The Conflict of the Church

The Conflict of The Church

What is the conflict of the Church? It is the difference between the will of GOD and what we want!

Psalm 80 is a testimony of Asaph; it speaks of GOD’s judgment against Israel and calls for His mercy to restore them. Verses 17-19 say, “Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself. Then we will not turn back from You; revive us and we will call upon Your name. Restore us, O LORD GOD of hosts; cause Your face to shine and we shall be saved!”

In 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 the LORD told Solomon, “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain or command the locusts to devour the land or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

This is the same conflict we have in the Church today; many quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 but live Psalm 80:17-19, if He blesses us we will not turn away from Him (17); if He revives us we will call upon Him (18); if He restores us and blesses us we will be saved. This is the opposite of what GOD told Solomon that we should do when His judgment is upon us, humble ourselves, repent and call upon Him – then He will forgive and heal and restore us.

This is the difference between those whom He calls by His name and those who call themselves by His name. Matthew 7:21-23 also makes this distinction when Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, LORD, LORD shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘LORD, LORD, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Because, He had already said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve GOD and mammon (riches).”

That is the difference between those who practice Psalm 80, bless us and we will serve You and those who practice 2 Chronicles 7, seek Me and I will bless You. Jesus told us the same thing in Matthew 6:25-34 summed up in the often quoted verse 33, “But seek first the Kingdom of GOD and His Righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.” Remember those things are the necessities of life not the treasures.

This is the problem we have with parables of the Kingdom, like Matthew 13:44, “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” This is like everyone of us, we are all going through life trying to find out how to become anything from comfortable and liked to rich and famous then one day we find it (really He reveals Himself to us). So Jesus said that parables were for those who have ears to hear to understand and that those who do not have ears to hear will not understand, He also said He would give us His Spirit (Holy Spirit) to remember and understand everything He said.

So here is how I understand this parable; a man is walking through a field and finds a hidden treasure, we do not know why he was in the field of how he found the hidden treasure because they are not important facts. He then goes and sells all that he has and buys the field so that he can possess the treasure. How is that like us or how do we relate to this parable?

First we are all going through life looking for its treasures, hoping to find that one that will fulfill and satisfy us in every aspect of our life. If we find it, it is usually an accident on our part. Most of us in our testimony tell of finding the LORD, the reality is that He was not lost we were and He knew where we were the whole time, He was just waiting for us to enter the correct field and stumble across Him, the hidden Treasure. When this happens many of us hide the Treasure in our heart and only start to make it know to others later after we are sure it’s the real thing.

And what is the price of this Treasure, everything, our whole life! We are to give our life to GOD, spirit, soul and body to do His will and proclaim Jesus as the Treasure.

Prayer: Father, forgive me for being a seeker of the things of this life rather than a seeker of Your eternal Kingdom. I want to do Your will since You made me for Your good pleasure. Teach me Your ways as You conform me to the image of Christ, my LORD and savior.