Verse of the Day 7/31

Verse of the Day 7/31

1 John 5:4-5   For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?  English Standard Version (ESV)

Yesterday we considered from Matthew chapter 8 where Jesus calmed the storm how the disciples were those who had gotten in the boat with him and related it to how we ask Christians have gotten into the boat with Jesus by putting our faith and trust in Him.

Today's verses bring this to another level.  Here John talks about those who put their faith and trust in Him as being "overcomers", through faith and in God's power, overcoming the obstacles and storms in our lives.

Pastor Greg Laurie shared a story in his daily devotional recently how he and his wife Cathe have a constant battle over the thermostat in their house, he likes it warmer, he likes it colder.  When we encounter an uncomfortable climate in our cultural surroundings we may read the culture but what do we do to change it? 

Greg Laurie writes, "She likes it warmer. I want it cooler. We go back to the thermostat again and again, because it controls the warmth or coolness of the room. Unlike a thermometer, which goes up and down with the temperature, a thermostat influences its surroundings. A thermostat controls the temperature around it.....With that in mind, are you a thermostat or a thermometer? Let me put it another way: Are you changing the culture, or is the culture changing you? Are you changing the world, or is the world changing you?"

When we practice our faith, through God's infused power in us and even in nature, we are overcomers but it doesn't stop there.  In being overcomers we should have an impact on those around us, perhaps people who are going through the same thing and need encouragement, hope, and faith.  When we do so we stop being thermometers and become thermostats, being and instrument of change for others.

Blessings,

Mike

1 John 5:1-5 The Message (MSG)

5 1-3 Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-begotten. If we love the One who conceives the child, we'll surely love the child who was conceived. The reality test on whether or not we love God's children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome.

The Power That Brings the World to Its Knees

4-5 Every God-begotten person conquers the world's ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world's ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.

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