When times get hard, we must remember that in times of trouble, the church was created out of troubled times.
We must recapture or hold on to the Spirit of unity.
I am not saying we should not be concerned with our basic needs. But in hard times, the basic needs may take an organized group willing to join together in reaching the needs of our fellow citizens.
Where the Lord is, there is unity. I wrote a study on the life of Hezekiah and zoomed in on the idea of unity.
Hezekiah saw the evil that was produced by the generations before him, including his extremely evil father. The 12 tribes were at constant war between each other and foreign nations. This eventually led to the collapse of all the tribes but the Kingdom of Hezekiah. He survived due to God's grace as Hezekiah chose not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
He reopened God's temple and sent out a letter inviting every Jew to worship at the temple regardless of enemy or friend to Hezekiah.
Many declined the invite, but a key verse says that some responded and in the midst of the people was the Lord and the people had unity.
In times like these, unity sounds impossible even within the church, where many churches are just as divided as the political landscape.
Unity with fear, anger, greed, or debt is the way of man to force a unified state.
Unity with love, grace, forgiveness, liberty, and kindness comes from God alone. The God who brought unity to a splintered Israel for those who sought out God above human emotions.
Humanity has, since the time they stepped foot off of the Ark with the Noahide laws has established a governing set of laws to establish unity for the nation they wish to build. One of these incidents is described by George Washington and James Madison, who experienced the unity of God.
The US Constitution was on the verge of never happening due to constant argument and debate. Ben Franklin got tired of the arguments and reminded the convention that God had His hand on the victory of the war as the miracles were evident. Franklin then called for prayer in which all the delegates observed. After the prayer, they found unity.
George Washington wrote about it in a letter to his friend, the Marquis de Lafayette:
So peaceful unity comes from God. If we wish to promote unity, we best be seeking God above all things. Love God and Love our neighbors. Out of our love for God, we have the overflow to love others.
We must realize we are called out of sin and worldly thinking. But God doesn't sit from afar but meets us where we are and doesn't expect us to climb the mountain of legality.
We do give a list of needed corrections that others must meet before they come to God. They can come as they are. A drunkard, idolator, lost in sexual immorality, greed, anger, hate, etc. We let the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and our loving guidance move them out of sin.
This goes the same if a church is divided over politics or social issues.
Church leadership, on the other hand, must be righteous and Holy Spirit-filled Christians who are at the state of unity on the core doctrine of God. To be a hospital for the sinners, we must have space for the sick, lost, and dying. We meet them where they are and focus on the Word of God.
True unity will be found for a Church that seeks God above all things. If people reject the invitation to gather in the presence of God to hear the true Word of God, then they are not genuinely seeking God. They are not ready for unity. It will be like the sheep from the goats.
We must recapture or hold on to the Spirit of unity.
I am not saying we should not be concerned with our basic needs. But in hard times, the basic needs may take an organized group willing to join together in reaching the needs of our fellow citizens.
Where the Lord is, there is unity. I wrote a study on the life of Hezekiah and zoomed in on the idea of unity.
Hezekiah saw the evil that was produced by the generations before him, including his extremely evil father. The 12 tribes were at constant war between each other and foreign nations. This eventually led to the collapse of all the tribes but the Kingdom of Hezekiah. He survived due to God's grace as Hezekiah chose not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
He reopened God's temple and sent out a letter inviting every Jew to worship at the temple regardless of enemy or friend to Hezekiah.
Many declined the invite, but a key verse says that some responded and in the midst of the people was the Lord and the people had unity.
In times like these, unity sounds impossible even within the church, where many churches are just as divided as the political landscape.
Unity with fear, anger, greed, or debt is the way of man to force a unified state.
Unity with love, grace, forgiveness, liberty, and kindness comes from God alone. The God who brought unity to a splintered Israel for those who sought out God above human emotions.
Humanity has, since the time they stepped foot off of the Ark with the Noahide laws has established a governing set of laws to establish unity for the nation they wish to build. One of these incidents is described by George Washington and James Madison, who experienced the unity of God.
The US Constitution was on the verge of never happening due to constant argument and debate. Ben Franklin got tired of the arguments and reminded the convention that God had His hand on the victory of the war as the miracles were evident. Franklin then called for prayer in which all the delegates observed. After the prayer, they found unity.
George Washington wrote about it in a letter to his friend, the Marquis de Lafayette:
It appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the Delegates from so many different States (which States you know are also different from each other in their manners, circumstances, and prejudices) would unite in forming a system of national Government, so little liable to well founded objections.
James Madison was even more amazed:The real wonder is that so many difficulties should have been surmounted, and surmounted with unanimity almost as unprecedented as it must have been unexpected. It is impossible for any man of candor to reflect on this circumstance without partaking of the astonishment. It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.
So peaceful unity comes from God. If we wish to promote unity, we best be seeking God above all things. Love God and Love our neighbors. Out of our love for God, we have the overflow to love others.
We must realize we are called out of sin and worldly thinking. But God doesn't sit from afar but meets us where we are and doesn't expect us to climb the mountain of legality.
We do give a list of needed corrections that others must meet before they come to God. They can come as they are. A drunkard, idolator, lost in sexual immorality, greed, anger, hate, etc. We let the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and our loving guidance move them out of sin.
This goes the same if a church is divided over politics or social issues.
Church leadership, on the other hand, must be righteous and Holy Spirit-filled Christians who are at the state of unity on the core doctrine of God. To be a hospital for the sinners, we must have space for the sick, lost, and dying. We meet them where they are and focus on the Word of God.
True unity will be found for a Church that seeks God above all things. If people reject the invitation to gather in the presence of God to hear the true Word of God, then they are not genuinely seeking God. They are not ready for unity. It will be like the sheep from the goats.