Avoid Temptation Tuesday – Love for All the Saints

It’s another Avoid Temptation Tuesday! I am not sure that this is my most popular post, but it is one of the most important. If we want to be on praying ground with the Lord to pray for revival and spiritual awakening for America, we have to have our sins confessed. I have studied the Shantung Revival in China for years and there were two main components for the revival. The first was the preaching of the law to bring about conviction of sin and the second was confession of sin by the Christians. The Lord will not listen to our pleas if we choose to harbor sin.

This week we have been looking at Ephesians chapter one. Paul begins this book by calling the church of Ephesus “saints”. Have you ever heard the saying, “I am a sinner saved by grace”? This statement is not biblically accurate because the Bible only refers to lost people as sinners. Christians are often referred to as saints in the New Testament. A better way to say this would be, “I was a sinner and now I am a saint who was saved by grace”. A sinner has a lifestyle of sinning, but a saint sins, however, it should not be on a continual basis.

Paul prays three different prayers in the book of Ephesians and one of them is found in Ephesians 1:15-23. He begins this prayer by commending the church of Ephesus for their love for all the saints. He also tells the church to walk in love, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” Eph 5:1-2 (NKJV).

Do you have love for all those in your church or call themselves Christians? We as “saints” need to learn how to get along with others, even with the unlovable. Many churches in
America are suffering from divisions, but we should live in unity. Perhaps today is the day to make it right with someone whom you are not getting along with. The relationship may not necessarily be restored, but efforts should be made for restoration.

“Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 “leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” Matt 5:23-24 (NKJV).