UNITY
Isaiah 43:19, “Behold I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
Psalm 133:1-3, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments. 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing—Life forevermore.”
Amos 3:3, “Can two walk together unless they are agreed?”
John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
John 17:21, “That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that you sent Me.”
Division has always been a constant threat facing the Body of Christ as well as something the enemy has continually used against the Church in an attempt to weaken and destroy us. However, ironically, over the last twenty to thirty years, the Church, especially in Sydney, despite the fact there is practically a church on every street corner today and many churches actually do work together, has been more divided than ever. I’ve always thought of how there are more Churches in Sydney and Australia now than at any other time in history yet not only is the nation not being transformed, but is actually getting worse. Why? Even though there are many Churches who do work together, the body of Christ is not actually, truly united as we see in the book of Acts and as the Lord truly intends.
For far too long, the Body of Christ, especially in Sydney, New South Wales and Australia, has been divided, disjointed and fragmented. Most pastors, churches, ministries and denominations, only seem to be concerned about their own interests including building their own ministries rather than working together to build the Body of Christ and kingdom of God collectively. A spirit of jealousy, covetousness and competition has infected the Body of Christ, eroding the very unity necessary to see the Church effectively and successfully preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, see the revival God promised and bring in the end times harvest of souls.
Especially recently, the emergence of covid has made matters far worse, dividing the Church even further in many ways and areas. This is one of the main reasons we are not seeing the power of God, move of God, revival and harvest of souls we are supposed to be seeing and so desperately need here. Why? Because for that to occur to the degree the Lord intends, the Church must be truly united.
The enemy knows this and is constantly using this against the Church to render us ineffective.
Matthew 12:25-28 (NKJV) states, “But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
If we truly want to be effective for the Lord and His kingdom, see the revival He promised and the end times harvest of souls before the return of Jesus, this issue must be rectified now, the Lord is moving to do so and one of the ways is through this movement. However, for this to work we all must get involved and do our part to make it possible.
The word of God throughout reveals unity (among God’s people), always precedes a move of God and revival.
In Exodus 19:1-25, before the Lord manifested His presence on Mt Sinai, He commanded Moses and the Israelites to unite, consecrate themselves for two days and only then, after they obeyed Him, on the third day, manifested His presence on the mountain in a cloud of glory.
In 2 Chronicles 5:11-14, when God’s people united to praise and worship Him, His presence manifested in the temple so powerfully, the priests literally could not stand to minister.
In 2 Chronicles 20: 1-30, after discovering a great army had assembled against them, King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah united to fast, pray and seek the Lord. When they did, He spoke to them through a prophet who gave them specific instructions on how to defeat this army, which was to confront them in battle, not with their best army, but with praise and worship. When God’s people obeyed Him to unite in praise and worship on the battlefield, He moved to directly intervene and throw the enemy armies into confusion so that they turned on and completely slaughtered each other.
In Acts 1:12-14 and Acts 2:1-4, when the apostles, believers and Mary the mother of Jesus united in the upper room to pray, the Holy Spirit then moved on the day of Pentecost in a mighty way to bring the very first revival through the Church.
The Old Testament also confirms there is power and victory over the enemy when God’s people are united. Deuteronomy 32:30 states, “How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had surrendered them?” and Leviticus 26:8, “Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.
Disunity produces the completely opposite results.
In Genesis 11:1-9, when the people of the world united to build a city and tower (the tower of Babel) they succeeded to such a degree, it concerned God Himself. Why? Because their intentions were selfish, evil and demonic. So God Himself came down and confused their language so they were divided and couldn’t communicate to complete the tower. Now, if godless, sinful, evil people can succeed in doing such a great thing for godless, sinful, evil purposes when they are united, how much more will the Church succeed when we are united to pray, intercede, praise, worship and do what God has called us to do.