“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. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them”
(Matthew 18:19-20, NKJ)
“Do two walk together except they make an appointment and have agreed?” Amos 3:3 Ampl.
What promises we have when we walk with The Lord in the light of His Word. When we walk in agreement with His Word we have assurances that He will be with us.
thedailylily.com 
A three-fold cord of agreement is not easily broken. That means You and another brother/sister-in-Christ and Christ Jesus Himself. If we agree together in prayer with Him, that makes the 3-fold. And if He hears us, we know have the petitions we are praying for, the desires of our hearts.
The antithesis of this is: if we give assent or speak the same thing concerning evil reports, we speak in agreement with those untoward things also and we might get the things that we DON’T want to receive because we mis-spoke, giving agreement to something evil, bad or injurious because we could not abstain from giving our two cents worth of
trivia.
Sara’s statement, “What promises we have when we walk with The Lord in the light of His Word,” brought the first verse and chorus of the Hymn ‘Trust and Obey’ to mind.
“When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
(Refrain)
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
From the scriptures in the above blog we see that it is God’s will that we come into agreement when we pray. There is power in agreement and in walking togther in unity.
Psalm 133: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
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.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the LORD commanded the blessing—
Life forevermore.”
As Sara has pointed out before, It seems a simple thing for “brethren” to agree in prayer about or for a certain thing for which we are petitioning the Lord. Yet, it seems we want to push our own agenda, or our own approach or put our own stiuplations on something instead of JUST AGREEING IN PRAYER from our hearts. We limit what God will do for us because we won’t follow His instructions. For example, He says, ‘whatever you ask the Father, in MY Name, He will give it to you.’ The clues are pretty obvious…Ask the Father, in MY (Jesus) Name. In another place in John 15, Jesus says, “If you abide in Me & My Word continues in your hearts, ASK WHATEVER YOU WILL and IT SHALL BE DONE FOR YOU. If you continue to obey Me, YOU WILL LOVE ONE ANOTHER” Part of loving one another, I believe, is continuing to AGREE IN PRAYER according to the Word for whatever we are asking for the furtherance of the Kingdom. If we don’t follow the rules but act autocratically, as Gary pointed out, then we frustrate the grace of God and limit His glory in manifesting in our lives. Jesus said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often have I desired to gather your children under MY wings, like a mother hen, AND YOU WOULD NOT!”
The footnotes for Matt. 18: 19-20, says exactly what we are talking about here. Read with me: “Jesus looked ahead to a new day when He would be present with His followers not in body, but through His Holy Spirit. In the body of believers (the church), the sincere agreement of two people in prayer is more powerful than the superficial agreement of thousands, because Christ’s Holy Spirit is with them. Two or more believers, filled with the Holy Spirit, will pray according to God’s will, not their own; thus, their requests will be granted.”
“the sincere agreement of two people in prayer is more powerful than the superficial agreement of THOUSANDS, because CHRIST’S HOLY SPIRIT IS WITH THEM.” “pray according to God’s will”
Has anyone ever heard that sometimes God’s answer to our prayers can be:
“yes”, “no”, and “wait”???
Hum, I guess this is where the “God’s will”, comes in? In our “instant gratification” society, where we stand in front of the microwave oven and “pat our foot”, the “wait,” can cause us to be impatient? We might pray and agree with another Christian, for what we are petitioning to God, but do you think we sometimes become impatient, if the answer doesn’t come as fast as we want it to? Psalm 40:1-3 says: “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what He has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.”
Now, read with me the footnotes for these verses in Psalm: “Waiting for God to help us is not easy, but David received four benefits from waiting: (1) God lifted him out of his despair, (2) God set his feet on solid ground, (3) God steadied him as he walked, and (4) God put a new song of praise in his mouth. Often blessings cannot be received unless we go through the trail of waiting.”
Needles, I wrote a song taken from that Psalm, a while ago.
He raised me up and out of an awful pit
A pit of tumult and destruction
He raised me up and out of the miry clay
And set my feet upon the solid Rock to stay
And He has put a song in my heart
A song of praise to God above
And He has put a song in my heart
A song of praise, a song of thanks ,a song of love. (c)
And Sara’s song, the WAITING ROOM is based on that same principle tat you are putting forth. A line that I have mentioned before on this blog and that I keep going over and over in my mind…
“AS I WAIT I SEE HIS FACE SHINING AS THE GLORY OF GRACE
As I wait, as I wait in HIS room” (c)
Needles, thanks for your footnotes for Matt. 18: 19-20. They explain so clearly the necessity of answering the question to Sara’s scripture ““Do two walk together except they make an appointment and have agreed?” We must first walk with and in the Spirit. That is the initial agreement, the initial ‘twosome’. Then when two people have paired up with the Holy Spirit, agreeing with Him and each other there is the power.
Paul must have understood this, for he urged like-mindedness, saying it gave him such joy.
” If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Philippians 2:1-2
How about those that wait and wait for God’s hand to move, for the right timing, for money to come and they die. God had given them money but they didn’t think that money was the answer to their prayer for them to give. Or what if family stood in the way of giving – you know I must keep a little money for the family? Did family bring any glory to Jesus. Don’t you trust your family with God – He has wonderous plans for them too. Perhaps God is not saying wait, but get up and move forward as you can give, He will bless the next step. Take a step of faith, standing in agreement in prayer, as people standing expecting God will do a God-sized unexpected adventure in your life and the lives He wants to bless and call into his kingdom. God is full of adventure. He may have you invest in an adventure to win souls for Jesus. Are you ready to give or is your hand and mind stuck as you whistle a tune – maybe later alligator. The alligator may just have eaten your reward in heaven.
