“Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people” ~ Amos 5:14-15, NLT.

I love the wording of this verse in the New Living Translation. Of course, it is beautiful in any true translation, but this one captures my heart as I think on “The Lord of hosts”, “God of Heaven’s Armies”. It brings me to restful, peace to think of our God, fighting for us as commander of the Angelic hosts of heaven.

We are encouraged, “Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have said.”

In scripture, righteousness is defined as true living; and sin or evil is called “death”. Death separates oneself from God; life walks in unity with Him.

Every evil we face has a spiritual component to it that most often requires a spiritual response. When we choose to do good and fully follow God, He gives His angels charge concerning us, to fight the demonic forces behind the evil that seeks to destroy us.

Most often, the things going on in the earth are a picture image of what is going on in the heavenly realms. When we choose the good of God’s desire, God works to bring good to us in the spiritual realm. When the good of the Spirit is our influence, we choose the good of God’s desire.

Satanic forces influence the hearts of men to actions contrary to God using the wisdom of the flesh, this world, and demonic whisperings to deceived hearts. Such battles require angelic forces to deploy in response. When we choose good, recognizing and fleeing from evil influences, we have the assurance of God’s help. These armies of God fight the demonic forces so that the message of God can reach our hearts and influence our good.

I believe this war on terror is such an instance of evil’s influence on mankind. Only as we choose the good and fully follow God’s lead in this battle will we see victory. And that victory must be aided by His angelic forces coming against the demonic forces that influence and use the evil we see.

“Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people”

Goodness and justice are our spiritual weapons against evil. These weapons of our warfare loose God’s mercy toward us and move Him to take action on our behalf in whatever evil we face. But the definition of what is good is not ours to determine. It is dictated by God, requiring us to come into agreement with His desires. We must seek to know His heart on the issues before us if we are to do the good that flees from doing evil and moves the hand of God on our behalf.

Good is to do the will of God in the way of God to the glory of God.

“Evil”, everything contrary to God, His will and His way, is the only thing in scripture that I can think of in which God calls us to hate. We do not hate the person given to evil. They are only a vessel of evil, just as we are only a vessel of Good. Even Jesus says, “Why do you call Me ‘good’? No one is good but God alone” (Mark 10:18). Thus we hate the evil itself, but we are called to love the person.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” ~ Matthew 5:43-48.

“Sons” or children of God look like Him. Father God is our example to follow when it comes to love, and if we are His, we will look like His child, being in His image. He loves because He is love and He can do no less. We are “perfect as He is perfect” when we love because that is who we are. His love is perfectly within Him, dictating His actions toward all mankind. Though He hates the evil produced by those who are “enemy” at the time of their evil and He comes against that evil that is standing against Him and the good He desires, He still loves the sinner enslaved by evil.

It is letting love be in us as it is in Him that produces the good that reaps the reward of His hand at work on our behalf to protect us from the evil desires of enemy forces. Love has nothing to do with the recipient of its affections. Love, true love that desires and does what is best for the one loved, cannot be bought with a price or lost with any evil done. Love is what it is at all times. It assumes responsibility for itself, being unconditional and incorruptible. We love God because He first loved us and He shows us the way of love as He lives and breathes through us. Therefore our love for God always chooses the good He desires even for those who stand in opposition to Him.

We always have God’s love, Him doing what is best toward us as He works to bring us into agreement with Himself and His perfect desires. Even in the midst of consequences for past evil done by us or to us, when we turn back to Him through goodness and justice, His hand moves to help us face evil’s consequences.

We have God’s help when we surrender to His good and run after righteousness and justice as He defines it. We accomplish good when we seek to be as God is in character, thought, motive, deed and action. We accomplish justice when we agree with Him who defines evil and its consequences, divvying out and taking the consequences earned by evil practices, but doing so with a nature of love that desires the good, even and especially for those we call “enemy”.

Today, I check my stance with God the Father. Today I pray the God of angel armies be with you as you continue to fight the good fight of faith in the love He provides through the moving of His hand of help and hope.