But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made BOTH GROUPS into ONE and BROKE DOWN the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile THEM BOTH in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. Ephesians 2:13-16 (emphasis mine)
Lessons I share with you are lessons I have first learned in my personal life. As the Spirit refines, reproves, and helps more of Amanda to die, He opens my eyes to so much! So many times I have been Peter cutting of the ears of Christ’s enemies and drowning out the still small voice telling me to get behind the Cross. I was acting as its enemy. Only until the Spirit began to work in my heart in recent years to break and reshape me did I become aware of this sinful aspect of my flesh. I believe this deep conviction for right and wrong is from God, but He first has had to take me through many things (and still more to come I’m sure) to kill the flesh that would rather be right than love.
There is such a spirit of disunity in the Christian world that it has spilled out into our homes and into our nation. We have become a people so concerned with being “right” that we have completely lost sight of the reconciliation and love of Christ. The enemy laughs as he knows the word of God better than we do.
“Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.” Matthew 12:25
This spirit of self “righteousness” has divided marriages, businesses, families, and now our nation’s capitol.
I cannot recommend enough the book I spoke of last time by Catherine Marshall aptly titled,
The Helper. My Father brought it into my life at exactly the right time and it coincided perfectly with what I am learning through Henry Blackaby’s
Experiencing God study. In speaking on unity and the church, Catherine says,
“When we look at the fragmentation of the organized Church today, all might seem to be lost. So many denominations and splinter groups! Scarcely a local church without infighting and factions. Little real Christian unity even yet between racial groups-blacks and whites, or differing nationalities, or disparate economic classes. Such miniscule progress towards unity dramatized for us what does not work. Making laws will not do it. Education does not bring unity either. Not even rallies, marches, strikes, and blatant propaganda can effect true oneness. In the United States black-white segregation has seen two decades of laws and education and every external device, but even yet we make painfully slow progress.”
As I watched CSPAN yesterday and listened to the same arguments at nauseam from each side at first I was angry. Then late last night as they debated the amendment to stop the funding of abortion, I watched as the venom spewed from some of those on the left, especially the women. Inside I felt this deep sense of grief. I was heartbroken for these people. I went to my closet and began to pray. I sat silently before my Lord as He poured into me a love for the blind. They are in the grasp of Satan’s power and it is heartbreaking. Then my heart turned to my own life, family, friends, and my church. The enemy has been working vehemently to kill, steal, and destroy the beautiful love that Jesus wants us to have for each other. He reminds us often of the hurt that someone caused us; the wrong words and attitudes they had toward us, the worldly behavior they displayed. He gets us in that judgmental mindset where we begin to replay over and over in our heads how wrong they are and how somebody ought to just set them straight. We complain and grumble (we call it prayer) against them and ask God why He doesn’t do something about this injustice.
And His simple reply is this:
“It is finished”
For those who would be skeptic that even the spirit of Christ cannot reunite a divided nation, home, or relationship, I give you the following story taken from Catherine Marshall’s book,
The Helper.
“My husband Leonard and I have watched at close range a modern example of reconciliation which has come out of Washington’s Watergate scandal. Obviously, Watergate produced distrust, violent resentment and anger- a climate of hostility and hatred involving many in the nation’s capital. Among them, former Senator Harold Hughes, a political liberal and such a vigorous critic of President Nixon that he was a top man on the administration’s enemies list. Thus Hughes became a particular target for Chuck Colson, Nixon’s “hatchet man.”
Colson thought Hughes a menace to the nation because of his violent and outspoken opposition to Nixon policies.
Hughes thought Colson the epitome of evil as the leader of the White House gang. In politics, Chuck Colson stood for everything that Harold Hughes hated.
Then in an incisive way the Holy Spirit moved into Chuck’s life, cleansing him, changing him, bringing him to his knees.
Years before, Hughes had already had the same experience. It had happened at a time when Harold had been contemplating suicide because of despair over his anger about life and his drunkenness. Jess had been Rescuer and Savior to him in every sense.
Then came the dramatic moment when Harold and Chuck were brought together through an intermediary, Doug Coe, head of the Washington Fellowship Group. In order to take a little of the heat off, Doug had decided to make it a quiet evening with wives at the home of Al Quie, Minnesota Democratic congressman. Doug had also invited a former Democratic congressman from Texas, Graham Purcell and his wife, Nancy. The setting was the Quies’ paneled family room with the group gathered around a mammoth brick fireplace.
In the midst of the others, Colson and Hughes were rather like two boxers waiting in their separate corners for the sparring to begin. Then abruptly Harold began the action. “Chuck, they tell me you’ve had an encounter with Jesus Christ. Would you tell us about it?”
So Chuck described what had happened that memorable summer night near Boston when a lifelong barrier between him and his god had been broken down. To his surprise, Colson felt no embarrassment in talking about this, the most intimate experience of his life, yet he was supremely conscious of his inadequacy.
Here is Chuck Colson’s own description of what happened as the spirit in Hughes heard his spirit testify of Jesus Christ:
For a moment there was silence. Harold, whose face had been enigmatic while I talked, suddenly lifted both hands in the air and brought them down hard on his knees. “That’s all I need to know. Chuck, you have accepted Jesus and He has forgiven you. I do the same. I love you now as my brother in Christ. I will stand with you, defend you anywhere, and trust you with anything I have.”…”
Christians, I implore you today. I know what it is like to be wronged, and I know what it is like to wrong others. I am not saying we ought to sit by and say nothing when someone hurts us or when an injustice is carried out; quite the contrary. First, we are to go to our Father and discuss it with Him in an honest manner with a spirit of submission. We are to ask Him what our part is in that situation. What, if anything, should we do to make it right.
Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24
For our nation, we must pray as Nehemiah did with a spirit of brokenness for our own part in the apathy we have had toward the things of God.
“I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations;but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Nehemiah 1:5-11
Ask Him what He would have His people do in response to the evil around us. Ask Him to reveal to you specifically what your part is in the ministry of reconciliation that you received when you received Christ. Then, be obedient to what the Spirit tells you.
One thing He has revealed to me is that the body of Christ has left herfirst love. We run our churches like business organizations rather than bodies. We fail to recognize the necessity of receiving input from every member under the direction of the head and striving for unity in the Spirit before we move ahead. We think it is to be run like a democracy and we have modeled our churches after the American government rather than the Word of God. This must stop!
"But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." 1 Corinthians 12:7
"But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired." 1 Corinthians 12:18
Secondly, we have bowed to Caesar rather than God. Jesus told us to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and God what is God’s. I believe that we have preferred to remain a tax-free organization rather than a bond-slaved body to Christ. Did the 120 gathered in the upper room on the day of Pentecost worry that if they spoke God’s truth they would lose their tax exempt status? We have been fearful of taxes more than God! We should be ashamed! This is clear evidence that the church has left her first love, disobeyed her head, and bowed the knee to Baal, and we wonder why the Holy Spirit has departed.
We must as individual Christians and as a body of believers repent and turn to the Holy Spirit for help. We must stop following agendas and pushing the plans of men. We must ask forgiveness for not treating our neighbor’s as we want to be treated and for using the word of God as a weapon against men instead of against Satan.
We must put off the flesh, turn off the television, be reconciled to our spouses, and take care of our children physically, emotionally, and spiritually by teaching them the truth both in WORD and DEED! We must work with our own hands, give to the poor, forgive our brothers and sisters, and worship our Lord by sacrificing our bodies to His kingdom which is our reasonable service.
Then, and only then, will God begin to bless America again!
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