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Love Triumphs Over Evil

Dear sister,

We can’t escape the obvious. This world is plagued with evil, we fight daily against the Evil One, and we have evil within us. Ready for the good news? Nothing that happens within us or around us can separate us from God’s love.

Romans 8: 31-39:

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So why do we often live as if evil has won? I can only speak from personal experience, but for me, it all comes down to whether I believe truth or lies. What I’m believing, becomes what I’m living, because God has certainly not stopped loving me (or you!) I am coming to realize that the battle for my soul is not whether or not I am being a ‘good Christian’, although obedience certainly honors God and brings us joy. The battle is whether or not we believe we are loved. Cherished. Cared for as the apple of His eye. Rejoiced over. Worth dying for. Living in this love will transform every area of our lives, and will motivate us to live the lives we are called to live. Okay, you say, so what now? This is just a humble reminder to get on your knees, confess your unbelief, and cling to the love of Christ as expressed on the cross, once again. The Gospel has been and always will be the only answer. We must preach the Gospel to our weary souls every day, and push back the power of evil in our own hearts, our families, our communities, and the world around us.

By Grace,
Ruth

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I Squish Evil!

Dear Sisters,

Pondering this month’s topic, I am inclined to react the same way I do when I see one of the often-present Hawaiian roaches in the house: Shudder…Dance-in-place “Yuck!” Mad dash for a paper towel—SQUISH! Likewise, when I see or hear of evil around me, I want to eradicate it from my house, from my very presence. (This is all very humble and righteous of me, of course!)

Leave it to the Lord to bring this topic around to face me—the very evil He wishes to eradicate is within me. Did you note that Jesus did not make it His mission to cleanse the Jewish people of evil, or the Roman government (much to the Jews’ chagrin), He did not even cleanse His childhood town, Nazareth, (the place that wanted to stone Him because they thought He was a little too uppity for His own good)? We all know quite well the state of His friends. Heck, one of the closest of His disciples betrayed Him, and the rest left Him.

Nope. His mission was the individual. How often did He say things like, “[You,] go and sin no more…” “I forgive your sins…” “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” He did not fuss and worry about the big, bad evil within the world—He knew He had that conquered—His being God and righteous would take care of Satan. He spent the majority of His time on earth striving to show men and women the evil within their own hearts (even the white-washed ones), and how He could purify them.

Although I would, selfishly, comfortably, like to point outside myself and do the “evil dance,” hoping to condemn and remove the evil over there; I am grateful our Lord is so intimate and engrossed with me that He will not leave me in my state of ignorance, pride, and evil. With Paul, I discovered “the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Rom. 7:21-25a.

Paul goes on to tell us how Christ set us free from the law of sin, that we are no longer slaves—chained to sin, so we should stop volunteering ourselves to a sin ‘master’, but instead live a new life by the Spirit—as true adopted children of God and heirs to His kingdom. All through Romans 8, Paul talks about this life by the Spirit:
• I am to stop the practices of my human/carnal nature, and this is not like a quick diet from sweets to squeeze into that new swim suit, but the picture is of an actual funeral—I am to put those things to death—I no longer do them/respond to them because they are in the ground, eaten by worms;
• I am to allow the Holy Spirit to lead me (even when I don’t want to follow);
• I can call out to God: ‘Abba—Daddy!’; and
• I am to suffer with Him (I will face the same rejection and persecution by the world that Jesus faced)… but, Hallelujah!—we get to be glorified with Him as well!

So now, we get to joyfully anticipate our homecoming sans ‘roaches’ (WOOHOO!), “having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” Rom. 8:23b-25

Running with you,
Rebecca

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Triumph Over Trifling

My dearest sister,

There are not too many things these days that people would consider evil. Abortion is a widely accepted practice and homosexuality has even become acceptable in some branches of Christianity. Not terribly long ago, these issues were tangled up in shame and guilt. Our culture is ever progressing toward a “do whatever feels right” and “tolerate everyone” mentality. Add to this the increasing influence of the secular media, in movies and music particularly, and it’s no wonder that our society is on a steep moral decline.

So let’s face it. We’re Christians living in a post-Christian world. As such, it is easy to become discouraged in our Christian walk. Trying to please God in a world that doesn’t care about God is no easy feat. So how do we deal with the evil that we are so often bombarded with in our day-to-day lives?

Ephesians 6:16 says, “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” God has given us our faith (Ephesians 2:8) as a defense. The author of Hebrews describes faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Our faith is what allows us to believe that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He promises to do.

This faith is sure; this faith is steadfast; this faith is strong. With it we can “extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” Because of it we can now run from the evil we were once enslaved to and turn to Christ (Romans 6:18) who will be faithful to preserve us. Satan simply doesn’t stand a chance. No matter how evil this world becomes Satan has only the appearance of victory. The Lord will return and on that day He will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31) and because His holiness demands it He will crush the wicked (Psalm 145:20).

