Silas
Faithful Servant
The battle you describe is real, and you have taken the right first step by acknowledging the Lord as your fortress. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and that fear means hating evil. Not simply disliking it or avoiding it when convenient, but cultivating a settled hatred for everything that destroys and tears down. Evil always seeks to be tolerated. It looks for compromise, a place to lodge quietly in the heart or the home. The sum of true knowledge is found in turning from it. When you depart from evil, the promise is health to your body and strength to your bones.
Do not let the prolonged season of hardship convince you that evil is winning or that God does not see. People often imagine that because judgment is delayed, the Lord is indifferent. They stack one evil upon another and then boast in it, thinking the temple walls or a family name will magically protect them. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, while His eyes are upon the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers. There is a limit, and an end will come to the reign of wickedness. Your task in the waiting is not to grow cold or to return evil for evil. The natural man wants to strike back, to defend his own name and macho image when challenged, but that cycle only tears a household apart. If you try to defend yourself, God will let you, and you will find your own defense is poor. Commit the matter entirely to Him.
Search your own dwelling first. Are there hidden things being tolerated, things God calls evil, simply because the material world seems inconsequential? Some have believed the lie that what you do with the body does not matter, but destruction in the physical realm always affects the spirit. Do not feast at the table of those whose eyes are set on evil, nor envy what they have. A house is built by wisdom and established by understanding. Let your tongue be refrained from speaking deceit, and turn away from every path of destruction, because that is what biblical evil is, it is that which tears you down and rips your family apart.
If members of your own family have become a source of pain or alienation, remember that the bond within the family of God runs deeper than blood when blood relations are not walking in the light. Jesus knew what it was to have His own brothers think He was out of His mind. Yet He did not entrust Himself to their opinion. If you maintain a good conscience, those who speak evil against you as evildoers will eventually be ashamed of their false accusations. It is better, if the will of God ordains it, to suffer for doing well than for doing evil.
Do not fear that someone can place a hex or a curse upon you through an envious glance. The power that protects you is not a charm or a superficial ritual. The evil God judges is the rebellion of the heart. The shield comes from walking in the light, because those who walk in darkness refuse to come to the light lest their deeds be exposed. Let the light expose everything in your life now so that no hidden foothold remains. As you honor the Lord and depart from what is destructive, He becomes your true security. Pray simply, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” and then live out that prayer by refusing to answer railing with railing. Seek peace and pursue it, even when every natural instinct screams for retaliation. The Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of trials, and the evil He has purposed as judgment for the unrepentant will not touch those who make Him their habitation.
Do not let the prolonged season of hardship convince you that evil is winning or that God does not see. People often imagine that because judgment is delayed, the Lord is indifferent. They stack one evil upon another and then boast in it, thinking the temple walls or a family name will magically protect them. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, while His eyes are upon the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers. There is a limit, and an end will come to the reign of wickedness. Your task in the waiting is not to grow cold or to return evil for evil. The natural man wants to strike back, to defend his own name and macho image when challenged, but that cycle only tears a household apart. If you try to defend yourself, God will let you, and you will find your own defense is poor. Commit the matter entirely to Him.
Search your own dwelling first. Are there hidden things being tolerated, things God calls evil, simply because the material world seems inconsequential? Some have believed the lie that what you do with the body does not matter, but destruction in the physical realm always affects the spirit. Do not feast at the table of those whose eyes are set on evil, nor envy what they have. A house is built by wisdom and established by understanding. Let your tongue be refrained from speaking deceit, and turn away from every path of destruction, because that is what biblical evil is, it is that which tears you down and rips your family apart.
If members of your own family have become a source of pain or alienation, remember that the bond within the family of God runs deeper than blood when blood relations are not walking in the light. Jesus knew what it was to have His own brothers think He was out of His mind. Yet He did not entrust Himself to their opinion. If you maintain a good conscience, those who speak evil against you as evildoers will eventually be ashamed of their false accusations. It is better, if the will of God ordains it, to suffer for doing well than for doing evil.
Do not fear that someone can place a hex or a curse upon you through an envious glance. The power that protects you is not a charm or a superficial ritual. The evil God judges is the rebellion of the heart. The shield comes from walking in the light, because those who walk in darkness refuse to come to the light lest their deeds be exposed. Let the light expose everything in your life now so that no hidden foothold remains. As you honor the Lord and depart from what is destructive, He becomes your true security. Pray simply, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” and then live out that prayer by refusing to answer railing with railing. Seek peace and pursue it, even when every natural instinct screams for retaliation. The Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of trials, and the evil He has purposed as judgment for the unrepentant will not touch those who make Him their habitation.
