The Victory is Already Ours

If we already have victory, why are we so often living in defeat?

If we already have victory, why does it seem so hard to live that way?

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you, is greater than the one who is in the world." (1 John 4:4)

The use of the word "them" when it talks about overcoming has always seemed a bit strange to me. But, when I was reading this verse in the larger context recently, it made more sense to me.

We often use this verse when we talk about being able to defeat Satan in our lives. And that is true and powerful. But, I think this verse paints a broader picture too. In 1 John 4:1-6, John is talking about antichrists who have come to deceive people. They are trying to get us off course.

1 John 4:4 is then talking about the power we have in the spiritual world over all of Satan's forces. It's not just about the ultimate defeat of Satan, but also about the day-to-day defeat of evil spirits who attach us with their deceptions and lies.

So, if this is true, then why do we so often live in defeat?

Why aren't we living in the victory that this passage and so many others say we can?

I think John goes on to answer this in 1 John 5:5 where he says:

"Who is it that overcomes to world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."

It all comes down to what we believe. Not what we say we believe, but what we actually believe. It's our actions that reveal this.

Far too often we're actually believing the lies of the enemy and his demons over the truth from God. Oh, we might say we believe God and we can probably recite truth from our heads, but we don't really believe it. Our actions reveal what we're truely believing. They show where we're believing lies.

We act on what we truely believe. In fact, that's what belief truely is - putting your life on it, living it out. We can way whatever we want about what we believe, but our actions will show what we're actually believing.

What are you believing? What do your actions say you believe?

Are you willing to let God point out to you the lies you believe, so He can show you the truth? Are you willing to ask Him to help you to live out the truth instead of the lies you've been believing?

It has to translate into our actions and how we live for it to actually be changed. We need to be willing to act on what we say we believe if it's actually going to make a difference and live in the victory Scripture tells us we can have.