“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” -Ephesians 6:18
Divided
Does anyone else feel like there is something in the water? Something making everyone a little more on edge? The days of loving thy neighbor sure seem fewer and farther between.
It’s no secret that we have all been fighting over the past year and a half. Fighting for our cause, fighting for peace, fighting for justice, the list goes on and on. This fighting has drawn a line in the sand. Some on one side, and some on the other. The question I have to ask is, are we on our own side, or on God’s?
I had somewhat of a coming to Jesus moment this year. I noticed I was trying to juggle 17,234 different areas (to be exact) in my life and I felt like I was trying to swim upstream. One day, when I finally had time to sit down and ponder my life, it finally occurred to me for the first time in my 32 years of life, the issue was me. Yikes. No one likes to hear that. I asked God, “Come again? Surely it’s not me. I’m out here juggling the 17,234 things you’ve asked of me.” Wrong again. “I only asked you to keep your focus on me”, he said. This was quite shocking. I couldn’t believe the source of my own misery was in fact myself. See, I felt that I had a moral obligation as a Christian to convince everyone what was right and what was wrong. What I soon realized was that no matter how hard I tried, I would never be able to keep everyone happy and everything together at all times. There was a release in this moment, a surrendering if you will. I asked God to help me in that moment. To help me just focus on just my life and what he wanted me to change. I no longer wanted to focus on others, on what they were or weren’t doing, or what they just weren’t understanding.
When we take our eyes off of Christ and where he is trying to take us, and instead focus on what others are not doing, that’s when division is created. That’s when deceit takes over. As a result, the enemy has now taken a seat at our table, where he wasn’t invited. Deception and division are powerful tools of the enemy. These tools play off of our deepest insecurities and lead us away from what God has in store.
We have to remember if we are going to make a difference in this world, it has to start with us. We have to repent and turn from our inherently selfish nature. We must turn from wanting everyone to appease us, to please us at all times, and most importantly, from our complacency. We are put here to love, not to be loved. Not that being loved won’t overflow on to the rest of our lives, but in order for that to happen, we first have to get ourselves off of our mind and get our will to always be on the one who is right. When we confront issues with others, are we doing it out of genuine love and concern for them? Or are we doing it with a motive to get something in return?
If we can’t ever come to a place where we let Christ heal our hearts and break our strongholds, then we are just going to continue to be used as a tool for the enemy. That is reality. It may be hard to hear, but it is reality nonetheless.
I still believe in the causes I fight for, but now I know the real weapon is using my words through prayer. I no longer feel the need to convince everyone what I am discerning is right. I have realized that every time a lie or negative thought enters my mind about a fellow brother or sister, that it is not my thought I’m carrying. It was in fact planted there to cause division.
I truly believe that most people want to do the right thing. Most people don’t want to watch the world burn. Most people are just hurting like you or I. It’s our hurts and our feelings that get in our way. It’s time to lay those down and get back to being focused on the battle at hand. If everyone takes ownership of their own families, I think we would be amazed at what we could accomplish. Together.
Xx Ashley
