Have you read “The Three Musketeers”? I remember I used to like the phrase “All for one and one for all!” usually said by Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. They were constantly looking how to help each other out, how to defend each other, and be victorious in their battles. In such manner, when we are united, we can also come out victorious from our battles. Once, when one of my family members was diagnosed with cancer, we started a prayer (and fasting) chain for a week, each one of us prayed for the petitions of the group, we all prayed for each other. After that period of separation for God and unity as a group, we saw the hand of God in our petitions, we all had received a gift from the Lord. And I saw how my relative received healing during that time. I was grateful and thankful to God that He had answered my prayer. Just like Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, we had said: “All for one and one for all!” Yet, I have noticed that many times, instead of standing up in unity, we stand up in disagreement, causing wounds to both the body of Christ and to ourselves.
Matthew 18:19 New King James Version (NKJV)
19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
The strength lies in unity, but strength to be reckoned with lies in divine strength. When Jesus told us that whenever 2 or 3 gather in his name, He is telling us that whenever we recognize that helping each other out, when we agree unto something, when we consider the necessities of our neighbor, then, we will see the manifestation of the power of God and how He rejoices in our unity. Maybe some of us have thought that we just need to fight on our own, and yes, of course we need to make an effort for ourselves, however, God also says that whenever we agree with our brother or sister, in prayer, we can see our petitions come true.
Matthew 18:20 Good News Translation (GNT)
20 For where two or three come together in my name, I am there with them.”
The strength of God is with us whenever we recognize that our friends, relatives, brothers, and sisters in the body of Christ are here with a divine purpose, but that at the same time, they are here to help us grow and fight with us those battles that we cannot solve by ourselves. For, the moment we agree in the spirit with our neighbor, Yahweh will manifest Himself in our lives, and just like the previous verse states, He will be with us.
In numerous occasions we can see that many people start strife, divisions, gossip, and accusations against others due to envy and jealousy or thoughts that go against the Spirit of God. Nonetheless, when we allow the works of the flesh dominate our life, we are allowing the enemy weaken the army God created for His purposes (the church). The apostle Paul highlighted a situation similar to this:
Philippians 4:2 New Living Translation (NLT)
2 Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement.7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
This is to say, Apostle Paul heard about the discord these sisters had inside the church of Christ and he noticed how this not only brought disagreement between them but it also affected the rest of the brethren. The moment we remove peace from our hearts we are not only weakening our body but we become vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. Moreover, recalling the word of our Lord which says: “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23, AMP) and referring to the previous verse, which states that the peace of our Lord guards our hearts and minds, the moment we allow dissension or allow strife between brothers, we are not only weakening the body of Christ (the Church) but we are also in danger of spiritual death.
How dangerous it is to be in animosity with our brothers! This is why we need to have the fear of the Lord reign in our hearts to guide our footsteps. Considering our Lord Jesus said that the second most important commandment is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and meditating that the love to others is shown through actions, we cannot take any other measure but to take care of each other and help each other out. And with this I am not saying that we are going to be everyone’s friends, but that we need to take care of the welfare of our neighbor and if necessary establish and attempt to have peace with our brothers and sisters.
Let us look at the following verse:
James 5:16-18 The Message (MSG)
16-18 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with…
James indicates us that the moment we confess our sins to each other and afterwards we pray for each other, We will be healed! There is power in unity! We will not only be healed physically, but also spiritually, for frequently, the wounds we receive are emotional or spiritual and these come to make us weary and overwhelm us. Similarly, James points out that The person living right with God, is the one that has powerful prayers, hence if we are not in good standing with God, our prayers will not only be powerless, but we cannot just look for other people to bail us out or problems, if we have not settled our disagreements with our neighbor these prayers will bear no fruit. We must be careful with everything we act upon, for in one way or another, this not only affects the body of Christ, but it also affects us.
Finally, dear readers, I urge you that everything we do it may be for the glory of Christ and that we establish peace with one another. Let us not dwell in the differences of character or personality that we may have so as to weaken the body of Christ, but let us allow God act in us in order to obtain the answers in Jesus Christ. And once we do this we will have powerful prayers to be reckoned with. Let us motivate one another so together in unity, we can have the strength of the Lord and we can fight the good fight and obtain victory. May God bless you!
And if you have not accepted our Lord Jesus in your heart, or you want to reconcile your relationship with Him, I urge you to do it today and pray the following prayer out loud:
“Lord Jesus, I ask you for forgiveness of my sins, for my sins separate me from you. I recognize you as my only, sufficient and truthful Saviour. I break every covenant with the world, with the flesh and with the enemy. I give you thanks for the sacrifice in the cross. I know if I were to die today, I will be in your arms. Amen.”
If you prayed this prayer today, write to me at kltapiahernandez@gmail.com, I would love to hear from you. And if this edified you, please share it with someone else. We are a family in Christ and we are here to help each other out.
Photo on cover by: adrianna geo on Unsplash
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