Love Never Fails

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Ironically, the Lord has always caused or used Satan to do His will. Did you realize He actually allowed the devil to kill Christ. Satan was fooled into slaughtering the very sacrifice that would save all of creation from himself and his world. God also had Satan pierce the side of Jesus to release the Church that, through the living waters of Truth and baptism and His atoning blood, would mature to become eye witnesses of his own defeat. God even allowed Satan, through Judas, to bring the Passover Lamb to Jerusalem for the slaughter in the first place!

Think about it, He also allowed Satan, through man, to flog and beat Him because, as prophesied in Isaiah 53:5, it would be through those very stripes creation would be healed from infirmity and sicknesses. Besides all this, Satan was allowed to turn every demon from hell loose against Christ to ridicule His position, mock Him as the Son of God, and scoff the Truth He brought to the world. Spirits of death, decay and corruption were right there to begin their work at His crucifixion also, but Jesus defeated them all!

Of course, Satan's evil works were all accomplished through unsuspecting humanity.

Throughout history we see, when God intervenes the enemy loses and usually it is because God turns Satan's people against each other. Look what happened in the battle of Jehosaphat's day. The king and his people just praised God while the enemy fought and killed each other! Again the spiritual battle was fought through the people.

I said all of the above to make the point, for things to be manifested on the earth by spirit beings, human vessels must be used.

The next thing I want us to see, Satan is quite good at copying the Lord's success tactics. Therefore, when we come against our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, we are being used in the same fashion by the enemy that the Lord used against Satan and his people in Jehosaphat's day. Do you understand, it's Satan that causes us to turn on each other. Satan fools us as God fooled him! We may think we have something to disagree about that is personal to us, but in reality we are just being used, and in the big picture Satan gets the victory. James warns us in chapter three verse sixteen.

This is the real danger in being self-centered, self-defensive, and self-righteous. We are easy bait, a wonderful tool, a choice vessel in the hands of God's evil and sly opponent.

Again, the battle is really a spiritual battle being fought by spirits operating through people. If we are to mature and be the full stature of the body of Christ, then we must be obviously in His image who, by the way, is a God of love, not dissension. This means we must be capable of operating through our spirits so we can recognize our own thoughts from those of the enemy to be able to differentiate between the voice of Satan and the voice of God. This is very difficult as we are vessels that are for the most part accustomed to being led by our soul man. When we are self oriented and defensive of our personal opinions, we can be sure we are not operating through our spirits that are in touch and connected to God. We are functioning straight through our soul man, and manifesting the nature and will of the enemy. Satan loves to cause division, start arguments, bring dissension to the family of God, as he knows the spiritual law. "A house divided will fall."

When we have problems with our brethren, scripture compels us to forgive. Otherwise we are allowing Satan to re-enact the battle of Jehosaphat, only this time the battle is reversed in his favor! God's people are coming against each other. To show us the importance of not harboring dissension or causing it, God will not even listen to our prayers as He knows the enemy is operating through us.

We all get angry at times, but we cannot remain at odds with one another. We must settle our differences quickly as the enemy will come on the scene to take advantage. Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy and will do all three if given entrance. It takes more than one to disagree or start a fight. We must learn how to remain calm and not react on our own behalf.

We can defend others, but not ourselves. Vengeance belongs to the Lord where we are personally concerned.

God, through us as vessels, will intervene for all creation, but He Himself will intervene for us as individuals, if not personally, through an angel, or through another human vessel. The self survivors of this world are therefore Satan's best targets. They will always rashly defend themselves. Ask yourself: Am I self sufficient? Do I defend myself aggressively for no reason other than I don't like to appear wrong? Ask, can I lay down my rights to stop division? Or, be honest, are you one that protects your position at all costs, and most of the time with a loud mouth to go with it? Listen to what comes out of the mouth of other self-centered survivalists. It won't sound like God, I promise! Division just follows self survivors. Satan marks them as his instruments. Here, rather, is how we as God's people are encouraged to handle disputes so the enemy can't take advantage of this weakness.

Why am I making such a big deal out of this subject? Because dissension and strife will stop us from receiving the promises of God. We need the victory Christ achieved through His resurrection to be manifested in our life's trials. We must be able to pull that victory into our impossible situations. The words of our testimony must be the summation of the knowledge and wisdom of God and our actions based in love for us to ever become the church triumphant. You see, Satan loses as the victory of Christ is introduced into a situation. He obviously does not want to lose. So one of the biggest keys to victory therefore is love.

You see, Satan again understands this and knows unity and love is a spiritual law people can have faith in. So it is of uppermost importance to him to cause disharmony, division between men and God, and especially between men and women themselves. He accuses us before God, and through us, he makes us bring accusations against each other. He wants love kept out of the equation. Jesus, knowing this key, said as recorded in John 15:21 to "love one another as He loves us." Why? Because again, love is the guiding force of God that propels the Kingdom. It overcomes our differences with one another if we will just let it.

So in closing, love does not see or think evil. Our spirits love, our souls do not automatically love unless dominated by our spirits. The victory Jesus won over the enemy is for all His people, but it can only be experienced or implemented through gestures of love. Again, it is ironic, Satan's own nature of division and hatred guarantees his defeat as well as the defeat of all who have like nature as the blood of the Lamb cannot cover them. They will turn on each other. Some beings never learn, spirits or people.

Love never fails, because the Almighty, all powerful God is love.