A Call to Unity and the Pursuit of Truth 3

                                 Romans 3:21-23

21 But God has a way to make people right with Himself without the law. And God has now shown us that way which the law and the prophets told us about. 22 God makes people right with Himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ, because all are the same. 23 All people have sinned and are not good enough for God's glory. ERV

Continuing with the last two posts from this series, we have observed that as believers we are to aim in a determined way at being carriers of the glory of God (the atmosphere of God in heaven that brings the supernatural to the earth) for that is the reward of every believer that chooses to follow Jesus Christ all the way until we obtain this goal so can take it to the spheres of influence God has given us. This is because the glory of God is what transforms our lives and makes us examples of what living a life of abundance in every area looks like with God’s supernatural help to a dying world that is desperate for something new and better than the chaos they know. That is why judging one another and becoming stumbling blocks to others only keeps us from demonstrating the light and the glory of God to the dark world.

Nothing else can transform us apart from seeking the presence of God that brings His glory into our lives and restores us more and more to His image and likeness. Man power won't do it, greed won't do it, our own strength won't do it, good intentions won’t do it, or presumption won’t do it either. For this reason, our focus on becoming the vessels that will carry this glory to the places of our assignments while accepting the process God chooses for us in order to remove the influence of what falls short of this glory in our lives should be our main objective. We must yield to His commanded process for us because it demolishes strongholds and breaks everything that is in the way of God having His way in our lives for His glory alone.

Seeking after our own ways gives us mediocre results, but seeking after the glory of God brings His signs, wonders, and miracles that cause us to accomplish things in a supernatural way because only by being dependent on His help can we do these things. That is why King Saul was jealous of David after he (David) killed Goliath the giant. The women in the area started singing and dancing, saying that Saul could kill thousands, but David could kill tens of thousands. 1 Samuel 18:7-8 says,

⁷ So the women sang as they danced, and said,

 “Saul has slain his thousands

And David his ten thousands.”

⁸ Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?” NKJV

Notice that the jealousy King Saul had towards David also made the king suspicious of him—but he was innocent and only wanted to be a servant to the king and to God. The fear that led to anger and jealousy brought Saul to want to do something that was unnecessary and in the end caused him more because King Saul soon began to be tormented by an evil spirit and only David had the spiritual authority to drive it out through his worship. Saul was willing to not only be a stumbling block to David’s purpose, but he also wanted, under the influence of a spirit of sedition, to completely remove David. A spirit of sedition causes a person to undermine the established authority by dishonoring it and by applying his or her own agenda with the plan to overthrow the authority set by God. Some times this established authority can come from outside as a prophetic voice that God has sent to bring by his or her anointing the order necessary for Him to move in a given situation.

Unfortunately, this scenario has repeated itself many times over in the body of Christ where there have been church splits, and new churches or denominations that were started at the expense of another person or group’s misfortune or fall. Another example of the manifestation of the spirit of sedition is when perhaps it was time for a ministry to go to a higher level in God, but the way God chose for them to enter a new portal in His supernatural ways was well beyond the comprehension of the leaders and because of that they persecuted the sent one of God that was chosen as the door by which they could enter this new portal, and as a result they allowed this spirit to enter the house of God due to ignorance of His higher ways (Isaiah 55:8). This is also seen in the marketplace.

There are instances in which someone’s anointing can break a demonic hindrance that is keeping others from moving forward, but there are other times when what is keeping us from advancing is our own sinful nature or works of the flesh. For that, the flesh needs to be put under the ruling of the Holy Spirit and crucified, and that requires at times that we go through a trial designed and allowed by God to bring the flesh into submission and ruling. In addition, when we continue to choose what is familiar and have grown accustomed to instead of accepting what may be new and far above what we can ask, think, or imagine because that is how God chooses to answer our prayers, we are hindered by those levels of revelation that have become obsolete. God is constantly moving and we move with Him at the speed of the revelations we receive that cause us to reach higher levels in the knowledge of Him and of His ways. For that reason, we cannot assume we have all the answers and think we can solve every situation in the same way we did before. Doing things this way will drive us to not be able to tap into His glory realm to bring down the answers to our situations in a way that only God can do out of the riches of His glory because we are offering sacrifices instead of obedience to His commands. As mentioned before, that attracts the wrong spirit into our lives since that is considered to be witchcraft and rebellion.

