A HOUSE DIVIDED©

The Messiah has told us that a house divided against itself cannot stand. I wonder if we really understand that. I wonder if we've ever looked at the possibility that we are a divided house. We are made up of soul (mind, will and emotion), body and spirit (the place where God's breathed Holy Spirit lives within our spirit). We hear talks on giving the spirit man the dominion over us through God's Holy Spirit. We hear a lot of talk about the power that we possess because of what His Son did for His creation. We're taught that if we bless God's workers then God will bless us. We are bombarded with religious scripts of all denominations and dominations. We are processed as if we were quick copies from a machine which, after the cloning is complete, will be collated, stacked and ready for packaging! But what is to be done with these packages once they are sealed for delivery... Delivery to whom and for whom? Seems like we ought to be attempting to find out who is cloning us and for what purpose! We need to discover the source before we find ourselves "shipped" to an untold destination. Our final destination is of the utmost eternal importance! We have become the pawns in an eternally decisive game of chess. The game is for the children of God! God has already paid the cost of the redemption of His creation. All we have to do is accept the gift. We say we've accepted the gift and thank you very much. Then we go on with our lives as expected. As expected by whom? Ah...now that is another matter altogether! Demands and expectations are placed upon us from the time we draw our first breath. We have demands from parents, siblings, grandparents, other relatives, teachers, preachers, employers, employees, the mortgage company, the bank that holds the loan on our car, the electric company, the gas company, the telephone company, trash collector, the telephone which seems to demand that we answer it---the list seems endless! It is no wonder that we are so overwhelmed with the pressures of life! Maybe it would help to define life-or should we say re-define--"life"? Life is "...the quality that distinguishes a vital being from a dead body or purely chemical matter...the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual...". (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Copyright 1966 by G. & C. Merriam Co., Britannica World Language Dictionary, copyright 1959 by Robert C. Preble.) Does that sound like you! By way of the natural inclinations of mankind we have the thrust for success demanded upon us. But, as with many things, the definitions of success can vary more than we can count. We want to become what others will respect and need and love and accept. But can we? Should we even try? Is it all just a game after all and nobody wins. A sad indictment against humanity is the bumper sticker that reads "He who dies with the most toys wins". Have we allowed life to become so trite that it is measured on the same level with a "game"? "Life" (human existence) is being cloned at a record pace. If humanity doesn't wake up to the process that is taking place, it may become too late, not only for the adults but even more especially for the children. We are already turning the children into victims of victims, who will be unable to cope with life when they become adults because society has never given them the opportunity to be children. Society has taken that beautiful and precious thing called childhood and turned it into an unacceptable commodity. Every force that mankind has birthed, has and is destroying civilization and taking our children as well as ourselves down the road to self destruction. Annihilation is the single end to our current course. When the sanctity of life is taken away, then all that remains is desolation. We have succeeded in our efforts to destroy when morality falls to the level of subhuman. We have become deficient in the ability to evaluate what is important, what is good, what is right, what is acceptable. There has been a lot of "talk" recently about "family values". That is all admirable and upright, but without the proper frame of reference it just becomes another "topic" to be used and abused in the name of "vote-getting"! Please do not misunderstand, I believe wholeheartedly in family values. But I believe in those values only as they are within the confines of the Word of Holy God! Anything else is just "man"---another form of humanism! We are slowly discovering that we are NOT capable and are NOT qualified to create our own vision of life, much less sustain it. We are too ill equipped for such a task. We have taken on an impossible assignment that was never given to humanity! We need to allow ourselves to admit not only that we have failed, but also that we have attempted something we were never intended to master---self rule! What does all of this have to do with a house divided? It would be to our advantage to take a personal look at our lives and what we perceive to be the controlling factor in our lives. If we say we believe in God then we figure that is enough. But where do our loyalties lie when we do things our own way within the parameters that society has deemed proper or acceptable? Is our allegiance to the Authority of all life, or is it to ourselves? The answer would appear to be that we grant sole allegiance to the god we call "self". If this is true, then we are a house divided! We are playing with the idea of belonging to