1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits,
whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the
world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of
God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of
God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the
spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already
in the world. 4 You are of God, little children,
and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in
the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they
speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6
We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear
us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God;
and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9
In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only
begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He
loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love
one another.
It should come as no surprise to us there would be and
will be deceptive spirits in this world. As John has told us in chapter 2 of
his epistle, the world is filled with the spirit of anti-Christ, and all the
world stands for is in opposition to Christ.
More surprising is to find the spirit of anti-Christ in me.
Every time I become involved in an argument, and my flesh
becomes fully engaged in the battle of proving itself right, I am evidencing
the spirit of anti-Christ. Every time I tell a lie or shade of the truth under
the pressure of self-preservation, I am evidencing the spirit of anti-Christ.
Every time I allow myself to be led by emotion rather than the truth of God’s
Word, I am evidencing the spirit of anti-Christ.
Every time I fall prey to temptation, I sense the spirit
of anti-Christ in me. This would be more than troublesome – it would be ruinous
– if I could not also likewise sense the presence of the Spirit of God in me.
I am still apt to fall victim to the spirit of
anti-Christ, because yielding to that spirit takes place so fast, and sometimes
so unexpectedly. I may be attempting to witness the Gospel in one moment, and
in the next find myself engaged in a heated discussion about Who Jesus is!
Guess who prompted the heat of the discussion? Guess what
the basis of the heat was?
If the spirit of anti-Christ can make me appear hateful,
(even when I AM right,) he has won the battle. The battle however, is being
waged in me, not in the world. I must learn to yield the flesh to the Spirit of
God and not the spirit of anti-Christ.
I find this to be a prayerful, pre-meditated process.
Allowing the Holy Spirit to teach me about myself through His Word is critical.
Practicing His presence is powerful. Learning to yield the flesh rather than
allowing it to bow-up is immense. Even if I lose the argument, I win. I find He Who is in me to be greater than he
who is in the world, but I must allow this to be.
-Pastor Bill
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