Divided By Itself

I was reminded of this, this morning, so I thought I would try to unravel it for you.  Sometimes you can read and study the Word for years and then you read it or hear it preached again and either the words seem to jump off the page into your very soul or the words you hear from the preacher really seem to impress you like never before, it is great either way.  I feel this is the work of God’s Holy Spirit and I praise the Lord for it.

Jesus talked about this subject in the gospels and this is what it says in Mark 3:24-25, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.’” This is talking about the Pharisees accusing Jesus of getting His power from the evil one, but Jesus’ answer made them realize that what they said didn’t make sense.  

I want to expand on this subject a little to include your family, your business, your friendships and your church as well as the church as a whole. None of these things can be truly successful without unity.  Anytime you get people together in any venue, if you don’t have unity and cooperation whatever you came together for will end up failing, for the most part.  What would happen if you had 12 people in a boat, racing, and 10 paddled forward and 2 paddled in the other direction, you would lose the race.  You may get to your destination but you would have to expend much more energy and time.

This brings to my mind, with the Lord’s help, the 12 spies that were sent out to spy out the land of Canaan in Numbers 13, but there was a problem when they returned to Moses and Aaron after spying out the land for 40 days.  Ten of the men brought back an evil report about the land because of their fear and unbelief, but Caleb and Joshua brought back a good report.  Caleb was a man that was willing to stand against the flow because he believed God when He said that He would help them take the land and possess it.  Remember this, these were all God’s people, but there are always consequences for sin which still takes place today.  

The consequences for the ten men who brought an evil report was that they, and all the other people that rebelled against God, never went into the Promised Land, they died in the wilderness.  Check it out in Numbers chapters 13-14.  What if all 12 of these men would have come back with a good report?  Everything would have been different.  They, along with God’s help, would have been able to do anything.  When you have division in your ranks, there will always be turmoil and strife and whatever you try to achieve will be hindered, if not destroyed.

Learn a lesson from the account of the Tower of Babel.  God said this in  Genesis 11:4-6, “They said, ‘Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’ The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The Lord said, ‘Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.’”   In this situation, God confused their speech and they were spread out all over the world but if that didn’t happen they would have finished what they started out to do.

I think every believer can benefit from this lesson; unity and oneness, with no separation or division, can accomplish anything when the Lord is in it.  If you are going to be in a ministry, or part of a church denomination, be sure to pray and seek the Lord about it and make sure that you are in agreement with the church’s theology and teachings so that you will be in agreement with the others that you will be working with, then you won’t be the source of division.  Something to think about, God bless and have a great day!!