1 Corinthians 1:10 – “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” NKJV

Ephesians 4:11-16 – “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ —  16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” NKJV (emphasis mine)

It is my firm conviction that UNITY is the key element to our living the “Overcoming Life” that Jesus and the apostles taught that we could and should live.  We find the word in (Ephesians 4:13) and again in (1 Corinthians 1:10) in very emphatic terms.  Therefore, if we are going to have UNITY we must come into “agreement” and “speak” the same thing!  I said Unity, not Conformity to the opinions of man but unity in our conformity to God and His Word.

Matthew 18:18-20 – “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 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.  20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” NKJV

I have several questions to help illustrate what I am talking about:

1. If how many?  TWO
2. What do they do?  AGREE
3. About what?  ANYTHING
4. What is the result?  POSITIVE ANSWERS

That is overly simplistic, but it illustrates what I am suggesting.  In this passage, Jesus emphasizes and reemphasizes something!  Therefore, lest we take this out of context we need to follow the biblical guidelines for building a doctrine.

2 Corinthians 13:1 – “… “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.”  NKJV

Anytime you find a scripture before you establish a principle, you must find a connecting scripture or scriptures to bear witness to that principle.  In this case, 1 Corinthians 1:10 is the connector for Matthew 18:19 – “Speak the same thing”.  In other words, we are joined in “mind” and “judgment.”  It is the connection of the Mind of Christ and the Kingdom Mind.

Psalms 133 – “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.” NKJV

Look at verse three – “For there….”  Where?  Where people dwell together in UNITY (agreement) the blessings flow!  When God commands a Blessing there will be a Blessing!

PLEASE HEAR ME – Unity is not everybody saying: “We are going to get into unity.”  It is not a feeling.  NO!  According to the apostle Paul, it is where or when everybody speaks the same thing, has the same mind, same heart, and same vision!  Or another way of saying it would be when everyone is unified in words, mind, heart, and vision.

I can hear someone saying Impossible!  Not really.  But what are we going to speak about?  That is exactly what I want to discuss in this study or excursion into this portion of scripture.  I believe that it has the potential to be very liberating!

I realize that I have not scratched the surface of what we want to discuss, but I do want to pause here and let you consider the importance of UNITY and the practical possibility of it becoming a reality in our lives in today’s world. 

So, I will wait until tomorrow to delve into the “Principle of Unity” and until then pray that God grant you His peace, power, and presence to guide and guard you as you go through your day in Him. 

Blessings Until Tomorrow!