Faith That Overcomes

1 John 5:4 “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

Our world is filled with difficulties. All you have to do is look around you for a moment to know this is true. As believers this should not catch us by surprise. Jesus warned us of times like these. In fact He said, “These things have I spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

The word tribulation means trouble or difficulty. While the world is in a mess, economically, socially, politically, and morally, as believers we have the promise that through Jesus, and the finished work of the cross, we have the power to overcome the difficulties and troubles that come our way in the world.

The above scripture teaches that if we have been born again we overcome the world. If you have made Jesus the Lord of your life, according to this verse, you are a world overcomer! That’s how God sees you. He doesn’t see you as overcome, barely getting by, or about to go under. No, He sees you as overcoming.

This is why it is so important to renew your mind to God’s opinion of you and not the opinion of others or even your own opinion of yourself. According to Romans 12:2, transformation or change can only take place as you reject the wrong opinions (what we call facts) and replace them with God’s opinions (the truth). Jesus said, “You shall know the truth (NOT THE FACTS) and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) One of the things I have learned in my walk with God is regardless of what the facts are they are always overcome or trumped by truth.

For instance, when my son was diagnosed with cancer, the cancer was a fact. It was real. All the medical evidence bore out the fact that cancer was working in his body. However, the word of God says, “By whose stripes you were healed. “ (1 Peter 2:24) Now that is truth. Truth is what God says. John 10:10 declares, “Thy word oh Lord is truth. As believers, we chose to believe the truth about the situation and not the facts. While we didn’t deny the reality of the problem, we did deny the finality of it! As a result of believing the truth instead of the facts we saw a miracle of healing in Devin’s body. We overcame the situation by faith in the finished work of the cross!

Now, it is important to understand that faith does not insulate the believer from trouble. Just because you are a child of God does not mean you aren’t going to have any trouble or difficulties in life. Just read the Bible and you find that many great men and women of God faced great difficulties in life. Scripture teaches, “It rains on the just and the unjust alike.”

While faith does not insulate us from trouble it does give us the ability to overcome the trouble. Our theme scripture today says, “This is the victory that overcomes the world – our faith!”

My challenge to you today is that you will get your eyes off of the problems you are facing and onto the solution to them found in God’s word. Get your attention off of the facts of your situation and on to the truth of God’s promises concerning the difficulties you are facing. Remember, through faith, you are a world overcomer!