STRIFE
Strife is a work of the flesh .strife is also the root of confusion.
James 3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Any person who is full of strife will always create a scene of fighting and quarreling which is an act of war,even among the peaceful by what they say or what they do!
In any organization,in any cooperation or any social setting strife can occur.
Nigerians themselves are at the mercy of doctrinal and political strives.
One of the things responsible for strife and which triggers strife is HATRED!!!!
Hatred among christians towards christians will stir up strife in a church.
Racism and tribalism are forms of strife that has enveloped the world today!
Xenophobia is also a form of strife.
A person who hates another person because of what they do,say or how they wield greater influence or affluence by their presence or absence willin any location or setting will always gender strife even among the gentle and peaceful.
Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
It is pertinent to note that anyone who hates his brother without a cause is a MURDERER
1 John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
It is so easy to hate with a cause talkless of without a cause!
Racism has a cause and so also tribalism.
The person with the spirit of strife will continue to hate without a cause a deal ruthlessly with those at peace.
When God wanted to solve the problem of strife between Jacob and Esau it took time of years and it ended but not with Esau's sons.
Esau had already poisoned the heart of his children against Jacobs children.
This is why edom,Moab and Lebanon,and all the sons of Esau still hate Isreal(Jacob) till today!
God already dealt with Jacob and destroyed the spirit that generated strife between him and Esau ie supplanter.
But Rebecca also played a part in the strife by loving Jacob more than Esau and also teaching Jacob how to be deceitful.
Abraham in his days also had strife with the herdsmen of Lot and his!
The first strife between Cain and Abel is significant today of the FARMER/HERDSMAN crisis.
That was the first strife that ever existed in the whole world among men.
Cain didn't like the fact that abel was bringing his sheep to eat of his farm produce and Abel too didn't like much that Cain was skinning also his sheep.
It was more like a mutual thing but the difference was that God accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's own.
Cain was a religious man who had no relationship with God .

Proverbs 3:30 Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
Sometimes it is because someone doesn't agree with another what they do so they feel insecure or threatened when someone better than them DOES what is right than only Good!
We can know who a friend is in the time of fighting and quarreling.

Proverbs 24:28 Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.
If someone hasn't harmed you,don't speak against them no matter the situation or circumstance because it will start strife.
Even if what you want to say is TRUE about them,they will be offended and prepare strife when you come next time.
Proverbs 17:14 The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.
When we see two warring factions who are ETERNAL RIVALS,one must not interfere in their strife.
So also the strife among siblings and niblings and neighbors and communities and villages or cities that have a long know HISTORICAL background.
In such cases,such matters can only be dealt with spiritually !
Strife is a wicked spirit that exists or operates in the heart and then also between and among people of any race,color,tribe,tongue,nation and family .
Proverbs 20:3 It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling.

There are some ways to escape becoming a victim of strife and it is by not intervening in a matter of strife when God says don't go!!!
This was also the reason why when a man came to Jesus Christ and told him about the feud between him and his brother over inheritance,Jesus Christ refused to intervene and said only that life doesn't consist in the abundance of material possessions!!!
When the herdsmen of Lot and Moses were having strife,Moses decided to end it quickly and left the land for lot.
Genesis 13:7 And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.

Genesis 13:8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we be brethren.
It is better to leave things for people who love strife than fight them and loose your self and integrity!
Once we understand that God is everything to us,we will not strive or do anything out of strife!
Proverbs 17:1 Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.

Sometimes you just have to leave a house full of commotion for peace to reign.
As christians,once we begin to do eyeservice or struggle to get recognition of men and vainglory,we will always be full of strife to CONTEND with people who are standing in our way of AMBITION!!!!
WE would see everyone as a threat than a brother,an enemy than a friend and also as we will always feel insecure around people!!!
It's best to study the environment we enter in to know those who are on our side or not talkless of God.

We must know who also is the people God has chosen to support and be with us and give them honour.
When the Apostles of Christ knew that it was time for Jesus Christ to leave the church,they began to have strife about being the greatest.
Luke 22:24 And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
Jesus showed them what it means to be the greatest.

The way up is down!!!
Romans 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
A Christian walking in strife will no no peace!!
Some people have a lot of problems because not even the devil is responsible
Don't look for what GOD HAS NOT GIVEN TO YOU in the name of pride!!!
Pride also is another root of strife.
Pride is also attention seeking,self exalting and gratifying way of service over all and everyone.
1 Timothy 6:4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
If anyone doesn't consent to the doctrine of Christ,he or she is full of pride and contentious.

Such people reject authority and speak evil of dignitaries in the church.
They question everything and every step of leadership taken .
Their actions are selfish and it generates,distributes and transmits strife among the brethren.
Such people may also be critics of the truth and sarcastic in nature ,filled with mockery.

2 Timothy 2:23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
So avoid people who know the truth but question against it all the time and all the time!!
2 Corinthians 12:20 For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

The Corinthian christians at one time had an eye service attitude of always behaving simple when the Apostle Paul came but became monsters at his back when he left.
Their strife was like a cat and mouse game.
So the apostle Paul wrote that letter to them.
It is also very important never to be sentimental in any church.
If God is using a certain person more than the other,give Glory to God and do not take sides at all.
Don't be carnal in your allegiance to them.
Don't become carnal and take one side and leave the other in your disposition and in you walk or attitude.
Don't become carnal and be sympathetic to one minister above another.
Don't be a discriminator and allow emotional feeling becloud the love of Christ because one minister is doing more than the other.
Don't allow envy and jealousy push you out of revering God.

