1 John 5:4
“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
The greatest battle that has ever been fought and is continuing to be fought is the Christian’s battle over the world. There have been great battles fought throughout history, but this battle will be ongoing until the LORD’s return. The difference between the Christian’s battle with the world and other battles throughout history is that the Christian’s battle is a spiritual battle; it is a battle that is unseen.
God says in the verse above that the Christian has overcome the world. In other words, inside of each Christian is the wherewithal to conquer every battle that you face within. To overcome means to gain the superiority or to be victorious. When God says that we have overcome the world, He is saying that we can be victorious and gain the superiority over the world. Yes, you can subdue the world and its attack against you. There are three ways we overcome the world.
First, you overcome the world by getting saved. You will never overcome the battles you have within without getting saved. You can’t overcome the world when you are part of the world. Verse 5 says, “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” When a person gets saved, they are essentially moving their citizenship out of the world. You will continually fail to overcome the problems this world throws at you until you accept Christ as your personal Saviour.
Second, you overcome the world with God’s help. 1 John 4:4 says, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” One of the reasons you needed to get saved is because you couldn’t overcome the world in your own power. Once you got saved, you acquired a power within to overcome the world, and that power is the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Friend, there is nothing in your life that you cannot overcome with God’s help.
Third, you overcome the world with your faith. The verse above makes is very clear that your faith is what helps you overcome the world. What is your faith? The faith is the Word of God. The more you spend time in the Word of God, the stronger you become in the faith. In other words, studying God’s Word is what helps give you the knowledge to overcome anything the world throws at you.
Knowing that you can overcome the world should help you in three ways. First, it should help you to understand that you can overcome the world. You don’t have to let the world defeat you. Stop walking around with a defeatist attitude, you can have the confidence that there is nothing in your life that you cannot overcome with the help of God and your faith.
Second, you already have the victory over the world. Friend, God says that you will continually overcome the world. The word “overcometh” means that you are continually overcoming the world. In other words, it is a daily battle that you fight, but you essentially have already overcome it with the help of God and your faith.
Third, it all comes down to your desire to overcome the world. Do you truly want to overcome the world’s influences on your life? It is truly your choice. God has promised that you can overcome the world, but it comes down to the desire to overcome. It comes down to whether you choose to overcome the world. Stop living in the world of defeat and claim the victory you already have in Christ. You can live the victorious Christian life if you have the desire to do so. Inside of you is a power that is greater than anything this world can throw at you, and that power is the Holy Spirit’s power. Claim His power and grow your faith and you will find that you can overcome the world’s stranglehold on your life.