February 18 - A House Divided
The lack of unity is the cause for downfall of nations and families. Division is the devil’s way of destroying God’s two major institutions: the church and the family. The church is supposed to be the outward manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth and the family is the foundation of society. When the church is divided, the Kingdom is divided; when the family is divided, a house is divided and cannot stand. Jesus gave this teaching when He was challenged about His authority in casting out demons. It was the kingdom of Satan challenging the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Kingdom is about power and authority of the King. The only breakdown comes when the King is no longer honored and obeyed. When the dominion is less, division will come to disrupt and bring in confusion. This is a true picture of today’s church, when God’s people are not honoring the Lord, they will become little emperors themselves. Church division is always the result of man trying to take the place of God, trying to challenge the Lordship of Christ and trying to sit on the throne of the church.
One way of overthrowing God from His throne (unconsciously of course) is to discredit the work of Jesus through attacking the work of the Holy Spirit. The scribes who came down from Jerusalem (religious leaders) accused Jesus of being possessed by Beelzebul, the prince of demons and by it He cast out demons. After the teaching about division of the kingdom and the house, Jesus taught the eternal sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. Such sin is attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the work of the evil spirit because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
The issues about spiritual gifts and the work of the Holy Spirit have been dividing the church for a long time, resulting in the powerlessness of the church to confront society and bring in the lost. It is time to accept the Holy Spirit as He is and give Him the freedom to work in His church. He is the Spirit of Unity and when He is truly in control, the church can display the power of the Kingdom of God.
Another division takes place in the homes. Houses are divided as husbands and wives cannot get along, as parents and children are at odds with each other. The Psalmist talks about the parents forsaking the children. In the last days, Elijah will come to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. The family is the building block of the church and the society, it division means trouble for us all.
Pause now to pray for your church, that the Holy Spirit would take full control and that would not be any division. Pray for your family to have love and unity.
Ps 27:7-14 Lev 6:1-7:27 Mark 3:7-30 Prov 10:3-4