Greater is He that is within me

 “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.” — 1 John 4:4

There are days when the things around us feel bigger than the God within us.

The problem may look bigger. The fear may feel bigger.

And we look at ourselves and think “I don’t know if I have what it takes to handle this.”

 Anybody?? I felt like this Tuesday night when I was trying to pull together the Sisters & Grace monthly meeting. The building was locked and we couldn’t get in. Several of our regulars that help me get set up were either going to be out or were running late. I was operating on 3 hours of sleep the night before. I was going to try to set up the microphones/sound by myself for the first time. I was trying to find a backup place to hold our meeting, and it just wasn’t going smoothly. And I really felt so very inadequate. “God, I don’t think I can pull this off”.  

 But God never tells us that WE have to be bigger than what we’re facing.

 Because our (God) is bigger. Greater is He that is in you.

 And that changes everything.

”Ye are of God, little children…”

 We need to remember whose we are.  We are of God.

Our confidence as Christians shouldn’t come from how strong we are, how much we know, how together we have our lives, or how capable we feel.

 Our confidence begins with belonging to God.

 There will always be circumstances that make us feel inadequate.

 We think “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how this is going to turn out. I don’t know if I’m strong enough for this.”

 And you very well may not be!! But you are of God – and He is strong enough – He knows how it’s going to turn out, and He knows what to do.

 Does remembering that you belong to God change the way you look at something you’re afraid of?

 “Greater Is He That Is in You”

 Our strength – our ability to face any circumstance is found in recognizing the One who lives within us.

 I was never meant to face things in own strength. Our lives are supposed to demonstrate how faithful He is.

I’m going to scream this so that the voices in the back of my head hear it!! 

 This doesn’t mean you never struggle. It doesn’t mean you never cry. It doesn’t mean you don’t become tired. It doesn’t mean you never get scared. It just means you aren’t in it alone. Because Greater is He that is in me. 

 “- than he that is in the world”.

Whatever we are facing – whatever is “out there”, Our God is bigger.

 There are voices in this world that will compete with the voice of God. They tell us we aren’t enough. And God says “but I AM”

 The voices say You should be afraid. And God says, “I am with you.”

 The world says: There is no hope. God says, “Nothing is impossible with Me.”

 The world says: This will destroy you. God says, “Greater is He that is in you.”

 What voices do we listen to that can become louder than God’s voice?

Social media? Other people’s opinions? Fear? Our own thoughts? Past failures?

 When everyone else looked at Goliath and saw how enormous he was, David looked at Goliath and remembered how big God was. Goliath’s size hadn’t changed. David saw it from a different perspective.

 Faith doesn’t make the problem smaller. It just declares that God is bigger.

 Instead of asking: “How big is this problem?” Ask, “How big is my God?”

 What changes when we stop measuring God against our problem and start measuring our problem against God?

 I belong to God.
“Ye are of God…”

 I am not fighting alone.
“Greater is He that is in you…”

 What is against me is not greater than the God who is within me.
“…than he that is in the world.”

 Maybe our prayer shouldn’t always be: “God, make this smaller.” Maybe our prayer needs to be: “God, help me see You bigger.”