August 19, 2019 - It is our faith as followers of the Most High God and his Son Jesus Christ that gives us power to withstand and overcome the world around us.
“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith.” (1 John 5:4)
Only by faith are we saved and only by faith can we overcome the world.
Once one is born of God, he is no longer controlled by his fleshly desires nor overly bothered by the temptations of the world.
He is then controlled by the Holy Spirit and cannot be defeated by the world’s hostility toward him, nor compelled by the world to turn from Christ.
Jesus said this about true born-again Christians those who not only profess to be his followers but those who also obey his will and do his will every day. However, for many who are, Christian-in-name-only, but do not obey and follow his daily will this is not true.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30)
“Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:5) Not one!!!
It is exactly as Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Why is it that one must believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God to be saved, and obey him as Lord to be able to enter the Kingdom of God?
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.” (1 John 5:1-2)
Jesus narrowed down the commandments when asked by a lawyer about which is the greatest of the commandments, of which, the Jews had over six hundred.
“And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
To the Jews this was tremendous for they had no written Bible as we have today, they had only the scrolls of what was to become the Old Testament, five of which were the scrolls of Moses which we know today as the books of the Law and the balance of the books of the Old Testament which we now call the Prophets. So this told the Jews that their whole belief system was based upon love for the Father God and love for one another.
By the strength of our faith in Jesus Christ we know that if we follow him and obey him that we will be given all that we need on earth and our eternity will be secure in heaven.
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we will have the requests that we have asked of him.” (1 John 5:13-15)
This is the faith that empowers, our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God…
