How Do We Overcome Evil?
God created the earth (Gen. 1:1). He created man with free will. He told man to obey Him so He could bless him. But man refused to obey, so God told man that he would live a cursed life apart from God (Gen. 3:6, 17).
Cain refused to obey God and chose, rather, to live for himself and do what he thought was good (Is. 48:17). By choosing the way of self and leaving God out of his life, he did evil deeds (1 John 3:12). One of his evil deeds was killing his brother because his brother was practicing good deeds for God. Cain was cursed for not practicing righteousness to please God (Gen. 4:7, 11). Cain was of the devil (1 John 3:12).
Enoch walked with God, which means he lived as God lives (Gen. 5:22). He imitated God by practicing righteousness and doing good works to glorify God (Matt. 5:16). He did his Father's Will in heaven instead of his own will (Matt. 6:10). Enoch was God's friend because he practiced righteousness instead of the evil deeds of the flesh. He walked with God, which means he kept God's Ways.
Noah practiced righteousness to please God and overcame his old nature (Gen. 6:9). He was considered righteous, blameless, complete, holy, upright, saintly, godly, and any other nice words you want to use to describe him. Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). He couldn't have been a preacher of righteousness unless he practiced righteousness daily for God.
Abraham brought up his family to practice righteousness (Gen. 18:19). So did Moses. He asked God about that special Way he could live to please Him (Ex. 33:13). God told him that Way and he kept it (Heb. 3:5). Daniel overcame evil by doing good for God and told the king the same message (Dan. 4:27). Job practiced righteousness for God and there are long lists of how he did it (Job 1:1; 29:12-17).
Jesus Christ did good works to please the Father by doing only the Father's Will, which is doing good. He was serving God by serving others for the glory of God (Rom. 15:2-3).
Jesus told us to do all the things He did. He said to help others zealously in His name for the Father's glory (1 Peter 3:13; Matt. 5:16). When we do this, we are able to overcome evil and God will be faithful to bless us for all the good we do in His name on a daily basis (Rom. 12:21; Heb. 6:10). Has God started to bless you yet (Matt. 16:27; Rom 2:6-7; Rev. 2:23; 22:12)? Why not start living God's Way today?
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