What’s Your Viewpoint?
1 John 4:4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.5 Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 6 But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.
The old phrase “where you comin from?”is an applicable phrase for living life as of late. We hear one opinion after the other and so many are diametrically opposed, which leads to the chaos I mentioned in my previous blog. Do we just leave it there and wait for Jesus to come and lift us out of here? As appealing as that sounds I believe we are called to do more. The “more” would be more than a mindset, more than an attitude change, more than a position, more than just these weak attempts to facilitate change. Contrary to some people’s beliefs the power of God is actually something we see and experience in our lives when we accept Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes to live in our lives. It is more than a religious belief and at its core it is soul changing, life altering, and foundational building. When we read John 3:16 16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. we see that there is an “experience” that happens here. Let me drive the point home as I list the next scripture. John 1:12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
In a time when everyone is wanting to “claim” some kind of right, Jesus tells us what our “rights” are in verse 12 of John 1. GOD has given us the RIGHT to become a child of God. The Apostle Paul drove the point home of God wanting us to have an abundant and full life from the beginning. In Ephesians 1:3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. If you are a believer in Christ right now you are the “us!” God has made you and I sons and daughters and we are in a relationship with the God of the universe!!
So when we look at all that is going on around us we do not faint or fall away because God is our “daddy” and the scriptural term for daddy is Abba Father. Look at how Paul shows us this relationship in Romans 8:15 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father. Which brings to mind the question “What’s your viewpoint?” Are you fearful? Don’t be! Are you anxious? Don’t be! Are you giving up? Don’t give up! I believe it is time to be trusting the power of God in our lives more than ever before. This is the time when we call out to our “daddy” and ask Him to work a miracle and believe by faith it will happen. Paul continues on in Romans 8 with great encouragement in these verses Romans 8:31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? There it is! That is the viewpoint we “get” to have because of the power of God in our lives and the Holy Spirit will firm up that viewpoint the more faith you have in it.
I believe too many times we float through life on our own strength and when we come to the end of our rope (which is short) we have to remember that God has empowered us to be conquerors. In fact, we are to be more than conquerors!!Romans 8:37 says it well. 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. That means we are “more” than conquerors!!
Maybe from now on when we look at the news and see all of the discord and chaos our thoughts should be “God is going to take care of this and it will be AWESOME!” I think God will appreciate that attitude coming from one of His sons or daughters. Instead of “Oh my what are we going to do?”
Martin Luther wrote God our Father has made all things depend on faith so that whoever has faith will have everything, and whoever does not have faith will have nothing.
Thomas Carlyle wrote A man lives by believing something, not by debating and arguing about many things
Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Now….what is your viewpoint? That’s better….
The Pilgrimage continues….
David Warren