#73 House divided. Thoughts from the Back Deck...

Mark 3:25
If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

President Abraham Lincoln
Joseph Stalin
Dr. Ben Carson 
Senator Joe Lieberman
Sun Yat-sen
Roseanne Bar
George Soros
Red Buttons
Willie D
Ulysses Grant
Nakita Khrushchev
Mark Twain
All the above names, and probably many more, had spoken about the problems with a house divided against itself and its inability to stand. 
Now, when you look at the names above, if you have any historical concept of who these people are and what they believe, you will quickly notice that there is no way they were speaking the same things about a house being divided. They made their own suggestions on how to bring people together.
How Stalin talked about a divided house has no connection to Abraham Lincoln speaking about a divided house. Khrushchev and Twain were not on the same page.
Yet they all see the importance of having a house that stands together if it is survive. 

Jesus in this text, is being accused of being possessed by demons and while he is possess, he is casting out demons in others. 
Jesus points out the foolishness of this line of thought for how or why would Satan drive out Satan? 

"If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand."

There are times, I am unsure about the strength of my faith. There are times I wonder if God is working in me. There are times when I stop and the thoughts come to mind making me question if God can really love me! 

"If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand."

Why do these thoughts invade your mind? We can't serve or be served by God and can't serve or be served by Satan. 

Can Satan attack us? Yes. 

Can Satan try to bring doubt into our own thoughts about our relationship with God? Yes. 

In those times and I will add at all times...
Remember your BAPTISM!! 

Remember your faith is not dependent on what you feel but the promise of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in you. 

God came to you and to me. 

He adopted us. 

His grace covers is. 

He has placed His Spirit into our hearts. 

"If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand."

God has you. God has me. All those questions about your faith and God is the noise of the world BUT you are safely in His house that He has built and builds you in. 

The picture is of my mom and my brother the last year of her life. She is suffering from Alzheimer's. She can't express herself. She can't remember anything. Yet God's promises are still true for her. The Holy Spirit is still in her. Jesus still died for her. 
A house divided against itself can not stand but God's doesn't let anything divide His house or His love. 

Peace out,
Andy

stpaulakeland.org

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