I woke myself early this morning...I was having a bad dream and didn't want to continue it....
We had moved into a neighborhood, new people all around and many new friends....which was great!!
The downside was that one woman asked the others over for a Bible study and all of them came...but as the morning continued, there was a distinct divide with the older women versus the younger ones until the younger ones walked out...
My heart was broken as I desperately tried again and again to bring these two groups back together with no success....so I wanted to wake up from this nightmare!!!!
One group wanted it just as it had been in the past with no changes, while other wanted some change which weren't acceptable to the first...
The trouble was I had been there is real life...factions at "war" with one another in the church where we should be able to work things through in a peaceful manner...ending in shouts, bad manners, hurting words filling the air that should not have been spoken, hidden agendas, generations torn apart...a body divided...over colors of rooms, or methods of teaching, or lack of information or no empowerment or the "old" way versus the changing times or old songs versus new ones...
I don't know what prompted my dream, I rarely do, but the theme was as vivid as real life and just as uncomfortable....there was nothing I could do except pray that it would get better....splits in churches not only hinder the Gospel, but hurts the people both inside and outside the body of believers...and who wants to be a part of a dysfunctional body? Christ's peace doesn't reign nor is it sought...or proclaimed...the divisions if allowed to continue can rule and tear apart one congregation after another for years to come...so that people just walk away from the one place that should give comfort the most ...
Christ, it seems, is nailed on the cross again and again for the divisions of the people instead of exalted as the Savior who brings salvation from the sins of division...the Holy Spirit is grieved....people come with divided hearts and no peace...we miss the blessings of God's comfort...
Thank YOU that you can mend broken churches when we seek You with whole hearts...help those who are hurting for past encounters to seek YOU above all...
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. —COLOSSIANS 1:27
Colossians 2:2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ....
Mark 3:25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
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