| How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, That kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, That house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be Divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. Mark 3:23-26 This parable is full of spiritual interpretation and application. The central theme is division: its cause and its consequences. How does one treat conflict within the kingdom of God and conflict when one is in the kingdom of God and one is in the kingdom of Satan? We can express Paul’s position between Christians clearly: Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? 1Cor 1:12-13 Division between Christians is a kingdom divided and a house divided. That kingdom is weakened, that house not able to stand, when Christians pit themselves one against another. Nor should we appeal to the world to settle disputes within the Christian community. Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints. 1Cor 6:1 "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Our church is in turmoil because we have lost the essence of kingdom spirituality. We have lost the essence of kingdom unity. It is Satan’s strategy to divide and conquer and he is doing a good job of it. The other aspect of this issue deals between a believer and an unbeliever. There are some strategies here in dealing with persecution. But when Paul perceived that one part was Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee… and there arose a great cry …there arose a great dissension ...cts 23: 7,9,11 Paul divided the council by dividing them over doctrine and took the focus off of himself. He got Satan to rise up against Satan and Paul was sent to Rome. Similarly, Paul in 1Cor 5 states, "deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh" because this man had his father’s wife. There are times in spiritual warfare when one is being threatened and attacked to loose Satan on that person to divide and conquer. If one is threatened with fear, hatred, anger, jealousy, envy and such like, it is scripturally justifiable to pray that the person doing the persecution would experience his own evil. We pit Satan against Satan and his kingdom hath an end. "Bind the strong man, and then spoil the house." Mark 3:27 These are two clear examples where Paul used this strategy of division as a weapon pitting Satan against Satan. It is time to take the offensive with respect to Satan and put him in his place, the pit of hell, where he belongs. We can not sit passively by and allow him to bully us. We must use the armor of God and the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, to divide and conquer his kingdom. Take authority over what God has given you: dominion and authority and ruler ship as a king. Amen |