With Our Whole Heart

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Matthew 12:25:"And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, 'Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.'"

Numbers 32:11,12: "Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the Lord."

In the reference of Matthew, Jesus knew their thoughts. He said that every kingdom divided against itself would be brought to desolation, that it would not stand. If our hearts are not wholly turned to the Lord-we  will fall and we will not be able to stand in the last days. The enemy will gain a foothold. Only TWO out of the entire tribe of Israel entered into the Promised Land- Joshua and Caleb- because they had whole hearted devotion to the Lord. Unless we have that same whole hearted devotion to the Lord, we will not be able to stand or enter into the Promises of God. We will not be able to claim our heritage, our promises, our full calling, etc. We will not reach our full potential in God unless we have an undivided heart towards God. A person can not serve two gods- there is only one true God and our hearts must be totally devoted to Jesus Christ- the one true God.

If our "house"- our temple of the Holy Spirit- is divided against itself, it will never stand the floods of the enemy. We are living in a violent time. Sin is around us more and more. The darkness is getting darker and the flood of violence against mankind is getting worse. Satan is waging an all out war against the saints of the Most High. He knows his time is short and he wants to take as many souls with him into eternity. In Revelation 3:16 Jesus said that if we are lukewarm, He will spew us out of His mouth. This should be a serious warning to the Christian. Christ wants our hearts to be whole-heartedly devoted to Him.

2 Corinthians 7:1 "let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God." (NIV)

When there are areas in our lives that we have not fully yielded over to the Lord, they become divisions in our "house". They stand between us and the will of the Lord. It causes divisions that must be mended before God can perform His perfect will in our lives. If there is anger, resentment, bitterness or unforgiveness or any such thing inside of us- we must be cleansed from them. We must be 100% yielded to the Lord or these areas will eventually rise up and take over. When the times of pressure or stress comes against our "house", it won't be strong enough to weather the storm. Satan uses these divisions to set up strongholds in our lives- areas where we are defeated- time after time. When the battle rages even more in these last days- we will not be able to stand because we have never made our "house" whole- have never mended the cracks and have never been cleansed from those sins that will bring us down.

Even "good" things can divide our "house". When we don't make communion with God, worship,prayer, study of His Word or time with other Christians a priority in our lives- it drives a wedge into our relationship with the Lord. We have to first set our priorities- God first- no matter what- and then these other things will have to come behind. Christ has to be at the center of our lives and all other things must line up accordingly.

Whole hearted devotion- giving God our best, our 100%, yielding over to His will-- this will secure our entrance into the Promised Land. Let's not be like that entire generation- except 2- who disobeyed the Lord-and were not able to enter into the Promises of God. Let's determine- purpose- in our hearts to be like Joshua and Caleb- who wholly followed the Lord.



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