The Power Within “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 -- Ever beat yourself up because you aren’t measuring up to the expectations of others? In school, you’re the first to be cut from the team. At work, someone with more seniority gets to keep his job, while you go home with the pink slip. Then at home, licking your wounds, you turn on the television and hear that you’re too fat or too thin or your hair is thinning or too gray. Fact of the matter is we’d all be better off if we listened to the voice of God rather than the voices of the world. John tells us, “You are from God.” To believe that with all our heart is to begin believing that, as some would say, “God doesn’t make junk.” Coming from God, our identity is grounded in the love He has for us. We are not empty shells, we are children of God full of the power of Christ’s Holy Spirit, and that power within us is greater than all the powers of the world. In Christ, “we are more than conquerors” Romans 8:37; we become a power to be reckoned with. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. (Dear God, I pray that You would open my heart to believe in the power of Jesus alive in me. Amen.) -- 1 John 4:7-19 English Standard Version (ESV) God Is Love 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, becauseGod is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has notbeen perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. -- Psalm 107:1-22 English Standard Version (ESV) Book Five Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So 107 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble[a] 3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. 4 Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; 5 hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. 6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 7 He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. 8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things. 10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help. 13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. 15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 16 For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron. 17 Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction; 18 they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 20 He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. 21 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!’ Footnotes: Psalm 107:2 Or from the hand of the foe
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:15:25 +0000
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