exchange Roman for Jewish money, since that alone could be presented to the priests; but they had no right to transact this business within the house of God.

John 2:16

Now was fulfilled in measure the prophecy of Malachi: “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ sope: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” With like zeal will he drive out of his church all who seek their own advancement, and turn the worship of God into a means of gain for themselves. This was the first occasion upon which our Lord purged the temple, and he had to repeat the work a second time. Nothing is so hard to cleanse as a place which has once been holy and has become defiled. It does not seem that any one opposed the Lord Jesus; the majesty of his appearance probably held all in check.

John 2:20, 21

The resurrection is the surest seal of our Lord’s mission, and the fact that he rose by his own power is a clear evidence of his deity. Who but he could say of his own dead body, “I will raise it up”? Since Jesus has risen we ought most heartily to believe on him.

John 2:22

They no doubt before this believed both their Master’s word and the Scriptures, but when they understood them better, in the light of their accomplishment, they were as if they believed anew.

John 2:23

The gospel wins many converts, and some of them in after days do not turn out to be stable; this however we must look for, as Jesus did, for the next verse tells us that he did not trust those who were so eager to profess allegiance; for he understood the fickleness of human hearts, the superficial nature of much which passes for true religion, and the ease with which hasty conversions are turned into sudden and final apostacies. May the Lord cleanse our hearts and keep us to the end.

Saviour, who dost with anger see

The lusts which steal my heart from thee,

The thieves out of thy temple chase,

And cleanse my soul by sovereign grace.

Thy blood hath made me wholly thine,

My body is thy Spirit’s shrine;

And now my God is dwelling there

My soul shall be a house of prayer.

Spiritual Unanimity

Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren. (1 Peter 3:8)

The Holy Spirit knew what He was doing when He moved the Apostle Peter to write to the early Christian church about the reality of being “of one mind” in their fellowship.

Peter was not asking all the brothers and sisters to settle for some kind of regulated uniformity. He was recommending a spiritual unanimity—which means that the Spirit of God making Christ real within our beings will also give us a unity in certain qualities and disposition.

Peter leaves little doubt about the fruits of genuine Christian unanimity within: “Be alike in compassion. Be alike in loving. Be alike in pity. Be alike in courtesy. Be alike in forgiving!” Then he sums it all up: “Finally, be ye all of one mind!”

God’s love shed abroad in our hearts—compassion and love which can only be found in Jesus Christ—these are the only elements of true unity among men and women today!