The Power of Unity - Part Two, the High Cost of Unity

Unity comes with a great price. It does not just happen. The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 4:3, “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The Amplified Bible reads, “Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.”

Unity is not without cost. It is the result of a people who are submitted first the Lord, then to the God given authority in their lives. Unity cost you your own agenda. It means uniting together behind the mission and vision of the church. Most churches never realize their potential because they have not settled the authority question.

If you have a problem submitting to authority then you have a submission issue in your relationship with the Lord. If we cannot submit to the God ordained authority in our lives then we will not be able to completely submit to the Holy Spirit. Refusal to submit to authority is rebellion.

I Samuel 15:23 reads, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.” Many don’t believe that witchcraft exists in the church today. In the past when I have taught concerning witchcraft and talked about demonic spirits many in the church have questioned that teaching. The Bible is filled with references about the unseen enemy that we engage when we endeavor to do the work of God.

Witchcraft can be defined as manipulation, intimidation, and domination. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, in Galatians 3:1, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?” What is the result of this witchcraft? What happens when there is division caused by rebellion? There will be strife. James 3:16 reads, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”

Recently the Lord gave me the following four things that result when a spirit of witchcraft is in operation:
1) Criticism
2) Oppression/Confusion
3) Discouragement
4) Depression/heaviness

The Bible defines heaviness as a spirit. Isaiah 61:3 reads, “To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

What is the end result of division? The Apostle Paul writes these words in Galatians 5:15, "But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!” The end result of division will be destruction. Matthew 12:25 records the words of Jesus, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

Division will devastate a church, a family, or any organization. God is calling His church to unite together to reap our God ordained harvest and to demonstrate His love to a world that does not know Him.