Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.
1 John 4:4 AMPC
Background:
Citizenship comes with rights, responsibilities and expectations. I can place a demand on the nation I am a citizen of, and the government of that nation also has its own duties it must carry out. It is impossible to declare a person stateless, whereby s/he is not a citizen of a particular country. Either by birth, marriage, naturalisation, immigration or even long residence, you become a citizen of a country in line with set laws. As it is in the physical, so is it in the spiritual. We become citizens of a nation by birth in most cases, and we also become citizens of heaven also by spiritual birth. Do I know where I come from, or where I am headed? If I do not know God is, who I am, where I am, what is required of me and what has been made available for me, how would I make a demand on or be able to access these resources? I need this full knowledge of who God is, and who I am in Him.
Focus:
This second birth is very critical to the verse above, and we will do well to consider what it requires and demands from us, so we can enjoy the benefits that come from this new citizenship. I am of God. God owns me in totality, because all that is of and in me comes from God. There is nothing I could have done by myself. He paid the price to own me completely, because sin had made a slave out of me. The devil owned me and would have totally destroyed me, if God did not intervene. His son Jesus paid the full price that death demanded from all that were under the bondage and influence of sin. By His death on the cross and resurrection to life, He has sealed eternal life for me too. In His life, I also have life. In His life, hope for the future has already been signed, sealed and also delivered. God doesn't do half-measures. If He will save, He will do so to the end. Have I taken full advantage of all that God offers here?
Conclusion:
The above is the reason I can look ahead with hope. The One who owns me is powerful: He is the owner of all life, and He does as He pleases in all the earth, and He answers to no one. He is so great that the heavens cannot contain Him, yet he calls it his home, the earth as His footstool, and the entire universe as His creation. He then even comes to live inside my heart, making this earthen vessel a carrier of His power and presence. This is the bit that the world cannot understand or fully explain, but if I will open up my heart to Him, He will come in and turn my personal life into a public platform for the manifestation of His might. If the Great God who cannot be conquered is fighting for me, who can overcome me? Let all the men of the world gather together; God is more than enough to beat them. Who lives in my heart? Can I say of a truth that God dwells in me? Your residence status defines where you end. God's time of favour is here.
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