Everywhere you look today people are dividing. We are divided on politics, religion, social issues, medicine, and more. Why is this? Today we are talking about The Devil Divides.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
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Watch the video of this teaching at https://www.celllifechurch.tv/the-devil-divides/
Introduction
It seems that no matter what position you take on anything there will be someone to argue the opposite position. Humanity is so divided it is a wonder that we can get anything accomplished. The only one who wins the more we divide ourselves is the devil because the devil always divides.
There is an old saying, “Divide and Conquer”. When you want to defeat someone the best way to speed up the process is to divide the other side. On the soccer field, you want to always keep the other team from passing the ball between each other by being between them as much as possible. On the battlefield, you want to separate enemy troops so they cannot pass information or materials. In relationships, you want to create physical distance and block communication to separate people.
Dividing people is one of the primary tools that the devil uses to achieve his goal which is to rob God of his people. The ultimate separation the devil has engineered started back in the garden of Eden with his lies to Adam and Eve. This ushered in a division between mankind and God that only Jesus Christ could bridge. Look at what John 10:10 says.
John 10:10
(10) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Today we are looking at three of the ways the devil divides us, communication, support, and vision. There are others, but they are mostly rooted in these three.
Divided Communication
The first way the devil divides us that we want to look at is divided communication. Communication is vital for any relationship to succeed. It does not matter if we are talking about marriage relationships, work relationships, business relationships, or international relationships. Without communication, none of these will succeed.
When we do pre-marriage counseling for couples wanting to get married one of the first topics we discuss is communication. A husband and wife must learn to safely and respectfully communicate through every topic and issue that comes up. You must be able to talk through financial issues, time issues, problems, and more. Every single marriage that I have seen fail has had one thing in common. One of the first things in that marriage that stopped was communication between husband and wife.
The same holds true in business and international relationships. When you stop communicating with a business or international partner assumptions are made. Both sides start to do their own thing and start moving in different directions. There is a story from days of building the first railroads in America.
The first transcontinental railroad was being built. They started from both ends, one in California, and the other on the east coast somewhere. The two construction teams were going to meet in the middle of the country somewhere and connect. In those days they did not have the communication ability that we have today. Each crew was on its own to go in a direction. Because of this lack of communication, the two crews were off by a couple of miles as they approached each other. They had to make last-minute adjustments to the track they were laying to make the two ends meet.
Communication is so crucial in any type of relationship or partnership that the devil divides it first most of the time. Much like communication, a divided vision can be just as detrimental.
Divided Vision
Communication and vision often go hand in hand. Leaders have a vision for their family, group, company, organization, or nation. That vision must be communicated to the other members and then carried out and built upon. The devil knows this. That is another way he divides us. He causes some to have counter visions to what the rest are seeing and doing.
You need to look no further than at the state of the Church today to see a prime example of that. The Christian Church is so fractured that it is a wonder we are moving forward at all. We divide by denominations over predominantly small pieces of doctrine, that in the end, have no effect on our salvation and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Some spend more time arguing doctrinal differences than they do preaching the good news of Jesus Christ.
Let’s read Mark 3:24-26.
Mark 3:24-26
(24) If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. (25) If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. (26) And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.
Jesus tells us that a kingdom or a house that is divided cannot stand. They fall apart. I have seen so many local church groups split and fall apart because some start to believe the lies that the devil whispers in their ear. The devil divides by lying to people. He blocks the overall God-given vision that group leaders have from taking root in the hearts of the people being led.
The devil divides and brings death because of it. Jesus is truth and brings life. We must keep our focus on Jesus to keep ourselves from falling prey to the devil’s lies and deceit. When we all are focused on Jesus, the God-given vision imparted to our leaders can be cast to our groups and we can carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to our families, neighborhoods, communities, nations, and the world.
When the devil cannot divide us by communication or block our leaders’ vision, he will divide the support we need to accomplish our mission.
Divided Support
None of us was meant to live life alone. One of the first things God said after creating Adam is that it is not good for man to be alone, and he created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs. You can read about this in Genesis chapter 2. We must acknowledge that we were meant to live and thrive in community.
This is what we see when we read about the early Church in Acts 2:45-47.
Acts 2:45-47
(45) They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. (46) Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, (47) praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
The early Church shared all they had as people had need, and they gathered together daily to pray, learn, and for fellowship. This is how the Lord has intended us to be from the moment he created Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden of Eden thousands of years ago.
We must support one another emotionally, spiritually, and materially. Working together often defeats the devil’s schemes. This keeps the devil from dividing us and conquering us. Working together brings a better return on our efforts than if we work alone.
Look at what Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says:
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
(9) Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: (10) If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. (11) Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? (12) Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
The devil wants to overpower us. He wants to prevent us from accomplishing the mission God has given each one of us. The devil wants to divide us. We must stick together and keep from being split up. A cord of three strands is not easily broken. Stay together! Don’t let the devil divide you!
Conclusion
The devil is unable to divide us when we meet together, work together, and support one another. We must keep him from disrupting our communication, blocking the sharing of God-given vision, and separating us from each other so we can encourage and strengthen one another. The devil knows dividing us is his best chance for keeping us from returning to God. He wants to win and wants to keep us from God’s plan for us to be with Him for eternity. Don’t let the devil divide you from the Lord or the Lord’s people. It will cost you eternity.
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