Not of This World Whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith. (1 John 5:4, The Amplified Bible) Years ago the devil started a rumor. He told a few Christians that as long as they lived in the world, they had to suffer as the world did. He told them they had to share the diseases and the defeat, the poverty and the failure of those around them. It was a crafty lie--and it worked. Believers accepted it and began to spread it among themselves. You may have even heard it yourself. If so, I want to help you put that rumor to rest today. I want to help you get the facts straight once and for all. You see, despite what you may have heard, health, prosperity and victorious living arent concepts some comfort-hungry believer selfishly dreamed up. They are Gods ideas. You may say, That sounds good, Gloria, but weve got to be realistic. We live in a world thats full of problems. And as long as we live in this world, it seems to me were going to have our share. Yes, thats true. Even Jesus said, In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration. But notice, He didnt stop there! He went on to say, But be of good cheer-- take courage, be confident, certain, undaunted--for I have overcome the world.-- I have deprived it of power to harm, have conquered it [for you] (John 16:33, The Amplified Bible). Most believers dont have any trouble believing the first part of that verse. They know all too well how many tribulations, trials, distresses, and frustrations surround them. But theyre less certain about the last part. They havent yet experienced for themselves exactly what Jesus meant when He said He had deprived those things of power to harm them. Why not? Because theyre still living as though theyre part of the world. But, listen. Jesus said you and I are to be sanctified, or separated from the evils of this world. How? Through the Word of God! (John 17:17). The Word of God will separate you from the world. His Word will set His dream for victory into motion in your life. If youll receive it and believe it, speak it and act on it, that Word will set you apart from those around you. It will take you from trouble to triumph again and again. John 17:1-17 Jo 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: Jo 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Jo 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Jo 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Jo 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Jo 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Jo 17:7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. Jo 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. Jo 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. Jo 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. Jo 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. Jo 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. Jo 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Jo 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Jo 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Jo 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Jo 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 02:05:22 +0000
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