Hating Evil

"Let those who love the Lord hate evil" Psalm 97: 10a

The only reason I didn't put the rest of this verse up here is for the sake of emphasis. Let's just deal with this thought. If you truly love the Lord, then you should hate evil, and you will hate evil and you do hate evil. Why do we waste our abhorring and disdain on each other when evil, and the evil one deserve our hate. Not only does God merit our love, the devil has earned our hate. I am not ever going to suggest that you pick a fight with the devil. But, I do recommend hating what he does, and what he represents, and what he is doing to the lives of people. Additionally, first of all, resist him.

Our enemy is living and active just like the Word of God. The biggest difference of course is that the Word of God is the truth, and the evil one is the author of lies. I see his dirty, conniving, deceitful hand in much of what is going on in the world today. Not only "out there", but also, particularly his attack on the church.

Pay close attention to what I am about to tell you. Let me share with you what just happened as I am writing this. I am on my laptop in my car. The little indicator that tells me how much battery life I have left is for some reason not working today. Because of that, I have been 'saving' my words a paragraph at a time, as I write them. (I have haphazardly lost a lot of stuff I had to rewrite) As soon as I wrote that the devil is attacking the church, my screen went black. I was tempted to just let it go; and get back to this at another time, but I really think it is important to illustrate just how hard the world, the flesh, and the devil are operating against us. satan (non-capitalization of his name is a matter of disrespect from me and not an oversight) It reminds me to disregard him. I hate him more than I need to be compulsively grammatically correct.

We are in a battle people and we must be conscious of our defense and offense. Certainly we must love the Lord with all our hearts, minds, souls, and might. But, we must also resist the enemy and be aware of His tactics and efforts. Let me remind you at this juncture, that though he is pesky and determined, he is a loser and failure in the big picture. So, why give him any foothold at all? Back to my point. The devil is trying to destroy the church. he will do this through dissention, through gossip, through discouragement, and financial trouble. Not only will he try to do that collectively, he also will try to tear down every part of the church so that if the parts are weakened, the whole structure is compromised. What then should we do? We love the Lord all the more, and hate evil more. The devil must respond to our claiming of the name, the blood, and the power of Christ. This is how we resist and how we hate. Cling to the truth. Don't allow the enemy to bring doubt, fear and hopelessness into your mind.

Fight the good fight today. Seek the kingdom, spread the joy. Be part of the blessing and the work of the ministry of God. Support the church. Pray for your leaders. Protect the ministry. Don't gossip, or believe lies, or be tempted by pettiness. Don't make trouble or spread it. Bind together. Be encouraged. He, our Lord, has overcome the world and we are over comers by His strength. We shall overcome through Him. He has defeated the devil. The victory is already won. Surrender your flesh to Him. Let Him be the Lord of everything in your life. We are the Body of Christ, together. The gates of hell will not prevail against us. We are His people. Now, let's be who we are.

In His Service,
Pastor Fred

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