WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10
Scripture: Matthew 5:38-39, James 4:5-7

In Matthew 5:38-39 Jesus taught, ‘Do not resist’ (anth-his-tay-mee). This means to reach up and lay hands on the opposition and jerk it out of position, so that one can achieve a purpose. In this verse, Jesus taught not to do that but the context in which He taught that is important. Understanding this will help us better grasp what has been forfeited. In Matthew 4:5-7, we have a perfect picture of what satan has done to the church. In this passage the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and then preached Him a message out of Psalm 91. The Lord told me He was going to reinterpret that for me and He said, ‘satan took Jesus to church and preached Him a message.’ And then He said, ‘That’s exactly what has happened in your generation. Satan took us to church and preached us a message and neutered the church into passivity! He did it with Matthew 5:38-39.’ Basically the Lord was saying, the church has been overwhelmed with passivity by turning the other cheek and not resisting evil. We have the fruit of it today. All seven mountains are in much worse shape today than they were 43 years ago. It is both sad and true but it does not have to continue. It can stop when we set the record straight and put Matthew 5:38-39 in context.