“But you are of God little children, and have overcome them, for greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)
In this verse the Apostle John informs us that the Spirit of God in true Christians is greater than the spirit of deception in false teachers.
“Greater” stands in contrast to “lesser.” We sometimes use the expression— “to a greater or lesser degree.” On a spiritual scale of least to greatest, the Spirit of truth in believers far outweighs the spirit of error in antichrists. In boxing terms, it’s a mismatch—a heavyweight against a flyweight!
But in any contest between the true and the false, it’s external and internal forces that oppose one another. I well remember watching a four-gallon drum crumple as my science teacher extracted the air from it. The increasing air pressure from outside was too great for the drum, due to the decreasing pressure inside the drum. “Nature abhors a vacuum.”
People are like that: when the pressure of events become greater than their inner spiritual strength, they buckle. There’s an inner spiritual vacuum, so when tragedy strikes, they crumple. It happens because what’s in them is not equal to the pressures around them.
In a world of opposing forces, we need to ensure that we have enough inner strength to withstand the pressures that come against us. Thankfully, we are filled with the Spirit of God, who not only withstands external pressures, but also combats them with a force that is more than equal!
A vacuum is created in us when our internal spirituality is extracted by the busyness of life—P & C committees, social engagements, family commitments, and so on. External forces eventually become unbearable, and we begin to fold and buckle under pressure.
In psychological terms, the things that others do to us are not the issue—the issue is how we react to what they do to us. How often have you wished that you could relive that embarrassing moment when you had no answer to a disparaging remark? Sure, you thought of plenty of things that you’d say next time—but there never was a next time. In your mind, you may still be crushed.
The truth is, people can’t defeat you—you can only defeat yourself by allowing what they do to crush you internally. Do you know that others can’t make you inferior unless you accept their negative judgement of you? If you know that God has made you equal to everyone else, you won’t crumple under condemnation, you won’t buckle under belligerence, and you won’t fold when faced with the things that others fear.
A great law of physics tells us that there’s an opposite and equal reaction to every action. Push against an immovable wall and it will meet you with an opposite and equal force. Similarly, the Spirit of God within believers makes them equal to any external opposition—that’s what I call The Invincible Principle!