Strife Free Life – Close the Door (part 3)

Strife Free Life – Closing the Door on Strife

In the last study, we looked at strife causing situations, and how to put a stop to it. This week we’ll go through ways to close the door on strife.

Ephesians 4:27 _NKJV

nor give place to the devil.

Other translations say not to “give the devil an opportunity” or “give him a way” which is why I decided on the theme of keeping the door closed on the devil. We’re shutting out place, opportunity, and ways. Glory to God! But first…

Quick review:

Both strife and contention are translated from the Greek word eritheia. Strong’s defines eritheia, as “used of those who electioneer for office, courting popular applause by trickery and low arts.” An ancient Greek scholar describes strife/contentions, eritheia, as a “self-seeking ambition that is more concerned about itself and the fulfillment of its own wants, desires, and pleasures than it is in meeting the same needs in others. When eritheia is working in someone’s life, it means that taking care of himself and getting what he wants is that person’s principal concern. In fact, he is so bent on getting what he wants that he is willing to do anything, say anything, and sacrifice any standard, rules, or relationship to achieve his goals. It is a selfish, self-focused attitude that is engrossed with its own desires and ambitions. It is so self-consumed that it is blinded to the desires or ambitions of other people.”

Eritheia is a political word, and we see this behavior in politics all the time. One candidate portrays themself as the greatest and smear other candidates. The other candidates respond with smears as they boast of their greatness. That is exactly what strife is all about. There are people who live a life of strife and look to entangle others. This lifestyle can be dangerous, because it can cause a root of bitterness. (Hebrews 12:14-15)

Christian politics and doctrines are even more brutal than government politics. “How so?” you might wonder. I’ve heard and read Christians threatening each other with hell, if they don’t believe like they are badgering someone to believe. According to what I read in the Bible, the only unpardonable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Things that people will go to hell over are not accepting Christ, unforgiveness, and not loving like Christ loved. But yet, there are still Christians saying things like, “If you believe in pretribulation rapture, you’re going to hell.” No, no you’re not! The “catching away of the church” will happen how it’s going to happen no matter what we believe. Being in strife over when it happens won’t change anything! Another example, many years ago, I watched a video of a man in a wheelchair teaching youth groups saying, “If you believe in healing, it’s a damnable lie and you’re going to hell.” No, no you’re not. There are people willing to fight and lie against truth to convince others to believe in their doctrine. We have so many sad and embarrassing strife influencers on the interest against this “false teacher” and that “false teacher.” False teacher now means “someone that doesn’t agree with my doctrine.” Praise the Lord, we don’t have to partake of spreading strife to teach truth and walk forward in Christ. I believe we’ll walk in greater victory when we learn not to be in strife over the Word.

Doors in your life to keep closed to the devil

1. CLOSE THE DOOR OF YOUR MIND

Colossians 3:8-10 _NKJV

⁸ But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, ¹⁰ and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him

Anger and wrath tie right into strife. I never met anyone in strife that wasn’t angry. This is the first place that strife starts, in the mind. Everything starts with a thought. You have a choice as a Christian, to take up that thought or to cast it down. That’s what this scripture is saying, put off the old ways of anger and put on the new way where we love and forgive like Christ. If we shut down to unrighteous anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy language won’t follow.

People today don’t even really believe there is a devil or demons anymore. They think you’re crazy when you say it. But we believe the Word of God. A Greek scholar says, “the word ‘devil’ is a compound of the words dia and ballo. The word dia has many meanings, depending on how it is used. However, in this particular case, it means through, as to pierce something from one side all the way through to the other side. The word ballo means to throw, as when a person throws a ball, a rock, or some other object. When these two words are joined, it means to repetitiously throw something — striking again and again and again until the object being struck has finally been completely penetrated.” What are the demons striking over and over to penetrate? Your mind. We all have to keep our mind in check constantly, and not allow whatever thought or song to have free rein to run around, because it’s in the devil’s job description.

2 Corinthians 10:5 _NKJV

casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ

All strife starts with a thought. On a regular basis, we all must stop thoughts from dictating how we react. Galatians 5:16-17 tells us to walk in the Spirit. Next verse continues on to say that the flesh and spirit are contrary to one another. That means we have a choice when it comes to thoughts on strife. We can choose Spirit and life or flesh and death. That might be a difficult saying for some people to hear, but it could be why people aren’t prospering in their mind (soul). Thoughts contrary to the Word, as we read above in the definition of devil, will bombard you and try to beat you down when tempted with strife. “Did you see how she looked at me?” We must ask ourselves, “What does the Word say about how she looked at you? Love… bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7) It sounds kind of silly reading something about how someone looked at them, but it actually happens! People will respond to something like that with a bad attitude. It’s allowing bombarding demonic thoughts to run around the mind to make people react in a crazy way. Love thinks the best of the other person, while strife thinks of itself.

Thoughts will always come against the Word of God because we live here in this world. For more on that, there is a post on the Armor of God. That brings us to the next door…

2. CLOSE THE DOOR OF YOUR MOUTH

James 3:6-8 _NKJV

⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. ⁷ For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. ⁸ But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

We must learn to keep our mouth shut and not repeat anything against the Word about anyone or anything, no matter what they did or didn’t do. That doesn’t mean we should leave thoughts unchecked; it just means we should not voice our strife at all, ever. Voicing strife will just feed the fire.

