Jesus Will See To It

A man once told me he found friends outside the church to be, “better than those inside the church. They’re more loyal, more trustworthy and more reliable by far.” Sadly, most of them in his church did turn out to be disloyal, untrustworthy and unreliable, nevertheless, I asked, “How many of the outsiders would remain your friend if you told them they needed the Savior Jesus Christ to save their eternal soul from eternal damnation?” When I told my friends that truth over 31 years ago the gap between us got wider and wider until one day it became a chasm! The same thing happened with my family members. That’s the reality of the Christian gospel; truth divides!

Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division (disunion, of opinion and conduct). From now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three……….. Luke 12:51-53. It is a rare preacher indeed who will stand in his pulpit today and sermonize from that Scripture. The last thing the majority of them want in their house is division of any kind let alone division over truth. But division is also the last thing most Christians want in one house too – their own house. They’ll do anything to keep the peace when an unbelieving member of the family is around. Many believe their silent witness to be an eventual winner and whilst that might be the outcome, Satan will continue causing havoc of some kind.

Everything runs smoothly in one house just so long as the unbeliever is not convicted by anything the believer says or does. The moment they are convicted, Satan the devil can cause all hell to break loose in that place. Now for most believers, that only has to happen a couple of times and from thereon they’ll go out of their way to make sure it doesn’t happen again. But it will happen again! Guess who will see to it that it does? Jesus will see to it. “Jesus will allow Satan to cause havoc with me?” you ask. He will. And the first reason He will, is to show us that the above Scripture is a reality in the Christian disciple’s life, not merely a bunch of religious words written in red ink on white paper. Perhaps it’s not a reality in every Christian’s life, but it is for a disciple.

“We need Satan snapping at our heels,” said one Bible teacher. “God uses him to drive us to Himself.” That’s another reason Jesus will see to it; to be driven to Himself is to learn lessons that in Christ we are victors, not victims. In other words, after we’ve been knocked down a few times, we come to realize that Satan will continue knocking us down until we get up in the name of Jesus Christ and knock him down. In the practical sense, that’s going to mean we will not allow the devil-motivated unbeliever/s in one house to rule and reign over us anymore. We learn from Jesus their manipulating, their intimidating and their dominating is in fact that of Satan himself using the unbelieving family member/s, and from now on we will not bow to it.

Jesus will see to it that disciples understand there can be no room for compromise here. Firstly, to compromise, is to do so with the Lord Himself and His word of truth and He won’t have a bar of that! Secondly, to compromise, is to allow for Satan to have his input in our life. We know Jesus’ desire for us, but equally we must know Satan’s desire for us; he wants to kill us. And from my experiences and observations, it seems he enjoys that process slowly, rather than quickly – especially in one house. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. It is our peace Satan seeks to steal. If he gets that, he knows we lose the abundant life experience. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly John 10:10.

Jesus will see to it that disciples clearly understand they are not wrestling against the unbelieving family member, but against spirits controlling that person. That’s why the Scripture tells to, Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places Ephesians 6:12. There goes our true enemies – spiritual enemies of God, truth, faith, love, holiness and righteousness, plus enemies of the family member; spiritual allies of unbelief, pride, anger, bitterness and hatred etc.

Jesus will see to it that we understand there’s more hope for the family member in one house if we stand up, stand up for Jesus  and not stand down for the sake of peace. That’s the beauty of spiritual warfare; we can take authority over of whatever spirits the family member is expressing without him or her knowing what’s going on. The prayer closet is the place to start first. Tell Jesus what spirit you’re up against, then tell Him how you’re going to deal with it in His name and by His authority. “Lord, he/she expresses bitterness and anger every time I speak against (media lies, political liars, sexual immorality etc, etc.) And so in Your name, Jesus, I subject those spirits to the Holy Spirit within me right now and I loose upon him/her Your Spirit of love and truth.”

Then as the family member starts on you again when next you speak up for truth, you can simply say, “No. No more of that behavior; I do not receive it. I will not have you crush the Holy Spirit in me.” Regardless of responses to that, Jesus will honor your efforts, guaranteed! It may not appear that He does there and then but the Holy Spirit will   remind you He’s on your side because you’re on the side of truth. Once you start refusing to stand down for the sake of peace in one house, the gap between you both is probably going to get a lot wider. Never mind, stay in prayer; refuse to be concerned. Jesus has the entire picture, we don’t. If there’s to be a change of heart forthcoming from the person it will be a result of the Lord’s doing not ours.

Jesus will see to it that His disciples understand that the gap between righteousness and unrighteousness is getting wider and wider with every passing day – exponentially so now. That means what’s experienced in one house will be experienced outside of it too. Take other unbelieving family members for example: siblings, parents, grand parents and in-laws. The moment you say, “No more of that behavior. I do not receive it……” to them, there’s every chance those gaps between you both will turn into chasms too. Let it be so. The greater the chasm the better, in my opinion. Why? If there’s only a small gap, it encourages them to believe you’re not really any better than them. No better? Maybe not. No different? Very different! The chasm will confirm that in time.

It is through chasms between us that cause some family members to stop and think about where they’re at with reality, truth and Christ, not gaps. Especially is this so the closer they see themselves headed for the grave and the judgment of God! Often at this time they’ll admit to themselves (not to you) that there is indeed a chasm. Worse: they see they’re about to fall into it! Had you not allowed the gap to become a chasm they may never have stopped responding to Satan to begin responding to you. This has been my experience, limited though it is presently with family members, but not so with people who saw themselves headed for the grave and the judgment. As a disciple of Christ, it’s a grand privilege to keep some from falling into the chasm.

Jesus will see to it that we understand not every Christian is a disciple. There are some who have a cut-off point for whatever reason. “This far I will go, but no more.” One reason can be the reluctance to tackle the devil head on when he uses family members to attack them, in one house or out of it. They don’t lose their salvation at their cut-off point, but they might lose some rewards in heaven. Our works for the Lord are going to be tested by fire. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet as through fire 1 Corinthians 3:13-15. This is why it’s so important we regularly pray for one another. Without prayer none of us knows where our cut-off point might be; only Jesus can keep us from one.

A word of encouragement: the more we will practice standing up for Jesus and not standing down for the sake of peace in one house or out of it, the greater the authority we’ll know we have over the devil and his spiritual cohorts. Jesus will see to it that this is our reality. For the most part our church leaders have let us down badly with regards spiritual warfare and the need to engage in it. God can’t use them anymore. That’s why the world, sin and false doctrines have such a strong foothold in their house. Jesus is looking for a new group; He intends closing a few of those gaps and filling in a few of those chasms between now and His return for the Church. Fear not, join the group. In my name they will cast out demons Mark 16:17. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind 2 Timothy 1:7.