And the devil said to Him, "... Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours." And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, 'you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "
~ Luke 4:6-8 (NKJV)
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' "
~ Matthew 10:34-36 (NKJV)
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
~ Psalms 133:1 (NKJV)
Satan is the father of lies. He tried one of his most successful lies on Jesus: "If You will worship before me, all will be yours." Every single human believes that lie at the point of sin, for sin is rebellion against God and forming and alliance with hell (1 Samuel 15:23) committed for the sake of personal desire.
Alliances both unite and divide people. Today I will stand with my congregation to celebrate and declare alliance with Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God. Today is also the birthday of my brother, John Philip Lang. I have already wept and will certainly shed a good many more tears that we are separated by our alliances and do not together celebrate his birthday today.
Wherever you are, Johnny, please know that in my love for God I have never stopped loving you. I miss you more than my heart can bear. I pray that God will grant to me the joy of again dwelling with you in unity.
Father in heaven, Thank You for the impenetrable joy I have in You. You granted me a brother—my own blood and flesh—who once brought me great joy in his smile and charm and feisty mischief. You've allowed me to share Your sorrow in seeing divisions among Your children. Please unite all Your children, everywhere. Please unite me again to my brother.
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Bless you precious one, love you.
ReplyDeleteIndeed we are all faced with Satan's great lie in life, even if we don't realize it.
ReplyDeletePrayers that you and your brother will find the unity you once had...
Thank you for the honor of allowing me to join in prayer for your brother. I will joyfully lift him up before the Lord.
ReplyDeleteAnne, I sense the great pain that you feel in the separation from your brother, and pray that in time, his heart will be pricked.
ReplyDeleteWith God, nothing is impossible.