1 Corinthians 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
Sometimes women are the cause of such problems than men in the church.
Some women respect one minister above another and pay attention to one above another forgetting it will arouse envy and jealousy among ministers either directly or indirectly!!

Some women have favorites and are hearers of a certain mentor over another and worse still is the issue of spiritual father's .
Some women are guilty of treating their husbands lowly and their ministers highly.

Sometimes ,it's a tug of war ,some wives or single sisters treat a man of God highly than respecting their own family members or obeying their parents.
These things generate strife indirectly or directly!!
The devil used slander,gossips and evil speaking,backbiting ,and all forms of blackmail against men of God and ministers to destroy a church.

This is called the strive of Tongues!!!
What we say about a man of God no matter how true or how lie it is either helps the devil.
Sometimes people can speak bad about an erring man of God and vilify him and crucify him instead of praying for his restoration!!!
They won't know when Satan is using them all the time to carry out his work of division which is the final cause of Satan's work against the church!!
Some men of God who are also jealous or envious of each other can be have this way and speak bad about their fellow men of God and report them all about instead of praying.
There may be agents of the devil who also are in charge of such things.

It is important to note that one must be careful of speaking against any man of God or joining against them to speak against them no matter the evidence on ground so we don't help the devil in his work of accusations by strife!
There are false religions in the world whereby their gods cannot save them but their worshippers begin to fight for their gods.
The God of the Christian faith is the one and only true God who is powerful and needs no one to defend him .
Psalms 106:32 They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:

When members of a church provoke a minister and push him to speak by anger instead of love,then he will fall.
Moses didn't get to the promised land because he payed attention to the words of strife of the children of ISREAL.
He lost focus and allowed their words to move him to a state of WRATH.
One must be careful of wrath!
Proverbs 15:18 A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
Proverbs 29:22 An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
Proverbs 30:33 Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.
Numbers 27:14 For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
Deuteronomy 1:12 How can I(Moses)myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?
Proverbs 29:22 An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
Psalms 80:6 Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.
Psalms 106:32 They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:
Proverbs 29:22 An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
Proverbs 30:33 Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.

Psalms 31:20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Psalms 55:9 Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
The tongues of edom,Moab and Philistia are proud ,arrogant and without pity against Isreal.
Proverbs 26:17 He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.
Sometimes ,people can be in-between of a matter and two people would be playing games with a neutral person who continues to interfere in their matters all the time.
Sometimes,it's best not to be in-between two people and try to settle matters in presence when in their absence they are the BEST OF FRIENDS!!!!
Today,the Islamic nations have continued to meddle in matters pertaining to Isreal war against it's enemies .
Iran,arch enemy of Isreal has always been sending weapons to Isreal s enemies and proxies to destroy Isreal.
Allies of ISREAL aslo eg US,UK etc will also respond in these matters
This happened because envious and jealous people are always victims of strife among people who are not peace in between themselves!
Another cause of strife is a TALEBEARER!!!
A TALEBEARER is a revealer of secrets of men.
He goes from one person to reveal the secret of another person and one to another!
That's what talebearer does and it's somehow good for some people who come close only to the talebearer to learn about an enemy or friend but sometimes bad for others who become enemies of a TALEBEARER
Proverbs 26:20 Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.
A TALEBEARER is like wood,you cannot confide in him!!!
He will expose you.
Judges 12:2 And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands.
2 Samuel 19:9 And all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he is fled out of the land for Absalom.
It was a horrible time seeing Absalom being at strife against his own father.

David the king had to flee from his own son and this was because he shed the blood of Uriah the Hittite.
God decided to spare David but punish his house with the sword.
This shows that strife can be something generational from a curse.
It is a curse for a son to be at war with our without a cause against his father .
If a generation of sons hearts are not turned to that of a father ,then the earth will be smitten with a curse.
Malachi 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
It is also dangerous for a father that was not in a sons LIFE to expect him to be in his life at any situation or circumstances!
The absence of a father will impact on that of a son.
A son who feels unloved and a son who feels insecure will see the father as a stranger in his life.

He won't value or respect the father's input.
One thing we should note is that it also applies to a daughter.
A daughter who misses the love of a father will also be behaving masculine than feminine because they feel they have to become breadwinners in a place where their fathers failed.
Some men too behave feminine because of the absence of a father .
One thing to note is that STRIFE starts from the heart.
James 3:14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
Strife doesn't show in the face but it operates from the heart.
Someone may appear gentle but be filled of strife .
People who are always witty and contentious too live by strife.
Some monsters of the Gospel contradict each other because of personal strife and ambition in their ministry.
Some also sow the seeds of strife into their members against other churches.
We ask if the body of Christ is divided by doctrinal strife and the answers is yes !
Eg we have deeper life members ,winners chapel ,redeemers ,foursquarers Christ assembly,CAC,the Apostolic faith etc who do not come together sometimes or agree in some doctrines of Jesus Christ!
Although some mistakes are now being corrected in each denominations,still some people forget that they are not the owner of the church but God is.
It's also sad to see that some people have taken the church as their properties closing doors against revivals from sent ministers of other churches who are not popular or famous like them.
They forget that the purpose of the five fold ministry is to edify and equip the saints unto perfection as the lord Jesus Christ instructed.
Philippians 1:15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:
The five fold ministry if not complete in any denomination or gathering will never allow a church to grow.
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Finally,Jesus Christ said "it is finished!
Past mistakes of the father's ,present mistakes of the sons can be resolved when there is reconciliation!!!!
The major work of the gospel is reconciliation!!!
All things must be reconciled to God in earth or in heaven.
It is the reason why Jesus Christ ended the strife between man and God on the cross .
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