Understanding and Overcoming Disunity

Disunity is another strategy used by the devil to try and gain the advantage over God's people. The word unity in the Hebrew is yahadh which means, unitedness and togetherness; the Greek word is henotes which means oneness. To have disunity therefore is to destroy the togetherness and oneness of believers. It is the will of God that Christians live in perfect unity.

Paul appeals to Christians to strive for unity. "I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought" (1 Corinthians 1:10). Jesus Christ prayed for the unity of believers just prior to His crucifixion, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me…May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me" (John 17:20-23).

Why is Christian unity so important? Why does God place such a high value on unity? Why does the devil hates unity so much?

1.      Unity is good and pleasant, it creates an atmosphere where the anointing and blessing of God is released upon believers (Psalms 133).

2.      Unity in the leadership provides strength to the entire church (Exodus 17:10-13).

3.      Unity gives people confidence to carry on great works for God (Nehemiah 4:12-18).

4.      Unity is the key to church growth (Acts 2:42-47).

5.      Unity gives added power to prayer and spiritual warfare (Matthew 18:19-20).

According to Paul the basis for Christian unity is to have these seven things in common: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (see Ephesians 4:1-6). Once we have these things in common we must make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I use the word UNITY as an acronym. To have unity you must put fort effort in: understanding, nourishing, intimacy, trusting and yielding. How does the devil create disunity? He does it: By robbing people of understanding. By making people focus on what divides them rather than nurturing the things that unite them. By keeping people so busy taking care of their own business they have no time to invest building intimate relationships with their children, their spouse, their family and their brothers and sisters in the Lord. By causing people to distrust others based on prejudice and negative suspicions. By making people operate in such pride, they never admit they are wrong and they refuse to yield or submit their position. This is how the devil creates disunity and now that you know his strategies you can overcome them.

Pastor Earl