Do you agree?

My dad could tell I was pretty discouraged.  “Let’s pray right now,” he said.  So we began to pray.   It was a powerful time of prayer.  I could feel a lifting of the discouragement and the strengthening of my faith.  When we were done my dad asked,

“Do you agree?”

“Yeah sure,” I answered. “Then say it!” He insisted. “Okay, I agree!”   He looked at me and quoted Matthew 18:19,

“If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.”

Then he reminded me of the importance and power that the bible places on our spoken words.  No doubt God hears silent prayers, but the predominant idea in scripture is that prayer is verbal…

We are to speak our prayers (Psalms 55:17)

We are to call upon God with our needs (Psalms 145:18)

We are to make our requests known to Him (Phil 4:6)

And God promises that he will respond (Jeremiah 33:3)

It’s normal to finish a prayer by saying “Amen” (which means “so be it.”), however we’ve said it so many times we often don’t think about it.  But ask somebody to actually say they agree with you, and you will get some strange reactions.  

Strange reactions aside, there is power in agreement! 

Think about Israel entering the Promised Land.  They easily defeated the walled city of Jericho, and were beginning to occupy the land that God had given them. But then they suffered a major defeat at city called Ai.

Joshua was upset with God.  God was upset with Joshua.  Turns out a man named Achan had kept some of the spoils from Jericho for himself and hid them in his tent.  And when they had gone up against Ai, they only took a small contingent.  All of this led to defeat. 

God’s instructions to Joshua were clear:

1) Get rid of any sin that’s not in agreement with God’s word

2) Take ALL the army up to Ai; everybody was to be involved

Joshua obeyed God’s instructions and Israel easily defeated Ai. 

Another example comes from the first Christians.  Christ had been crucified, rose from the dead, gave them some instructions, and then ascended into the sky.   They were fearful, but expectant. They then gathered in an upper story room and began to pray. We are told,

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. (Acts 2:1–2)

Both the story of Israel’s victory at Ai and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the first Believers illustrate how powerful agreement is.  Whether it’s in the heat of attack, or when there’s a need for God’s power to be released, being in agreement is an essential part.

Do you agree?

Then say it!