Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Overcome Evil with Good – Part 1 – The Devil’s Duty


2 Corinthians 2:14 “ Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”

The week Michael writes that spiritual warfare is raging around us like never before.  Although there have always been wars, 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 Ephesians 6:12.  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” – Ephesians 2:2.  However, blessed is the nation whose God the Lord is. 

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and 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 – John 10:10.There is nothing new under the sun” - Ecclesiastes 1:9. 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 goodGenesis 50:20. 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 people 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.

Let's continue Michael's message on Overcoming evil with good on the next post.
In Christ, Brian

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