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Video Devotional: Love and Hate from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Note: Today's article is the "devotional-length" version of our ministry newsletter on the subject of racism. For those interested, you are welcome to read or watch the full version, which includes the devotional below plus additional thoughts and scriptures relating to current events. It will be about 30 minutes long.

Jesus wept when He came to the tomb of Lazarus. John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible, yet it gives us a deep look at the compassion Jesus Christ has for people. Today I want to talk about love, hate, racism, and where the Lord Jesus Christ stands on these issues. I feel that things have become clouded and everyone is yelling that He is on their side. They want to use Him as a tool, but He doesn’t work that way. Instead we need to check that we are still on His side, or we may find ourself fighting against God.

On the night that Jesus was betrayed, when they were having supper in the upper room, His last night with the twelve Apostles He had trained, Jesus told them this:

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

Selah. Jesus knew that He would be crucified soon and great distress, fear, and confusion would come on the Apostles left behind. “The Way” as the church was called then (Acts 9:2), became hated and hunted. They were unjustly arrested, tortured, beaten, imprisoned, and put to death, whenever they were found by the authorities (Acts 26:10-11). Jesus knew they would never make it without a strong love for each other.

Prejudice and racism is not a recent thing. As the gospel began to spread, the first church became a melting pot of cultures and peoples. There were Jews, Gentiles (Non-Jews), Greeks, Romans, Ethiopians, Europeans, people from all walks of life. At first, Jews called Gentiles half-breeds, and the Gentiles returned the favor. They despised one another.

One day the Apostle Peter was praying on a rooftop terrace when he fell into a trance and had a vision. It would take a lot of words to tell the whole story, so I am going to summarize it for you. You can read the full version in Acts chapter 10. An angel appeared to a Roman Gentile, a centurion who was not a Christian nor saved, and he told him to send to Joppa for Peter who had a message that would save his household. Yet Peter, who was a Jew, would not even enter the house of a half-breed Gentile, so God prepared Peter before the men arrived. He put Peter in a trance and told him this three times:

(Acts 10:15 NIV) “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

What this means is that when God accepts people, His followers are to accept them. If God has made them clean, then they are clean, and if you call them otherwise then you are in error and no longer on His side. At first Peter did not know what the vision meant, but immediately three men came to his house to take him to Cornelius.

(Acts 10:27–28 NKJV)  And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together. Then he said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

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(Acts 10:34–35 NKJV)  Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

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(Acts 10:44–45 NKJV)  While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.

The Holy Spirit fell on all the Gentiles listening to the Peter just as He had on the disciples at the beginning. God made no distinction between them. God loves all races and they are equal in His sight. Think about this: there are about 350 recognized dog breeds in the world in various colors. Why would you think that God would love one color more than another, if He created them all? All life came from Him, all life is precious, and not even a sparrow falls to the ground with Him knowing it (Matthew 10:29).

If we want to represent Jesus Christ on the Earth, how did Jesus tell us to do it? To love one another. In this way ALL men will KNOW that you are My disciples. They won’t have to ask. John put it this way:

(1 John 3:14–15 NKJV)  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

(1 John 4:20–21 NKJV)  If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Don’t try and put Jesus in your hate group for it is never going to work. If you believe Jesus has told you to cause harm to someone else, you have been deceived, and the voice that you are listening to is actually from satan, for Jesus will never support hate. He told the Pharisees who hated Him and plotted to kill Him this:

(John 8:44 NASB)  “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

In the scripture above, John said that anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and murderers want to do the desires of their father, the devil. Isn’t that interesting? They unknowingly want to do the desires of their father, which are commands being sent to them. The real battle today is happening in the invisible spirit realm above us.

(Ephesians 6:11–12 NASB)  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Angels battle in the heavens above us and the enemy stirs his people to action. The people down here hating, murdering, and abusing others, are acting on instructions given to them from the spirit realm, to stir up and add to the chaos. There is a move of God coming, and satan would love the human race to kill each other until we were extinct if it were possible. People are being used as puppets by the spiritual forces waging war in the heavenly places. If God’s people go to prayer and bring down the spiritual strongholds working behind the scenes, then victory will come. Bind the spirits of wickedness over our nation. 

Don’t get pulled into hating others as so many others have. Jesus told us to love one another, for love is the complete fulfillment of the law of God. It wraps all the commandments into one. The Apostle Paul wrote it this way:

(Romans 13:8–10 NKJV)  Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Choose your father: Jesus said love. El diablo says hate. As for me and my house, we choose the Lord Jesus Christ. You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray that You cause me to see other races through Your eyes. Please cleanse me of any hate, prejudice, or racism, that I have against my brothers and sisters. Help me represent the love of Jesus Christ on the Earth today, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.