The year 2009 will bring extraordinary growth in faith and peace for those who serve the Lord. One major reason for this is because it will also be a year of extraordinary unity. There will be a coming together in the body of Christ this year in ways that we have probably not seen in our lifetime. The result is going to be a release of even more power and light, which will result in ever-increasing faith and peace with His people. 

We have been covering ways that the church is beginning to rise up to fulfill its last-day purpose of preparing the way for the Lord. Two primary ways that this is accomplished is by preaching the gospel of the kingdom throughout the world and building a highway for the kingdom as we see in Isaiah 40.

In a basic way, the church is called to be this highway. It is called to be a representative of the coming King and a reflection of His kingdom upon which people enter and travel toward their ultimate destiny. One of the aspects of the kingdom that we see in biblical prophecy is that after the kingdom comes, the earth will again come into harmony to the degree that even the lions will lie down with lambs, children will be able to play with cobras, and no one will hurt anyone else. Therefore, one of the basic ways that we can expect the church to begin reflecting the kingdom will be by her unity and harmony. 

As we also see in biblical prophecy, the world will fall into increasing confusion and conflict at the end of this age, so the church will be moving in the exact opposite direction of the world in many basic ways. As fear increases in the world, the church will be growing in faith and peace. One reason for this will be the increase of unity. Faith gets multiplied with unity. That is why the Lord said in Matthew 18:19, "...if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.” 

The word that is translated “agree” here means much more than just intellectually assenting to something; rather, it implies a deep heart unity. We can derive from His teachings several reasons why He requires faith to be unified with another in order to move in extraordinary ways. One is that the unity of His people is one of the primary issues on the Lord’s heart, which we see in His prayer in John 17. Another is that God gives His grace to the humble, and it takes all of the qualities of humility to come into unity with someone else. 

Some teach that Matthew 18:19 is really saying that if we come into unity with the Lord and ask anything, then it will be done for us. Of course, that would be true, but this verse does say to “agree on earth,” which makes it quite clear that He is saying this agreement must be with another person.

In Genesis 11:6, the Lord describes the power of unity when speaking of what is happening with those who are seeking to build the tower of Babel: “And the Lord said, 'Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.'"

Unity does have that kind of power. As we discussed earlier, even a small degree of unity with a small group of people can have extraordinary impact. Karl Marx taught that just a tiny fraction of passionate people would control the rest who were indifferent. Lenin then proved this by taking over Russia, a nation of millions, with just 20,000 Bolsheviks. Likewise, if just a few thousand Christians came into unity and began to live with the resolve and willingness to sacrifice for their cause like the Bolsheviks did for theirs, the impact for light and truth would be so great that many nations would be transformed. Remember what the officials of one of the most powerful empires of the world said when Paul and Silas limped into their city—“Those who have turned the world upside down have now come to us!” (see Acts 16) That was just two people!

This year we are going to begin to see extraordinary results from Christians who begin to grow in unity. Resolve that you will be a part of it. Over the next few weeks we are going to address some of the practical ways that we will see this happen. To prepare for this in your own heart, begin to pray for your fellow Christians, especially for any who have disappointed you or wounded you in the past. Pray for them to be filled with the Spirit of God, to know His peace, and to grow in His faith. If there is anything that you can do to bring reconciliation to any degree, do it.