God, when, in actuality, we have decided we belong to ourselves. Our own wishes and plans come first and everything else and everyone else is a very distant second. For example, we say we are Christians, but we lie to those around us--lying is not a Godly quality; we say we are Christian, but cheat on taxes--cheating is not a Godly quality; we say we are Christian, but steal--stealing is not a Godly quality; we say we are Christian, but are riddled with jealousy over possessions--covetousness is not a Godly quality. Do you see the paradox? Maybe it is time for another definition: Christian means "an adherent to Jesus" (2 Vine's Expository Dictionary Of Biblical Words, Vine's Expository Dictionary Of New Testament Words Copyright (C) 1985 by Thomas Nelson Publishers, All rights reserved. ). What about the term disciple: "one who follows one's teaching" (2 Vine's Expository Dictionary Of Biblical Words, Vine's Expository Dictionary Of New Testament Words Copyright (C) 1985 by Thomas Nelson Publishers, All rights reserved) John 8:31 quotes Jesus saying, "...If you abide in my word, you are My disciples indeed." I don't think the above examples of lying, cheating, stealing and covetousness are indicative of one who follows Jesus' Word. There is one, however, of whom the examples are an exact identifier...satan, himself! Whoops!---wrong father! What? Yes, Jesus said in John 8:44, 45 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, For he is a liar and the father of it." This sounds intensely descriptive of the listed examples, doesn't it? When we make the deliberate decision to go against God's will and character, then we take on the will and character of satan. We can, in an instant, change loyalty from our Heavenly Father to that of the father of all that is evil and unholy. It would prosper us in manifold ways if we would just stop and think before we say or do anything that would make us victims of satan's seduction. When we act in accordance with the evil one but yet claim to be Christians then we are a house divided. In Luke 11:17 Jesus is quoted as saying "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls." We cannot, as Scripture says, serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24) Trying to stand with one foot in each kingdom is nothing more than wanting all the benefits of God's Grace, without any thought to the standards we should be following, thereby slapping Grace in His Face! After all, when we take on the name of something or someone, then people assume we support that thing or person. Therefore, if we live a self oriented lifestyle, and claim to those around that we are Christians, then we are professing that we support the character of satan! We have become less than even we would like to admit! We must get our hearts upright with the Holy Presence of Almighty God. He does not will that His children should follow any presence or power other than Himself! He aches at the way His children are allowing themselves to be tossed to and fro in the wind and sea of life, never fully knowing the Father who loves then so devotedly. We dare not let the prince of darkness shatter our relationship with our Precious Heavenly Father. When darkness faces darkness it is a united front. Satan may turn his pawns against each other but all are still in darkness. We cannot assume that our thoughts are our own. We must look at each thing and find the source of it. We must observe the ideas, thoughts and plans that are being projected before us and know that the enemy will stop at nothing to hurt God. We live under the pretense that we are in control of our lives, not realizing that we are becoming willing participants in our own destruction. Our Father's desire is that we see and deal with reality---not our obsessions. Satan wants to kill and destroy to the uttermost the spirit to Spirit communication within us. He will use anything and anyone. He has no scruples! Satan has so deceived society that we now live in the "I'm not responsible for my actions" generation. So many evils beset and surround us. The potential to become ensnared in one of his traps is great and constant. It is often said that Christians should be like light houses: shining our lights for the world to see. Light is being attracted by the darkness and being sucked into a vacuum we mistakenly call "life". Life is not meant to be consumed by a vacuumed society. We are supposed to be lights to the world, not victims of it. When we allow ourselves to be controlled we find that our "Me-ism" is wanting to lead, not follow. When we move into darkness for the purpose of witnessing, we must be sure it is Light we are taking---not more darkness. In Luke 11:34 Jesus states: "See to it then that the light within you is not darkness." When darkness challenges light, we must be sure it is Light they see---otherwise there will be no challenge! When we allow darkness to overcome light we allow God's Light to be snuffed out. We are not to be just a light but alight. This is not some theology in which we claim participation. It is not a religion----He is a Person with whom we can share a personal intimate relationship. We are to be "ablaze" with His Love and Compassion! God wishes to touch each of His children Spirit to spirit. Satan is trying to destroy any knowledge of our spirit man so he can keep us from that intercoursing relationship with our Creator...A House Divided. Satan wants to destroy that part of God's creation