FREEDOM FROM STRIFE
THAT PRODUCES LOVE, PEACE, AND
Dear Ones In
I want to
have a love for God and for others that will leave no room for strife and
division in the body of
God has
laid a message on my heart today that affects every one of us, and that is the
subject of strife. I keep telling my husband that if he would realize that I am
always right, that it would cure the strife problem!
Seriously,
let’s take a good look at strife and see what God’s Word says about it.
For where
envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Another
version says:
“For
wherever there is jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry and selfish
ambition), there will also be confusion (unrest, disharmony, rebellion) and all
sorts of evil and vile practices.”
Strife is:
bickering, arguing, heated disagreement or an angry undercurrent; fighting; or
a struggle between rivals. Strife is the opposite of peace.
One lady
said that God revealed to her how the spirit of strife had been working
deception in her family bloodline for generations. Her family had a history of
conflict and divorces and brothers and sisters mad at one another. When strife
enters in, everything gets out of control. Judgment and criticism can open the
door to strife.
We are to
walk in love, being abundant in mercy, and being quick to overlook a fault in
someone else.
I. There
are 3 doors in our lives where strife can enter:
1. The door
of our lips: wrong words or words spoken at the wrong time
Proverbs
15:1
A soft
answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up
anger.
Instead of
insisting we are right, we need to let the Holy Spirit do the convincing. It is
better to live in peace than to get our own way all of the time.
Prov.
When
someone insults us or hurts our feelings, we could quickly speak out of our
wounded emotions, but it would be better to ignore the insult and let God deal
with the person. There are times to confront people but it is vital to walk in
peace and be slow to anger. Don’t fuel the fire and open the door for strife.
2. The door
of pride
Two men
went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
[11] The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. [12] I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. [13] And the
publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. [14] I tell
you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every
one that exalteth himself
shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall
be exalted.
Proverbs
13:10
By pride
and insolence comes only contention, but with the well-advised is skillful and
godly wisdom.
3. The Door
of Debate: History tells us that the Pharisees spent a lot of time debating the
scripture. One of the words for strife is “debate”. As long as we think we know
everything, we do not know anything. We need to realize that we all have a lot
to learn.
Believers
are to avoid strife.
“And the
servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome (fighting and contending). Instead,
he must be kindly to everyone and mild-tempered (preserving the bond of peace);
he must be a skilled and suitable teacher, patient and forbearing and willing
to suffer wrong. (2 Tim. 2:24).
Why do
people strive so desperately to be right about things? “Why is it so difficult
to be wrong?
Sometimes
people are so unsure about who they are that, in order to feel confident at
all, they have to think that they are right all of the time and go to great
extremes to prove it.
II. Great
spiritual power is released through unity and harmony
(Acts
In the book
of Acts, they operated in great power. What were some of the reasons for this:
1. They had
the same vision, goal and were all pressing toward the same mark.
2. They
prayed in agreement (Acts
3. They
lived in harmony (Acts
4. Cared
for one another (Acts
5. Met each
other’s needs (Acts
6. Lived a
life of faith (Acts
(Phlp. 2:2) “Fill up and complete my joy by living in
harmony and being of the same mind and one in purpose, having the same love,
being in full accord and of one harmonious mind and intention.”
Strife is
the result of selfishness. To live in harmony, we must be willing to forgive
quickly and frequently. We must not be easily offended. We must be generous in
mercy, and we must be long-suffering (patient).
III. We
must hunger for peace
It is only
possible to have a blessed, powerful life when we have peace. Peace binds us to
the precious Holy Spirit as He is the Spirit of Peace.
“Peace I
leave with you; My peace I now give…to you. Not as the
world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let
them be afraid. (Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do
not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and
unsettled).” (
God is not
pleased with religious sacrifices in a house full of strife. We can do a lot of
religious things but lack peace in our homes.
Proverbs
17:1
Better is a
dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house
full of sacrifices with strife.
Sometimes
Christians are like they are window shopping! They can see things but not
possess them. We can talk power, prosperity, healing and success but not
possess them.
IV. Good
leaders must confront the issue of strife or it will spread throughout their
organization. A mess behind the scenes will always cause visible problems.
