The 3 letters of St. John the Divine teach us about the true God to be worshipped and God’s love for humanity. He shows us that if we love the Lord and truly live according to His commandments, we do the will of God and are born of Him. If we are in Him we cannot sin or do things that are wrong. What is sin? Sin is breaking of the laws and if we live according to the laws we can lead a victorious life on earth. Our battle here on earth is against the powers of darkness. Eph.6: 12. “ 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”. In this fight of good against evil, we can only be successful by divine help. Once we submit our human will to the divine will, the Holy Spirit will come to our assistance and the battle will be won.To submit ourselves to the divine will we should first believe that Jesus (Messiah) is the Son of God, and love one another.

In modern times belief in Satan and his subordinates has greatly diminished. What was previously credited to evil spirits is now explained away by psychology. Satan is banished to fairy tales! But evil remains a frightening reality. The twentieth century, which has seen an explosion of knowledge, has also seen some of the bloodiest wars and deadly crimes in history.
Men and women have become skilled in evil, worshipping the forces of the evil one in different ways. Deut. 32:17. They sacrificed to devils…to new gods whom your fathers did not hear.

We are all soldiers of Christ, ready to go to battle against the powers of darkness. Our weapons of war are truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Eph.6: 13-17.

As a soldier of Christ there is a genuine pleasure in serving our Master. We will face many problems, opposition, and inconveniences in our fight against evil powers. We have no options to choose in our battles. We should face the problems and win the battles. ITim.6: 12.” Fight the good fight, lay hold on eternal life”

 Our human strength is not enough for us to succeed. But remember how our Messiah lived in this world. He humbled himself, bore all temptations that we can never resist, and conquered the enemy so that we may also learn how to be conquerors. His own people rejected Him; He endured humiliations, sufferings, and death. He is our example. We can never be as perfect as Him but when we surrender our lives completely to Him, He will strengthen us.
 
John.16: 33.” In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” In this world there is no escape from the troubles and temptations. The powers of darkness are against us but if we follow the example of Messiah, we shall be safe. It is through faith that we can overcome the world. Acts.16: 31, says,” Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

The world is living in the broad way, but we are living in the narrow way. Along this way we will meet our enemy, the powers and principalities that Paul spoke about. We have to be separate from this world and the Lord promises us that we shall be His sons and daughters.

“Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit”, II Cor.7: 1.

I have mentioned earlier about worshipping new gods. These days even persons who call themselves preachers and shepherds are leading men away from the true faith by wrong interpretation of the Word of God. They have caused many to stumble at the law. Mal. 2: 8. They turn and twist the Word and proclaim it to be the gospel, without having a clear understanding of the scriptures. They are hypocrites because their doctrines have no foundation. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing, which Paul mentions in Acts.20: 29. They are unknowingly the forces of evil, false prophets, disguised as holy people, of whom we should be careful. The Lord has promised us a gift of discerning spirit (I Cor.12: 10). We can, by the help of the Holy Spirit, find out who is preaching the true word of God and who is not.

 The Bible says that in the end times that there shall be wars and rumors of wars, knowledge will increase and men will depart from the faith. These are the plans of the evil one to defeat us and turn us away from the true God. But we have the great promise of the Holy Spirit in John.14: 26,”the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things”.

It is through faith that we can move mountains. It is through faith that our fathers lived and obtained a good report. Heb.12. Let your faith increase continually, and this faith will guide you on the narrow way through the gates of New Jerusalem.

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