Faith Is The Victory

      Whether we spend everyday at home, at work, at school or at play, temptation is everywhere. Every single one of us deals with different specific issues, but every single one of us deals with issues. We are all fighting the good fight. We all do well on some days and poorly on others. We all wonder some days if we are going to make it.

      The big question we all have is what is going to get us through to the end? John provides the answer in I John 5:4. “And this is the victory that overcomes the world—our faith.”

      If we are going to make it, we must build our faith. John continued in I John 5:5, “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” He spends a few verses talking about the testimony and witnesses to Jesus’ sonship and then tells us what the testimony that we are to believe is in I John 5:11-12.

      “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

      The faith that produces victory is believing that Jesus was not just a man, but was God the Son. Further, we are to believe that life is to be found in Christ and therefore believe and do whatever it takes to be in Christ.

      How do we live in Christ? Jesus explained in John 15:7 that abiding in Him means His words abides in us. If we desire to overcome the world, we must believe in Jesus, we must believe what Jesus did for us and we must believe what Jesus said.

      If we have this faith, we will overcome the world. But how do we get this faith? Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”

      If we are going to have faith, it is going to come from the Word of God. It will not come from any place else. It will not come from emotional stories. It will not come from moving songs. It will not come from inspiring movies. It only comes from God’s word.

      Further, our ability to face the battles against the world will be directly proportional to our time with God’s word. When we find ourselves constantly beaten down, feeling that we just aren’t getting what we need to handle the daily battles of life. The first place we need to look is how much time we spend reading and studying God’s word. The second place is looking at how we read God’s word. The final place is looking at how we apply God’s word to our daily lives. When we are doing these things properly, we will increase our faith. And remember, faith is the victory which overcomes the world.

      Let’s overcome the world this week.

Edwin L. Crozier