Day 8 – Programmed to Overcome

(1 John 2:12-17)

Computers are made up of the hardware and the software – the central processing unit and the operating system. The programming of the computer, software, determines its performance. Computers will only function based on how it has been programmed. They will always produce what it has been programmed to do. The computer analogy can be applied to today’s passage. Who we are in Christ determines what we can do in the world.

Five things we are in Christ

The above passage gives us five things we are in Christ – these are things that are already given to us or accomplished in us through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross through our faith in his finished work.

They are:

1. Our sins are forgiven – our salvation is complete in Christ’s work.
2. We know the Father – we have personal relationship with God because of our faith in Christ.
3. God’s word abides in us – the word of God dwells in us because we have the capacity to receive the word of God.
4. We are strong in God through Christ – our strength is in God.
5. We have overcome the evil one – we have victory over the devil.

These things are ours positionally and in reality. They represent our programming, our operating system.

The possibilities of our operating system

There are also other possibilities because of our operating system. We can live free of the love of the world, the lusts of the flesh and the eyes and free from the pride of life. We can do the will of God and live for God in this world because we have been programmed to do so.

You can live in victory over the devil and over the world because you have been programmed to do so by reason of your faith in Christ. It is therefore possible for you to experience freedom and live a life that honours and glorifies God. This is because whatever God expected of you, He has already programmed and empowered you to fulfil.

“For whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith“

1 John 5:4