that makes us His--the spirit man. We find ourselves living in a blackness of the spirit man. The effects of this are staggering! One of the by-products for Satan is that we also find ourselves being cut off from God's being able to use us to touch His Spirit in another's life. God's joy is to be our joy. His expectations are to be our expectations. His affections are to be our affections. His Love our love. We need to allow Jesus to meet us at the end of our expectations. I think sometimes we're consciously or unconsciously trying to be something or someone we're not. We seem to get so caught up in the theater of life that we are no longer able to distinguish reality from cheap drama. We have gotten ourselves into a drama of which we have no understanding. If you could make one statement to each person you care about, what would you say? Remember, you can make only ONE statement! What would you say? It can be very enlightening to put such a thin line between what is important--truly important--and what we thought was life. The thing that gives each person value is the cross of Jesus. Each of God's children is important to Him. Every human that He ever created holds a place in His heart. Would that we could be able to say that He holds the pinnacle in our hearts and lives. Everything else fades in light of the Cross. The Lord Jesus is the Life Redeemer, Life Creator and Designer! We CANNOT serve two masters. We must take opportunity to get with Jehovah God and introduce some real meaning into our lives! When our heart is divided then our spirit man will lie dormant. It's the atrophy of a relationship. The reason we are so tossed about is because we have allowed everything of value in life to become stripped away without so much as a goodbye! When the true meaning for life is taken away, all that remains is "existence". That is not the same as living! There are not any secrets to building a relationship. We just need to decide to decide to get with God and find out what we've been missing. He will fill in all the pieces. Our reach should always exceed our grasp--always reaching for more of Him and more of our obtaining that which was lost...our in-born need to connect with and commune with our Creator. What is our "house"? Our house is the place where God dwells in Spirit with our spirit. We are a "housing" for His Presence while we are on earth. Everything that we allow to come into our being must be in accordance with His Life or we are a divided house. Dividing a house can come in many ways just like all of satan's snares. Satan will try to divide us immediately as we come to the Lord. ( It behooves us to remember that before we accepted Jesus as our Saviour Lord, satan didn't concern himself with us because we were already his.) He may use us or he might use people whom we hold dear or maybe circumstances at work or school or neighborhood or church, etc. Whatever weapon of choice satan may use, we must be assured within our own spirit, soul and body that we have given and are continuing to give God total reign in every part of our lives and with everyone in our lives. We are not only responsible for what we say but also for what we allow to come into our heart and mind. To hear something is one thing: to take it to heart is another. If we do not rightly train ourselves to dissect what we hear, then we are prone to believe just about anything we hear. Once we know truth we can stand on it and nothing will cause us to waiver. If we hear and accept an untruth, we make that a part of our character. What is projected from our life will be truth or deception. It is up to God's children to make right decisions on what we know to be His Truth. If we are allowing ourselves to be tossed about by the devil's lies, then we are a divided house. If we are constantly being bombarded by him in our minds, then we are allowing him to divide our house. God has given us a sound mind (2 Timothy, 1:7) with which we can decide to look the devil in the face and say "NO". Many times satan will try to wear down God's children. It requires that we have a mind set to do it God's way no matter how hurtful or unpleasant it gets. If we have already allowed Satan to gain a foothold then it will take some practice just to learn how to stand in Truth and push back the enemy. Every time we stand on God's Truth we push the enemy further back. When we take caution to watch and pray (Matthew 26:41) we will begin to see the devil's plots much quicker than when we just rolled along and consumed any and all thoughts and teachings. The bottom line is that we CANNOT be a house divided and expect it not to have serious negative ramifications. But just as true is the FACT that, when we stand on God's Truth we will have rivers of truth out-flowing from which God might touch others. One of the greatest privileges in life to me is to be allowed by God to be used to bring another to the Truth and Realization of Himself. Blessing on top of blessing. We need to make it priority to stand in the awesome Presence of our Lord and say, "I am NOT a house divided!". Many are the blessings for those with whom the Father can totally commune. When we know and have that perfect unity with our life Creator, then we will not be a house divided. Rather, we will be resting in His loving arms of Grace and Forgiveness and all the other attributes of His Holy Presence. As our Lord Jesus said "...that they may be one, even as we are one." (John 17:11)