April 16, 2018
Competition is defined as:
- the activity or condition of competing.
- a contest for some prize, honor, or advantage.
- rivalry between two persons or groups for an object desired in common, usually resulting in one victor and one loser but not necessarily involving the destruction of the latter.
This grieves the Holy Spirit so very much. In fact competition among His body is a stench in God’s nostrils. Did you know there is a very common word that is used in our culture that cannot be found in the bible? That word is competition. Words such as envy, selfish ambition, rivalry, conceit, conceited are all that are mentioned. Jesus never talked about it, but he did talk about the opposite of that word. The greatest power God’s children have over darkness is unity. Jesus talked a great deal about his oneness with The Father and the importance of unity in the Body of Christ. It is the most difficult command Jesus gave to the church because it wars against one of the most evil aspect of our sin nature—independence.
The walls of division and competition among His body are a stench in God’s nostrils. He sees the competition in the pride of ownership and weeps for the lost who cannot come to him because they cannot see him in His body. When His body operates in unity, the unbelieving souls that take notice see Jesus. They literally see Jesus. It’s like a supernatural key that unlocks heaven for the soul that is looking for a reason to reject God but instead finds exactly what he or she was looking for all along. It’s just not necessary and is a disgusting trait to carry within oneself.
Let us remember to celebrate each other and other churches as they carry the mandate of GO INTO ALL THE WORLD AND MAKE DISCIPLES. Live your life for an audience of One with no fear of man. Each christian is simply called to obedience and faithfulness to their commitment to Christ. We are to leave all outcomes to God. The minute we start worrying about people, other ministries or other what other ministries are doing we begin to fall into the temptation of trying to control outcomes. That my friend is sin. That is simply a failure to trust God and is pride and an affront to God. Satan’s strategy is to destroy the effectiveness of Christianity by creating disunity and competition among the Body of Christ.
Christians in today’s society must grow up and let the Holy Spirit break down each wall of competition among Christians, ministries, denominations and ethnic group. If you find yourself feeling a spirit of competition rise up, pray to The Father in heaven and ask him to remove the temptation to bow to competition. If you find that you are regularly in some form of disunity ask him to break the stronghold of competition in your life. He will gladly free all who believe and come unto Him.
Ciara Leilani
Ciara Leilani 