Rena that reminds me of the story of a man stranded on his roof in a huge flood. He called out to the Lord to rescue him with a miracle from the rising waters. A row boat came by but he refused their help because he was ‘waiting on the Lord.’ This happened three times, but each time he refused their help because he was waiting on the Lord’s miracle rescue.
Finally the waters rose over his head and he drowned in the flood. When he got to Heaven he inquired of the LORD, “why didn’t you save me from that flood, like I prayed and asked You?” The Lord replied….I sent you 3 rowboats!!!
You’re right, Rena. What are we waiting for? Jesus wanted to gather the children of Israel under His wing and they would not. In the story He sent a row boat 3 times, but the man would not. God sends us answers more often than we think, but we will not!
Good point, Rena and MG. We sure don’t want to sit around waiting, if the Lord has said to get up and move, or accept that “rowboat” coming by.
Coming into agreement definitely takes action on our parts. In thinking about the above comments and Sara’s scripture on agreement, I was reminded of a very important chapter from Sara’s book ‘Throwing Your Light Forward”, the study topic at the second annual Daily Lily Retreat. In her chapter on ‘Relationships’ she gave us several scriptures to exhort us on the benefits of being of one-mind, one accord. One important one was I Corinthians 1:10: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. ”
Conversely, she warned us that the kingdom of darkness,’enemies of the church’ can be ‘in one mind and one accord’, also producing a powerful, active ‘circuit of agreement’. One scripture she cited was Luke 16:8, “…for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” Sara said, ‘There are many instances in the Word of God how the children of light had discord and the results went to the children of darkness who were in agreement.’
Walking in agreement with the Holy Spirit and each other is so very vital.
Waiting is action! Waiting reminds me of the Olympics! Practice, run the small race, practice, swim for the small trophy and then comes your moment of Olympic glory. Every four years play for the gold!
Paul waited in Tarsus years (studying scriptures) before his first missionary journey. Galatians 1:17-18
Joseph waited in prison 13 years (interpreting dreams for other prisoners) before he heard the call to interpret a dream for Pharaoh. Genesis 37:2 and 41:46
Esther waited in the King’s palace for months of purification (having her countenance beautify) before the King’s scepter was extended to save a nation. Esther 2
Yes, waiting upon the Lord is renewing one’s strength. Those who wait will mount up with wings as ealges…ACTION… They shall run (ACTION) and not be wearied, they shall walk (ACTION) and not faint. Teach us to WAIT that way, Lord.
In the devotional by Bill Johnson he talks about “agreement”. He writes about how he, having a reserved personality, found it challenging to give the sacrifice of praise to the Lord especially when one doesn’t FEEL like
it or when giving outward manifestations of praise & exultant joy go against one’s human reserve. The flesh doesn’t really like it.
What he learned about this is that the carnal nature would rob him of experiencing the mandate of the Lord to praise Him expressively in song and dance. He writes, “I am not willing to come into AGREEMENT with that lie. As a result, I began to dance before the Lord with joy, first in private and then in the congregation. The enemy is empowered by human AGREEMENT. To agree with anything he says gives him a place to steal, kill and destroy We fuel the cloud of oppression by agreeing with our enemy. Praise with rejoicing cancels that agreement.
Where we agree from the heart with the Word of God, that’s where the power comes in. To give expression to that agreement in praise, dance, song and worship puts a Holy Ghost seal on our “AGREEMENT”.
Waiting with expectations takes courage.
“Waiting with expectations takes courage”. Sara this is certainly food for thought.
I looked up the synonyms for expectation and hope and trust were among them. Having them takes courage when odds are not in your favor.
The Virgin Mary waited with expectations for the Son of God, the Savior of the world to be born. That waiting brought her persecution and ridicule. Abraham waited ‘against all hope’ that he would be the father of many nations. That’s what God had promised even though he was old and his wife was old and her womb was ‘dead’. That must have taken great courage.
Your statement really get’s one thinking.
Yes waiting with expectation takes courage. Even when you step out and run the race in whatever God gives you to do for this season, it takes courage to see if it will bear the fruit for God that you believe for. Perhaps in some cases we will never know until we go to heaven. I suppose we pick up our courage, press through, and with faith and hope resolve to do what the Lord tells us to do. Lord we ask that what you have given for us to do as dailylilies will bear much fruit for your kingdom.
“Waiting with expectations takes courage.” Sara’s comment
It must have taken courage for Noah to obey God and build an ark when no one had ever even seen rain, much less a flood. But He did it and then he waited expectently for the rain to start falling.
Being obedient to God and waiting for the results when it appears foolish to your ‘own’ understanding and to others takes some courage. I think it also requires exercising faith.
“…being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” (Romans 4:21)
Debi, your comment made me smile. It takes Faith alright to build an ark when no one on earth had ever even seen rain? And to think a simple man like Noah building a foolish ark and jamming animals of all things on it seems like a fairy tale.
The Apostle Paul said it nicely in Romans 4:21, be fully persuaded that God has power to do what He has promised. Needles writes on “study with…John 8” blog another list of power faith builders.
Our faith is being tried and tested on all fronts from Christian religious leaders to Christian political leaders, their morals and actions have become the norm of the world in way to many instances. Such as Governor Sanford, SC, Christian, and his soul mate and indiscretion experiences while married to another woman that is not his soul mate. But, wife and mother of his four children. And, Senator John Ensign, Nevada, christian, promise keeper leader and adultery with his friend and co-workers’ wife. Faith wavers in the face of the storms.
We pray increase our faith for surely increase of faith is needed to remain strong in our beliefs.
Amen, Sara. We need that fruit of faith always growing. In your blog you quoted this scripture,”For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them”.
This verse exhorts us to gather together. The gathering helps us stay in a place of security and accountability, a place where we can be fed, nourtured, corrected and encouraged by like-minded believers.
Hebrews 10:24,25 reminds us : “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching”.