It’s not
really a problem for us to deal with issues now as we do it to the best of our
ability, trusting God to help us treat people the way He would treat them.
Strife is a
killer. It kills the anointing, the blessings, the prosperity, the peace and
the joy. Let us keep it out of our lives. Determine that strife is not going to
steal from you what is rightfully yours as a child of God. We may wonder why we
are not prospering even though we are giving to God or why your life is lacking
in power. Do we have strife in our marriage, our home or in our ministry? Do
all that you can to keep it from coming near you.
We must
trust God to take care of us:
God is our
defense, our vindicator and our reward (Ps. 27:1).
(I Pet.
5:6) “Therefore humble yourselves (demote, lower yourselves in your own
estimation) under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you.”
Refusing to
try to take care of yourself produces humility, and
that act of faith places the believer in the direct line of God’s exaltation.
V. We are
to seek peace and pursue it. It should be our primary goal in our church or
group. If we see a person in the Lord becoming angry or getting upset, we
should help restore them to peace if possible. We should be peacemakers.
1. Strife
hinders the anointing
One person
can release strife in a church by gossiping, fault-finding, or carrying resentment
of the leadership.
In one
church, a lady got saved and filled with the Spirit (supposedly) and the pastor
was happy for her. But, soon the pastor felt something was wrong and there was a heaviness there. She found out that this lady was releasing
curses and such against her in the meeting. The lady soon left but it took
months to repair the damage that had been done. But, fortunately the church
survived the attack and was made stronger because of it.
2. Strife
affects our health: Strife brings stress and stress brings sickness. Our bodies
were not created for strife but for righteousness, peace and joy.
Our bodies
need rest even from normal stress. Living in faith means entering into God’s
rest (Heb. 4:3). We must take measures to avoid more than we can manage. We
must rest, eat right, laugh enough and cast our care on God. Are we out of
balance? Living in extremes? How often do you get angry? How long do you stay
angry?
3. Live Positively: negative thoughts, words, and emotions cause
stress and stress can cause sickness. Positive ones bring health and healing.
(Prov. 14:30) “A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the
life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy and wrath are like rottenness
of the bones.”
Meditating
on God’s Word and not on the things that cause stress, brings healing and
health to us. When the mind is calm, health is protected. The wise man trusts
in God rather than worrying. We can cast our care upon God instead of worrying.
We can
speak words of healing to others by being wise:
Prov.
Prov.
VI. Some areas
of strife:
1. Strife
with ourselves: Poor self image
2. Strife
with God: A hidden rift with God is the cause of many emotional problems.
A few years
ago,
One man who
lost his son to cancer bitterly asked God, “Where were you when my son died?”
The Lord replied, “The same place I was when Mine
died.” It is never our place to criticize God.
3. Strife
with your fellowman:
Divorce
issue: The Lord does not desire for any marriage to end in divorce but He
brought it into existence because of the hardness of man’s heart.
But, if a
person absolutely does not want to be in relationship with you, but you keep
trying to force it, it will never produce anything but strife, which opens the
door for all kinds of other problems.
It is
helpful in relationships, whether marriage or other, to magnify the positive
aspects of the person’s life and ignore the negative ones. Mt.
5:7 “If we sow mercy; we will reap mercy.”
Learn to
magnify the positive in another’s life and then when you disagree, you can do
it agreeably!
Communication
is the number one problem in many relationships. People don’t know how to
disagree agreeably. Communication happens when all parties can express their
hearts in a godly way. Showing respect in our attitudes, voice tones, facial
expressions and body language is the key in learning how to disagree agreeably.
Most people don’t mind if you have a different opinion than they do if you
don’t make them feel as if their opinion is of no value. There is a wise way to
talk to people and a way that is not wise.
4. Strife
between parents and children: Do not break the spirit of your child with harsh
or undue correction, or he will rebel. Fathers should not irritate or provoke
their children to anger or resentment but rear them in the counsel of the Lord.
(Eph. 6:4).
Freedom is
one of the greatest gifts we can give a person. Love liberates a person to be
what God designed them to be. It does not try to manipulate them for personal
gain. Love helps people overcome their weaknesses and eventually transforms
them into the lovely creatures God had in mind initially. There is a saying:
“If you love someone, set him free, and if it’s true love, he will come back to
you.”