Our tongue is no good member. The context of this scripture is that our tongue causes strife. It is “set on fire by hell.” How does that happen to us that hell fire comes out of our mouth? Back to the first door, the devil attacking our mind. If you fail to miss door one, thankfully there is a door number two to close.

Church splits happen over the tongue. Someone in strife tells only two people, and those two people tell more people. Pretty soon everyone is taking sides. People aren’t just angry at their opposing side of the original argument, that they weren’t even a part of, but angry at who backed whom and so on. Someone people start another church, some move to another church, and some people just quit church. It ends up hurting everyone including the children. It all starts over someone telling their strife, tongue set on fire from hell.

1 Peter 5:5-6 _NKJV

⁵ …be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” ⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

James 4:6-7 _NKJV

⁶ But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Pride kicks the door open wide to strife. Pride carries the idea that a person knows everything, and that no one can ever tell them anything. That normally sets the stage for problems. Pride can be in abilities and skill, ethnic backgrounds, physical appearance, financial situations, education, level of importance, and so many other areas. While certain people are busy exalting themselves above others, there are others feeling angry at them. It’s easy to see how contention can happen. It’s difficult to handle this problem, because people in pride cannot receive correction. I, myself, struggled greatly with correction. If I don’t have a guard set over myself from the Holy Spirit, I will revert back to the flesh and fight. I grew up not being able to take correction because of pride. For this reason, the next post in this series will be what I learned about how to take correction properly.

Proverbs 13:10 _NKJV

By pride comes nothing but strife, But with the well-advised is wisdom.

If you’re thinking, “Uh..oh… I am the one causing contention and strife.” It’s ok. God loves you and all you must do is repent.  Ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow and close the door on the devil. God’s power and restoration have the ability to guide you out of strife and into the blessing. I believe admitting we have a problem to the Lord and wanting to change, no matter what the issue, will bring us up to a higher place in Christ.

It’s not just pride that opens the door to being a person of strife, but also debating, being that person who is legalistic, and argumentative about everything. Which brings us to the last door…

3. CLOSE THE DOOR ON DEBATES

There are Biblical disagreements all over the internet. One thing I had to learn is to close the door on debates. Just because I heard something I disagree with, and I can prove it with the Word, doesn’t mean it’s my job to debate the minister or make comments on the internet how they’re wrong and why. I’m often tempted in this area because I have a teaching call on my life, but it still doesn’t make it right. I have learned it’s rare people want to discuss to learn. Most often you’ll find people that believe they’re right, want everyone to know it, and willing to fight with those that disagree. I have learned in these situations to just not let that teaching in my heart, and silently move on to something else unless I know for certain that the Holy Spirit wants me to respond in love.

You might be saying, “It’s ok for me to argue! God made me a lawyer.” That’s great! Go to court and argue your points in court where it belongs. It doesn’t belong in the local church, family and with every encounter. Being argumentative only makes room for demons, as we saw in the first post, and makes life filled with areas marked off for demons. The Holy Spirit won’t work in debate arguments, which is why most people never change their mind because of a debate. I used to debate the Bible constantly. Once I took a correction about my behavior, I realized no one ever changed their mind as a result of the debate. When you trap someone in their own doctrine, they don’t change. They just get angry and leave. I find it best to speak the Word in love, and people can take it or leave it.

Philippians 1:15 _NKJV

Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill:

This is rampant today! Preachers preaching angry at government issues, other churches, and ministries that will most likely never even hear their angry sermons. I’ve been in churches where pastors talk tough, tell it like it is, use bold honesty, and ruffle feather. Those were all soft words to say, “strife preaching.” As Paul told us, we’re not fighting people but evil spirits (Ephesians 6:12). It’s wise to remember those words.  Envy preaching, we’ve all heard quite a bit of that too! Ministers attacking large churches, or “mega churches,” in front of a congregation and/or on the internet. They mention the size of their congregation, and then proceed to attack what they believe. No one is called by Lord to say such things, because that’s teaching the congregation strife is good.

Preachers and teachers are called to truth in love. I can’t stress that enough. When the government trains people to spot counterfeit money, they train them by teaching them to just examine real money. They can easily spot a fake. The Word works the same, even more so, because the Holy Spirit will be involved in truth.

That brings me to the last example, people that constantly feed others contention. If you’re a republican, and you’re listening to republican shows that are constantly complaining about democrats, that’s inviting strife into your life. It doesn’t matter if they are right or wrong, it’s inviting a constant flow of contention for an hour every day or however long you’re giving it place in your life. It’s still a one-sided debate! Sports groups and programs can be the same. Rivalry is ok, as long as everything is spoken and done in love. But there are some people that involve their emotions and want people to hate the opposing team with them, even in children’s sports. People don’t realize what they’re setting in motion in the spiritual realm over sports.

DOORS TO KEEP CLOSED

1. Mind, keep it renewed with the Word

2. Mouth, think of your words like a ship, keep it pointed on your destination (life)

3. Pride, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God

4. Debate, refuse at all costs

Be a person of love. Jesus said that they will know us by our love, not by our doctrine, strife, or debate points. Love always makes room for the Holy Spirit.

Next post we will go over one of the most difficult teachings for me to ever hear as a teenager, how to properly receive correction. Until next post, Holy Spirit please show us where we have doors open in our life to strife. Show us how to close every door to shut the enemy completely out. Fill our temples with your glory so that there is only room to receive blessings. Thank you for loving us and bringing us from glory to glory.

    Christi