May His strength be with you!
May His strength be with you!
By Karen Lucia Tapia Hernandez
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.