It is time
to destroy strife so that relationships can be built.
VII. The
chastisement of our peace was upon
1. Forgive
others as He has forgiven you
2. Peace is
our heritage - Strife is not just a problem between people but within a person
- Allow God to reveal to you the root of your problem that is robbing you of
peace - Let peace have the deciding vote in the choices that you make -
3.
Spiritual Warfare is not only rebuking the devil, but in walking in love and
obedience and then the devil will flee and the angels will fight for you.
Isa.
41:10-16 “Fear not (there is nothing to fear), for I am with you; do not look
around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and
harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and
retain you with My (victorious) right hand of
rightness and justice.
Behold,
all they who are enraged and inflamed against you shall be put to shame and
confounded; they who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.
You shall seek those who contend with you but shall not find them; they who war
against you shall be as nothing, as nothing at all.
For I the
Lord your God hold your right hand; I am the Lord, who says to you, Fear not; I
will help you!
Fear not,
you worm
You shall
winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest or whirlwind
shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the Lord, you shall glory in the
Holy One of Israel.”
A
paraphrase of these verses:
Don’t be
afraid of anything. Do not allow anything to get you upset. Don’t start looking
all around you at the circumstances; don’t start worrying. Remain peaceful, I
am your God. I will help you; I will hold you up. When we feel like we are
going to cave in, we have His promise to hold us up!
All those
in strife against you, those who come at you with a spirit of contention and
war, shall end up as nothing. So hold your peace. As you hold your peace, I can
work because it shows that you are trusting Me.
I am doing
a new thing in you during these trying times. I am turning you into a new,
sharp threshing machine that will mow down the enemy. Your reward will be glory
and joy.
Peace as
spiritual warfare may be a new way of thinking, especially for those who have
spent all of their life trying to fight their own battles. You cannot fight
with someone who will not fight back.
In Ex.
14:13-14, Moses told the people not to fear, to stand still and see the slvation of the Lord, because the Lord would fight for them
and they should hold their peace and remain at rest.
Let a holy
determination rise up within you to keep your peace and enjoy it. And, remember
to wear your “shoes of peace” when you go into battle.
VIII. The
Warfare of Love:
Like a
sparkling diamond, love has nine facets: patience, kindness, generosity,
humility, courtesy; unselfishness; good temper; guilelessness; and sincerity.
How often
the adsence of love opens a door for the spirit of
strife. Had love been there when strife knocked at the door, it would have
found no entrance.
IX. How
strife affects the anointing: The Holy Spirit gives the anointing, and strife
grieves Him.
Peace and
power are married and support each other - And, unity brings forth the
anointing (Psa. 133). Strife will do just the opposite
- it will hinder the anointing. That’s why He taught forgiveness as He did.
The
anointing flows down from the head (Psa. 133) - The
husband is anointed to lead the family. If the wife is in strife with him,
there will be struggle. She must stay under his covering.
When an
individual is in strife with the head, the anointing cannot flow down to that
person and his work will be affected. God has designed leadership to preserve
order. God called
Protect the
anointing on your life by keeping strife out.
Zech. 4:6
Things are not accomplished by might nor power, but by His Spirit. Stay
peaceful and calm; be quick to forgive, slow to anger, patient, and kind.
Change many
times can bring stress. But, God intends for change to bring us into a greater
realm of glory. God brings progress but
(Mt. 12:25)
“Any kingdom that is divided against itself is being
brought to desolation and laid waste, and no city or house divided against
itself will last or continue to stand.”
The first
principle for overcoming strife is to learn to recognize and deal with it.
Prov.
17:14 says, “The beginning of strife is as when water first trickles (from a
crack in a dam); therefore stop contention before it becomes worse and
quarreling breaks out.”
Choose to
build your life and maintain it on a foundation of God’s peace.
You have a
unique call upon your life. God has pre-arranged for you to have a powerful and
productive life. You can complete the work that He has called you to do. The
anointing of God is upon you for whatever your task. Don’t block the flow by
allowing strife in your life. Be all that God has called you to be. Live at
peace with yourself, with God and with your fellowman.
I want to
have a love for God, and for others, that will be a deterrent to strife so that
unity in the body of
May God
bless you abundantly,
________________
REF: “Life Without Strife” by
