The ties that bind.
The strength of any relationship is in its love-based connection between multiple people. It is our relational ties that hold us together both inside and outside.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Paints a beautiful picture of what it’s like to have people working together supporting each other. But in this season, there is a strategic effort underway by powerful demonic entities to separate, divide, and bring disharmony among families, friends, communities, and nations. This is one of the seven things that God hates.
There are seven things that the Lord hates and cannot tolerate: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that kill innocent people, a mind that thinks up wicked plans, feet that hurry off to do evil, a witness who tells one lie after another, and someone who stirs up trouble among friends. Proverbs 6:16-19 Good News Bible
Don’t fall victim to this deception by partnering with a spirit of division. Don’t participate in backbiting, gossip, tale-bearing, And all the rest of these divisive strategies from hell. You are better than that!
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
The enemy is bent on breaking ties between people and he especially works diligently to destroy a person’s influence. That’s what gossiping and backbiting and all of that foolishness are about. But it won’t work, in Jesus’ name, if we hold to the standard of scripture by bringing all parties involved in a secret discussion together and letting the truth come to light and thereby exposing all deception and lies. That is how we protect the integrity of all parties involved.
Gossipers, backbiters, and any person who tries to separate other people need to understand that sooner or later, you are going to need somebody. And the very person you are tearing down today most often will be the one you are going to need tomorrow to help YOU hold your crap together in your time of difficulty!! At some point, ALL KINGDOM BELIEVERS will need each other. God designed us as a body. And Satan wants to divide us so in our hour of need, he can catch people isolated and bring destruction because we lack support.
Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered. Proverbs 11:13 ESV
Recently, the Lord told me specifically never to break a relationship over something someone said. Only end a relationship at the instruction of the Holy Spirit. The enemy is bent on bringing division into the kingdom of God. He has already successfully brought an enormous amount of separation into the church. But the kingdom is rising up OUT OF THE CHURCH to a new standard of relationships. Everyone in this kingdom is needed for God‘s purposes. And though we may have differences, it is the blood of Jesus that we have in common.
To protect the integrity of individuals, to live and walk in a spirit of truth, we have no reason or right to criticize a person in secret and pretend to be their advocate in public. Our responsibility is to pray for them and where appropriate to share the light of the truth of God’s word in any circumstance where they may fall short. Because Holy Spirit sees all of it. And his desire is for us to protect and preserve kingdom relationships and to uphold divine strategic alliances.
So as a warning, we would do well to watch ourselves! Guard your tongue! Keep your mouth closed from talking about and tearing down other people! If you become privy to information, go to the Lord in prayer for that person and the situation. Realize that you have been given trust by the spirit of God to pray. Don’t violate his trust by sharing the details he allows you to hear with other people. Share the details with God and pray in the Holy Ghost for a divine solution!
Furthermore, the person you bring down today might be the very one you need to hold your life together tomorrow. I will never forget a story by Graham Cooke where a pastor had attacked him mercilessly. This pastor made it his business to expose what he thought was something Graham Cooke was teaching wrong. His membership fell off and eventually, I believe it was his child that became deathly ill. It was Graham Cooke who went to the hospital to pray for him and his child’s healing. It was Graham Cook who helped finance his ministry in a time when his doors were about to close. In the end, God restored the pastor, healed his child, and made a friend out of Graham Cooke. That is the goodness of our God.
You don’t know the details but the Lord knows his desired outcomes for all of us. And he needs partners on the earth to help him accomplish his desires in the life of every human being!
We have a job to do, and we must do it together!
