Love Wins: Overcome Evil with Good
Love wins. According to 2 Corinthians 2:14, Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
The spiritual warfare is raging around us like never before. Although there have always been wars and rumors of wars and cultures that rise and fall, we’re living unprecedented times. The events unfolding in the world today have never happened before. The Culture and the world that we’ve known is disintegrating before our eyes. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and dominion, against spiritual wickedness from on high. When a nation turns its back on God and his Word, the Evil One will have his way. Like Israel who said we don’t want God as our sovereign Lord, we want an earthly King, the United States has been deceived by the devil, the “God of this world.” According to 2 Corinthians 4:4, In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. The Devil is the Evil One, the “prince of the power of the air” the power that is now at work in the children of disobedience.
However, blessed is the nation whose God the Lord is. According to 2 Chronicles 7:14, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
The devil has no new strategy. He is the deceiver, a liar and the father of lies. His purpose is to steal, to kill and to destroy. There is nothing new under the sun. There are many manifestations of the evil one in the spiritual warfare in this world. When the culture of “moral relativism” calls evil good and good evil, the culture will crumble before our eyes. However, what men meant for evil God meant for good. God uses the brokenness of individuals and of nations in order to bring the nation to its knees. We must be broken before we can repent and turn from our evil ways unto the Lord. The devil’s duty is to tear down. However, God’s purpose is to build up. God’s purpose is to “pick up the threads of broken hearts and weave them together again.” He is a God of reconciliation…to build up, to edify and to comfort those in need of renovation and reconstruction.
You’re most like those with whom you spend most of your time. With whom do you associate at work, in church, in your community? Who are your three and who are your twelve? We need to surround ourselves with men of God who make faith based and not fear based decisions. Our pursuit is to “choke in the dust” of those who are chasing after our Lord Jesus Christ.
Love wins. According to Romans 12: 9-21, Have faith in God to love others as God has called us to love one another. Love is the basis of winning the spiritual battle, for greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Love activates the power of the Holy Spirit by believing action according to the Word of truth. Loving kindness and tender mercy is the nature of God himself. Love activates sharing, faithfulness, and generosity. Therefore let your love be genuine (without dissimulation.) Love one another with genuine affection. Detest that which is evil and cleave unto that which is good. Think of others as more important than yourself. Make sure the other person gets the advantage. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly kindness in love preferring one another. Work hard and serve the Lord with enthusiasm and eagerness. Be eager to offer hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and curse not. As much as in you is, live peaceably with all men. Do good unto all men. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Love genuinely, live peaceably, and love unconditionally. Leave room for God’s righteous justice. To seek vengeance is to usurp God’s authority. Love wins. Therefore be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
According to Oswald Chambers, Matt 5:39-48 says that when you are mistreated and someone slaps you, turn the other cheek. These verses reveal the humiliation of being a Christian…to obey him in everything he taught. Retaliation from a heart of vengeance and retribution is the natural response of the sinful nature we inherited from Adam. However, turning the other cheek this is the response of Christ in you. When you are insulted, make it an occasion to manifest the love of God. When you’ve been cheated, count it all joy because this is the disposition of Christ himself. You cannot imitate the disposition of Jesus…either you have it or you don’t. To commit yourself to be God’s ambassador, put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ…clothed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. Therefore, bless them that persecute you and despite-fully use you, bless and curse not, for great is your reward in heaven. Others are not your enemy. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness from above. Humiliation is an opportunity and an occasion to show the love of God in manifestation. To insist on my “human rights” is to insult the Son of God. However, turning the other cheek proves that humility is the response of Christ in me. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…for it is the power of God unto salvation. To those who are born again, it is the sweet spelling savor of life unto life. Fighting the fire of evil with evil fire in return is not the solution. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Fight evil hatred with the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.
May God richly bless you!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael