This article first appeared on The Inspired Woman Blog |
Jesus gave us a command that had such power He immediately had to follow it with a warning.
The command was: “…that you love one another” (John 15:17). Sounds simple enough, but it’s the most powerful instruction any of us could follow. It takes greater strength and self-discipline to love than it does to lift 200 pounds at the gym. And it infuriates hell.
This is why Jesus warned us:“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (vs.18). But before we continue, consider this: it’s not just the world who hates you…
Satan is the god of this world, therefore you can make a direct (and correct) assumption that Satan hates you. And because of his influence in realms of darkness, then those who walk in darkness may not like you either.
“If [Satan] hates you, you know that [he] hated Me before [he] hated you. If you were of the world, [Satan] would love [his] own. Yet because you are not of [him], but I chose you out of [his influence], therefore [Satan] hates you” (John 15:18-19, my paraphrase).
Maybe this is nothing new, but I hope it sheds some light on who your true enemy is, and then by direct revelation from God, the Apostle Paul told us never, ever, ever, are we enemies with other people. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
This means you and I have to train ourselves to look through and past the people in our lives who aggravate us, belittle us, or betray us. They are simply being influenced by their own ignorance (Satan’s greatest weapon against any of us). So people aren’t our enemy. Satan is our enemy. And the greatest weapon you have against him (and them) is LOVE.
When you walk in love with people who are being influenced by the god of this world, you are fighting God’s way, for He says, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head” (Romans 12:20).
But let me put a little twist on this that you might not have considered: Never hate yourself.
You are a creation of God and He is not the author of hate, so when you give in to those feelings (and we all have them), you are actually falling prey to Satan. He hates you (not God). And the devil finds great joy in getting you caught up in self-hate.
Don’t give him the pleasure.
It will be hard at times to resist seeing other people as your enemy, but the greatest tragedy will be if you LOOK IN YOUR OWN MIRROR and see yourself as the enemy. Don’t do it. You may have regrets but you are the temple of God, where His Spirit dwells, so never, ever, ever, hate that which He has chosen as His home.
You are greatly loved—no matter what is in your past. So my prayer today is for LOVE to guide all your thoughts and actions. Think about what a great revenge that would be against your real enemy.
