The Power of Agreement

(Part one of Divine Potential)

In a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy demands that Linus change TV channels and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t.
"What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus.
"These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they are nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold."
"What channel do you want?" asks Linus.
Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can’t you guys get organized like that?”

Ecclesiastes 4:9  Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:  ¹⁰ If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

 ¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?  ¹² Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Mathew 18:19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

1) Calling on God evokes His power.

I Kings 18:16  So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷ When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"

 ¹⁸ "I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the LORD's commands and have followed the Baals. ¹⁹ Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."

 ²⁰ So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. ²¹ Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."
But the people said nothing.

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 ³⁶ At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. ³⁷ Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

 ³⁸ Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

 ³⁹ When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!"

Calling on God evokes His power!
We are often reminded that when we face a battle, the battle is the Lords!

Why? Because when we call on God, we are coming into agreement with the power of God and the power of His power!

Are you worried about your health? Your job? Your family? Your future?

Then, come into agreement with God and His will and His power!

2) Negative agreements erode your purpose.

Life was going so well for Elijah.

He had just proved to the prophets of Baal that the Lord God Jehovah is God!

Many people had now turned their hearts to God.

God was using Elijah in a mighty way.

And then, he came into a negative agreement.

Read here in I Kings 19:1

 ¹ Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ² So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."

 ³ Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, ⁴ while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors."

Perhaps you can identity with Elijah. He got so depressed that he prayed that he would die. Ever felt like that? Why did he fall into such a deep depression? Because he listened to the voice of the enemy . . .  He came into a negative agreement with those negative words.

v. 3 says that Elijah ran for his life.

This is the same man who just defeated 450 prophets of Baal and now, he is afraid of a woman?

Unfortunately, he came into agreement with her negative words.

Negative agreements can erode your purpose.

A father tells his son, “I don’t love you anymore, you good-for-nothing boy! And the son thinks to himself, “Well, I guess I am a nobody.” He has just come into a negative agreement with those words.

A church member tells another church member, “I don’t like the way our pastor preaches. You know, he should preach more like Joel Osteen. He should look more like Joel Osteen. He should smile more like Joel Osteen. I don’t know what’s gotten into him lately, but he is really a bad pastor.” So the friend begins thinking, “You know, I think you are right.”  What has happened here – they just came into a negative agreement.

Your co-worker tells you, “Hey a group of us are going out Friday night – we’re gonna go to the club, get wasted, be naughty, and stay up most of the night. Why don’t you come and join us? If you do, you have just come into a negative agreement.

A single young lady is approached by a non-Christian young man. He asks her out. She knows that he is not a Christian. She knows that he does not live by the same convictions that she does, but he is sooooo cute! If she says “Yes,” then she enters into a negative agreement.

2 Corinthians 6:14  Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ¹⁵What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?

May I recommend a great book by John Bevere. It’s called the Bait of Satan. It deals with the tactics of the enemy and the offenses we often take up.

3) God-ordained agreements expand your potential.

I Kings 19 tells us that God called Elijah to partner up with another man of God, Elisha.  Verse 19 says:  So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. ²⁰ Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother good-by," he said, "and then I will come with you."
      "Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?"

 ²¹ So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.

It was time for Elijah to partner up with someone else and multiply his spiritual potential. There is power in agreement.

Today, it is vitally important for you live in the power of spiritual agreement.

Husbands, do you realize the power there is when you agree with your wife?

Wives, do you realize that God ordained the husband and wife to be one, and when that bond is broken, do you realize the power is broken as well?

What breaks my heart is this trend in Christianity over the last 10 to 15 years that people go from one church to another church and then they don’t even want to join a church. Someone who attends a church without becoming a member does not realize the power of agreement. I wouldn’t want to be by myself in the Christian life. I need brothers and sisters to be with.

All of us need to have God ordained agreements with others. Why?
For the sake of

1) Accountability

2) Encouragement

3) Perspective

4) Faith

When we have altar time at church worship services, it is a great time to pray with a prayer partner or altar worker. Why? Because there is power in agreement. It breaks my heart to know that there are some churches who do not even have altar calls. They don’t give people an opportunity to come into agreement with others and agreement with God.

Deut. 32:30 (KJV)  How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up? 

(NIV) How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?

Divine Potential:
When you partner with someone in the Name of the Lord, you will . . .

1) know the will of God

2) see the glory of God

3) experience the power of God.