Think about it. When you hate someone, you will not walk down a grocery or supermarket isle if you know there is someone you dislike in that store, or in that isle. You won't go to parks, or to games, or to restaurants, because someone you hate is there, or might be there.

Your child could be a player on a team, and you won't go to their games, because a teacher or parent that you hate, or have not forgiven, might be there.

You are in bondage, in jail; because you are not free to go where you want to go! Jesus has set us free from the bondages of all kinds of things, including divisions of all kinds.

Jesus said in John:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
(John 13:34-35)

This you could call the Eleventh Commandment. The word "love" used here in the Greek is "agapao." The Word that God uses to describe His contract or His covenant of love is "agape." That term is used a lot in the church.

But here it is "agapao." This is not the contract or covenant of love, but the public demonstration of love, or the social demonstration of love. Jesus is saying then, "You must have a public demonstration of your love to one another" (author's paraphrase).

"A new commandment I give to you" means, you must do it church! What will be the defining moment of the church in these last days? That we have publicly demonstrated our love for another. Now, in the world there are all kinds of conflicts that the devil has created, to encourage us not to love one another.

The devil has invented prejudice of all kinds. We hate people based on race, or the color of their skin. We have learned to hate those in another part of town, or those at another school. The church has preached hatred of other Christian denominations, and hatred of the smaller church or the bigger church.

We have learned to hate those who have more money and to despise those who have less money. The devil is alive and active in the church today, and that is why our love for one another must be practiced.

If the church cannot get over the things that separate us as a body of believers, then how can we expect the government, or the media, or our schools, or where we work; how can we expect them to walk in love if they have never seen a public demonstration of our love?

Now, 1 John 5:4 says, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world...." Overcomes what? The weapons that Satan has created to cause all kinds of mischief. Hated is a demonic weapon. Unforgiveness is a demonic weapon, and bitterness is a demonic weapon. Love is born of God; and you literally break the power of hell in the world, by walking in the public or social demonstration of love.

1 John 4:8 says, "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." Hate is not the opposite of love. It does not have the same authority as love. But it does have power to hinder the work of God in your life. Love overcomes all things.

Hate, bitterness, jealousy, and unforgiveness, have only a temporary effect. Hatred does not make the world go round, but love does.

Overcome the world forces in this present age with a public demonstration of your love. Overcome the powers of darkness by the evidence of your love. Show the world that love is a force; and you will literally change the world.

David J Gonzalez Ministries
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