So, dear sister, if you are feeling discouraged by the weight of this evil world, stop and remember that YOUR God is the God who made the universe and rules over it. Take comfort that God’s omnipotence is not threatened by Satan’s trifling pursuits and have faith in the word of the Lord. For His faithfulness endures forever. (Psalm 117:2)

Under His wing,
Kayla

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you where you go.–Joshua 1:9

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The Evil Within

Dear sister,

So, I tend to limit evil to specific people. Hitler is evil. Those that take innocence from women and children are evil. Government leaders that murder their own people are evil. Yet is evil only limited to those whom we deem as really, really bad? Or is evil more prevelant than we could ever perceive? Could it be that evil is actually innately in all of us?

God created ALL things good, very good even. What happened? An angel named Lucifer proudly decided he could be like God (Ezekiel 28:11-19). Quietly, Lucifer’s heart chose to do his own will instead of the will of his Good Creator. The sad fact is, his choice not only affected him, he then decided to influence as many beings as possible to join him in this rebellion. Enter Adam and Eve, the pinnacle of the Lord’s creation. Adam and Eve were created without sin, yet when Lucifer presented himself as a serpent, he tempted them to doubt God’s goodness. The bite of that fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the action that revealed their changed heart. They directly disobeyed what their Creator commanded, thus sin entered the world until the end of time (Rom 5:12). Now all of mankind are born in sin and cannot BUT sin. The bible is therefore saying that I have an evil heart, I was born with it. I rebel against God, I disobey Him and don’t believe what He says is true. My heart is tainted with evil just as those whom I deem as the most evil villain.

But I have good news for you! Why? Because this means that you and I qualify for God’s amazing grace! Only evil human sinful hearts can receive Jesus’s great exchange, where He takes our sin that deserves death, dies that death on the cross paying the cost of sin, and gives us the righteousness of God (1 Cor 5:21)! Our hearts of stones are now hearts of flesh. Those that trust in Christ will have our evil hearts replaced for all time when we enter heavens gates where we will be like Christ forever!

But take heed, those of you who don’t trust Jesus and have not made this great exchange. This evil demands eternal death, if Jesus is not your savior, you will pay this price forever. The Creator will crush evil, His holiness demands it. The good news is, this same holy Creator has made a way for you too…in Jesus! Trust Him! Believe in The Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16:31)!

Sweet believer, rejoice today in your Creator who has opened your eyes to what Christ has done for you! Your evil heart has been changed forever!!! Praise The Lord! Shout it to the mountain tops! Share this good news to those The Lord puts in your path! Evil is real and is in all those who are born. But Jesus is greater than all and is our conqueroing hero! Hallelujah!

Your thankful sister in Christ,

Colleen

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The Loneliest Place In The Universe

Dear Sister,

Sometimes loneliness feels like a deep, gnawing ache. Sometimes it feels like drowning. Either way, it’s one of the most painful experiences of this fallen world. A New Testament scholar once called it “the most dehumanizing thing one can ever experience.” So, my sister, my heart breaks for you. I hope to bring you some comfort.

The good news is that the pain of your loneliness communicates something that is theologically true: we were not made to be alone. Being human means being in relationship. This is because we are made in the image of God, who is relational in his very being. He is Triune. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist in an eternally blessed, overflowingly joyous and satisfied relationship of love with one another.

You, my sister, are created to also experience an eternally blessed, overflowingly joyous and satisfied relationship of love with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But the bad news is that there is a barrier to that relationship. It’s called sin.
You experience loneliness because man’s perfect communion with God was severed at the Fall on account of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against him. Everyone since then has experienced the pain and loneliness of that separation. Still more bad news is that your own personal sins have added to the dilemma. The Lord says in Isaiah, “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (59:2). And there is nothing you can do to make it right. It is the ultimate desperate and lonely situation.

But there is Good News: God, being rich in compassion and mercy, broke down the barrier, at great cost to himself. He laid all the sin that separated you from enjoying perfect fellowship with him upon the Son. And thus the cross became the loneliest place in the universe. Jesus, who had never once experienced the pain of separation from his heavenly Father cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) as his Father, having “eyes too pure to look upon evil (Habakkuk 1:13) turns his face away from the One who “became a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). Jesus became a curse. He was de-humanized so that we could be truly human again and live in relationship with the Triune God.

My sister, turn to the One who knows loneliness better than anyone else. Don’t be like me, who too often tries to heal the gnawing ache and the suffocation of loneliness by turning to distractions, food, or to fantasies about how marriage will cure it all. Turn to the One who is the cure, to the One who embraces you in perfect, satisfying love. We live in a fallen world and will still experience loneliness, but we take comfort in knowing that God, in Christ, has broken down the barrier. If you ever doubt it, look to the cross. May our Lord bring you his peace and comfort in your time of deep emotional pain.

Love, your sis,
Sarah

And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.—Mark 15:38