A TUTORIAL ON EFFECTIVE SPIRITUAL WARFARE
Teaching, Training & Commissioning
Chapter 12 Episode 6
Satan has laid traps to entice you and to snare you in order to prevent you from completing your mission. Hate is one of those snares. Jesus alone, can show you the way around this, and other deadly traps of the devil.
Jesus made it clear, that if you choose to follow Him, you will have to pay the price of a disciple, and that cost is high. Both the religious and secular worlds persecuted Jesus and His followers because of His teachings. And, they will persecute you, too, if you choose to be His disciple.
Jesus has warned that the gate is small and the way that leads to life is both narrow and difficult, and there are few who find it. But, He is the Door that leads to life. Follow Him closely.
These next episodes will lead you to the “small gate which is narrow” and we will continue to identify the obstacles to our transformation for their removal from your life.
(For our convenience, I have coded the Obstacle in green, the penalty in purple and the Remedy in Blue.)
Episode 5: Removing the Obstacle of hate requires showing unconditional, Agape, love.
Matthew 5:43-48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’
“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Jesus is speaking to Jews and to His Christian Disciples, and these Truths are meant for His disciples (that is to say, His followers; Christians), present and future.
Anyone can listen to Jesus, but, not everyone can hear and understand what He is saying. Anyone can attempt to apply these Truths to their life because The Truth is universal. But, a person cannot live the Truth without Christ Jesus because Jesus is the Truth, bodily.
The Bible tells us that “hate is sin” and that sin is the root of all the Obstacles that cause you to separate yourself from the presence and love of God.
Sin is rebellion toward God and to His Word, and it is THE obstacle to entering the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God.
Notice that the keys words in these verses are “Love” and “Hate” and remember that these eternal words of Jesus are written
- To the Christian
- About being a Christian, and,
- For the Christian
So, when 1 John 4:20-21, tells us that, “If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.”
Again, 1 John 3:15 says, “Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.”
Simply put, God is Love. Hate is not of God. If these two coexist in your life as a Christian, you will stumble. If they persist in your life as a Christian, you will have lost your usefulness as a disciple, and, you should know that there is a deeper and darker problem embedded in your soul.
The remedy, the way to remove this Obstacle, is to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven”. (Please click the foregoing text for the entire teaching.)
This seems simple, but it is powerful. It’s effectiveness is not in the hearing, but, in the doing.
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
Please remember to click the blue italicized links in each chapter, in order to get the important details on these Bible teachings)
Please bookmark this page and watch for our next chapter, “Removing the Obstacle Pride and Hypocrisy”
(The previous episode can be found at “The Obstacle of Revenge”)
(Please also notice, you can listen by podcast as you read along. You can pause the audio in order to click the links for details and references, which are necessary for the entire teaching)
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