Many who began their walk with me having a pure heart filled with My love have begun to acquire the savour of this corrupt world society. In the beginning of their walk with Me, they were so much in love with Me and so filled with the joy of salvation that they looked continually for ways to be a blessing and show forth My love. In the beginning, love toward Me was all that mattered and the things of earth had grown strangely dim in the light of My glory and grace.
But this world is indeed a snare unto many used-to-be lights for Jesus. My people are daily bombarded with sordid influences from the world all around them. Apart from My grace, you would all be hopelessly tainted by the world in which you sojourn. Some have been led astray by the siren call of wealth and power, both in their working world and in other spheres of their lives. Such slaves of the carnal nature are forever looking for ways to climb over the heads of others to reach the top of the pecking order. Affluent power-grabbers who profess faith in Me are apt to carry on this same sordid mindset into the sanctuary of the redeemed. So the vain, selfish philosphy of "me first" has crept into My latter-day Laodicean congregations.
I see My redeemed saints not as a motley crew of disjointed souls struggling all on your own to get to heaven. Rather, I see you as comprising one Body, My Church, My beloved Bride. And yet there is so much competition and strife among religious leaders hoping to fill their baskets with tribute and their hearts with the acclaim of men. Many hearts, once pure and single-minded, are now an adulterated mixture of personal ambition and greed for money, prestige and mastery over others. Whenever there is the slightest difference in viewpoint over minor points of dogma, some will devour each other like dogs in order to assert their place in My Church. One prophet or teacher will mercilessly carve another ministry to pieces, both privately and publicly, in order to be recognized as the top dog in their own pack of wolves in sheep's clothing.
What of your own physical body? What if it were always at odds with itself? What if your own two hands were at war with each other, and the left hand envied the right hand for being the dominant hand with more skill? What if your left hand (or your right, if you're left-handed), resented its supportive role and wanted to be boss? What if it went on strike and refused to help the other hand fend off an attack against your whole body? Imagine two warring hands carrying a pot of boiling water over to the stove to drain and the left hand starts struggling with the right one to gain the mastery over it. How could anything but injury and calamity result, not just to the two burnt hands, but to the whole body which would be disquieted by the pain of the resulting spill?
An evil spirit of competition and backbiting is one of satan's favorite ways to sabotage My end-times program for completing My mission of reaching the lost and building up My Body, just prior to My appearing to take you all home to Glory. Instead of sorrowing over sin, competitors for power secretly gloat in their darkened hearts over their brothers' stumblings. Why? Because when their brethren trip and fall, they themselves expect to be seen as spiritually superior by parishioners from whom they hope to receive honor and prestige. Thus, they lust after glory for themselves rather than seeking to exalt Christ, the Head of the Church.
Even ungodly politicians often have far more sense than to scuttle the ship both they and their rivals are sailing on in the stormy seas. Old adversaries will bury the hatchet and join hands to bring relief to disaster victims, and they aren't even doing this in My Name. Maybe the motives of such world leaders aren't the purest, maybe their aims are utterly sinful and selfish. But instead of carrying on old feuds, they manage to bury the hatchet and look for ways to build bridges and get things done while My Body is at war with itself.
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Here is a vivid picture of just how self-destructive we can be when we turn in on one another. And turning in on each other means we turn on Christ....may God forgive us for our wickedness, keeping ever before us that one day we will all have to give account for every action. Thanks Patricia for braving the spiritual elements once again, to bring us this word in season.
