| 3 John 11-15 "Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone-and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true. I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name." John taught us one thing specifically: "Do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God." Doing what is good is not doing good deeds. According to the Bible, what is good means doing what God commands you to do. Matthew 5:44 says: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Every time I read this passage, I would thank God for it. He didn't stop at "love your enemies". It tells us clearly that what He wants us to do is to pray for those who persecute us and bless them. Why? Because when Satan attacks us, the first step he would take is to create an environment to make us feel upset, sad and resentful, just like Job who lost everything overnight, or Jesus who was hungry after forty days of temptation. Let me remind you that the reason why Satan can disturb us or control us is that there is always some kind of hidden anger inside us. The biggest stronghold Satan has inside the church is the hidden anger in our heart. Because of that, Satan has his space to work in our relationships with God, others and ourselves. In his second step, Satan will jump into the circumstances to cheat and accuse. Many times when we are in the middle of the spiritual battle, we are just aware of Satan's second step. So we always just rebuke his lies and accusations. However, we would overlook his first step, so that it is already too late when we realize that we have to rebuke his work. How do we overcome Satan's first step? Just learn to turn the curse around and pray for those who persecute us, when Satan creates some circumstances that make us upset. Bless them, which means blessing in the name of the Lord all the circumstances that Satan creates and all the people that Satan uses, for once we start to bless, Satan will be at a loss for what to do next. The angrier you are, the happier Satan will be. Then he will start his second step and check mate. But once you start to bless your enemy, he will be at a loss for what to do. We all need to confess before God, turn the curse around and pray for our enemies, the joy of the Spirit will start to flow in our heart due to our obedience.
Pray with Pastor Tong Liu 
Lord, we thank you, for you welcomed us first. May you put such love in our heart, so that we can welcome one another among brothers and sisters. When others see the testimony that we welcome one another, they will return to You. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen! |
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