The spirit of sedition is accompanied by the spirits of strife and division, and betrayals like that of Absalom, David’s son who wanted to take his throne from him, or like Korah, who led the children of Israel to rise against Moses’ authority and leadership will follow us and cause division everywhere we go. The ones to suffer the consequences in a ministry, business, family or community and even a nation are not only those in leadership, but all who are under the leaders who operate from the influence of the spirit of sedition. There is chaos and not order which keeps us from having God’s power flow freely in our midst to demonstrate the riches of His glorious presence during the services or in our lives. This becomes a chain reaction to the detriment of all involved directly or indirectly and can affect every area of our lives.

This spirit ought to be cast out from among us first through repentance. Other actions may be rendered necessary such as removing the person or persons that constantly bring about the manifestation of that spirit from our presence (including the leadership). No progress can be made while there is sedition among us. The casting out and renouncing of that spirit are a necessary component of our deliverance, so we do not find ourselves in other situations that can hinder the advancement of the Kingdom of God through our lives because we have forfeited our authority and freedom in Christ through having something new that was the product of the downfall of other people, especially if they were innocent parties and victims of our wrong motives.

Another reason already highlighted in this post, but that I will expand more on is ignorance. Satan’s number one weapon against us is to keep us ignorant. Ignorance gives birth to fear, and this fear is the type that leads us to want to control and manipulate our way out of the things we do not understand, or that God is allowing to shake the wrong foundations and worldly mindsets, so He can replace them with the foundation of the Kingdom of God which is reverential fear of Him which leads us to want to pursue His wisdom and right standing with Him. But many leaders have led their people astray through their lack of knowledge of God which has led to idolatry because they first refused to seek or accept a higher level in the knowledge of Him because they became stagnant at the level of revelation they're fighting to keep which has turned them into idolaters of those levels of revelation and God is moving at higher levels than that, making their level of knowledge obsolete or just basic. Hosea 4:6-7 says,

⁶ My people are being destroyed

      because they don’t know me.

   Since you priests refuse to know me,

     I refuse to recognize you as my priests.

   Since you have forgotten the laws of your God,

     I will forget to bless your children.

⁷ The more priests there are

     the more they sin against me.

   They have exchanged the glory of God

     For the shame of idols. NLT    

That is why the Lord of Heaven's Armies is coming to His house to remove everything that is hindering His glorious presence among His people, what brings dishonor and sedition in the church, and setting things in order so that His bride can be made spot and wrinkle free and can be made ready for the coming of the Lord in unity. Malachi 3:1-5 explains how He will do this. 

1 "Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the LORD you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 

2 "But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. 3 He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they once again may offer acceptable sacrifices to the LORD. 4 Then once more the LORD will accept the offerings brought to him by the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as he did in the past.

5"At that time I will put you on trial. I am eager to witness against all sorcerers, and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people do not fear me." Says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 

Sadly, what is described in verse 5 is seen in the church and He is bringing the reverential fear of Him back into His house first. The Bible says that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and it brings knowledge and understanding of the Holy One to us. It also spearheads us to walk in humility that eventually will bring us to a place of honor (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10; 15:33). So in essence, God Almighty is calling us to examine our ways and as He sheds His light on every wrong turn we have made that caused us to fall short of His glory, we can come boldly to His throne of grace and mercy. As we lay at the altar, let’s allow Him to have His way in us and through us so we can be set free to pursue the truth of His Gospel as well as the unity of the saints that transcends denominational boundaries.

Thus, His bride can be made without spot and wrinkle and become like the New Jerusalem which is illuminated by the light of His glorious presence and no shameful idolatry, dishonesty, or anything evil that could cause us to die spiritually can enter the gates of our lives, ministries or businesses (Revelation 22:23, 27). It is important to find out if we have experienced spiritual death since it is a subtle state that can happen without our realization and is demonstrated by our lack of hearing and discerning how the Spirit of the Lord is currently moving and struggles that are difficult to overcome get even worse. In other words. There is a deceleration and decrease in our walk with God and in our lives. Spiritually dead people also are influenced by the anti-Christ spirit which causes them to twist everything they see or discern, and in a legalistic way, they make themselves the standard by which they judge everyone else. They also are greedy.

Furthermore, spiritually dead people seem to appear submissive and are flattering, but rebel against authority. Also, the things of the world become more attractive to them even if they claim to be walking with God, read the Bible and pray for their hearts have become hard and even stubborn. Lack of a walk love towards God and those around us can lead to spiritual death and failure to pay attention to this realization can lead to a second death that can be manifested anywhere from losing our positions and offices to physical death because we are no longer fulfilling God's purpose for our lives (Revelation 21:6-8). Let's be a body that takes heed in this hour.To Him alone be all the glory. ■