Recently, when I read this verse, God encouraged my heart! It was the opening verse in a “Girlfriends In God” devotional by Jill Savage [dated April 28, 2023]. She tells the story of finding out her husband was having an affair, and her journey to love him, at God’s very direct guidance. God brought victory in their marriage as she overcame evil with good.

This is an excerpt from her writing:

“One day after a conversation we had during our separation, my husband said to me, “I don’t get why you have treated me so kindly when I have treated you so horribly?” I thought for a moment, prayed, and then responded, “I don’t know, Mark. It’s unhumanable.” 

“Unhumanable?” He responded. “What does that even mean?” We both kind of chuckled at the word.

“I guess it means that it’s love that can only come from God. It’s beyond human capacity but not beyond God working in and through us.” I replied.

I love that word! “Unhumanable”!! But God loves us so much that He, through His Holy Spirit’s power and strength, enables us to love one another, even when the hurt is immense. It is power and strength we can never create on our own.

However, this requires a personal, living and active relationship with God through the Lord Jesus. If you have not made that step of faith, then that is the first step in your journey to healing from whatever hurt you are experiencing. You will then be able to experience His empowering to overcome evil with good.

Overcoming evil with good is our daily journey, as we live with our own sin, and the sin of others. Daily, we need to love, forgive, offer mercy and grace that is unhumanable. That is what God has done for us – to love us while we were [and are] still sinners. Through Jesus, God overcame evil, and one day the ungodly powers and principalities of the unseen realm will be locked away permanently. However, today, they still work diligently to attempt to destroy our lives. But God can change that for those who have a personal relationship with Jesus. If you do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, please contact me at the email address below.

Romans 5:8 states: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Notice the tense of the word “shows”. It indicates it wasn’t simply a past event, but it is an everyday, moment by moment act of God’s will. This verse reveals the truth about love. Love is not an emotional feeling, love is an act of our will. It reveals itself when we determine to lean upon the awesome power of God to love those we would rather hate, despise, and remove from our lives. It is His power that enables us to overcome evil with good.

Anger, hatred, frustration, and unforgiveness are not worth the time we spend on those feelings. 

Instead of allowing those feelings to wind up our emotions, we need to allow God’s Spirit to work in our thoughts and hearts so that we focus on “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8.

To change our focus and bring our charged and often sinful emotions under God’s control is unhumanable! But God makes it possible! 

How does this happen? How do we stop ourselves from reeling out of control, which usually brings further disaster into our lives? How do we turn hate into love? How do we turn anger into love? How do we turn resentment into love? How can we resist the pull of evil, and live in the realm of God’s goodness?

We run, not walk, not meander, but RUN to God believing that He has the power to help us in our distress. Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

We run to God in prayer. We give Him our tears. He uses them, as our Potter, to comfort us, to shape us into the likeness of Jesus. Isaiah 64:8: “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” He is our good Father. He is our Father who knows every detail of what is happening. He is our Father who is working to conform us into His image.

Please notice in Philippians 4:6-7, above, that giving thanks is included in how we are to respond in our times of anxiousness. God would not command us to do something He wouldn’t help us to do. 

You may wonder, how can I give thanks in _____________ [whatever your situation is]. You can begin by thanking God that He is your Father. You can continue to thank God that He has an eternal future with Jesus in place for you. You can thank Him that one day our sin will no longer exist in our lives!!! 

There is so much to be thankful for, if we want to be thankful…it is a choice. Will you make the choice to be thankful, or will you remain in your sinful anger, hatred, etc.? 

Remember God does understand, and is waiting for you to fall into His loving arms: Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

We run to His Word, believing it is powerful and active, and that reading it by the power of His Holy Spirit we are changed for good. Isaiah 41:10: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Consider, ponder, and take to heart those “I will” promises of God! 

I will strengthen you

I will help you

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

We run to God singing praise music, turning off the TV, etc. because we are in a spiritual battle and praise is one tool to cause the enemy to run away.

We stay away from those who encourage us to allow our sinful emotions to rule us, and instead we seek out God-fearing people to pray and guide us with God’s Word.

The choice to overcome evil rests with each of us. God has provided Jesus for us to be overcomers. He wants us to repay someone who has been unkind, uncaring, even destructive toward us with the His goodness. Afterall, that is what I experience from Him each day.

You can read Jill’s whole story at: https://girlfriendsingod.com/loving-the-unlovable/

I’m available if you want to talk. You can reach me at: ButGodCares@gmail.com.

Living for Jesus, Donna

P.S. If this has helped you, please feel free to share it with others!

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Copyright 2023 Donna Shappy   All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other – without the prior permission of the author.