Jesus is Ever-Present Help

"Who can overcome the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5: 5)

To overcome the world means:

• To overcome sin in one's life
  
• To overcome materialism
  
• To overcome the sense of hopelessness and despair
  
• To overcome all kinds of addiction
  
• To live a victorious and free life
  
• To be in harmony with God's will
  

The Holy Spirit is telling us in 1 John 5:5 that we can overcome the world if we believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe this of course and so do many. But what does it mean to believe in this context? To believe here means to experience Jesus as a personal Savior. To believe equals to know experientially. Let me paraphrase 1 John 5: 5:

You can live a victorious life aligned to God's will if only you have experienced Jesus in a personal way in your life. Psalm 111:4 says that God won renown for his wondrous deeds. In other words, no knowledge of God's wondrous deeds means no loyalty to him. What wondrous deeds have Jesus performed in your life? Without this personal testimony, your belief is only intellectual. The Holy Spirit gives us a remembrance of God's marvelous deeds in our lives.

Some examples of God's great deeds in our lives that are foundation of belief are:

• Has Jesus ever healed you?
  
• Has he saved you from any trouble?
  
• Has he ever blessed you financially?
  
• Has he blessed you with peace?
  
• Has he blessed you with a good job?
  

All these are experiences of salvation. Whatever experience of salvation we had is repeatable. We gradually come to the realization that Jesus is "our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress." (Psalm 46: 2) With him by our side, "we do not fear, though earth be shaken and mountains quake to the depths of the sea."