Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Strong (11/21/24)
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TITLE: Strength in Unity | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lakella Davenport
11/28/24 -
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Matthew 18:19-20 (WEB)- “Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”
Psalms 28:7-8- “Yahweh is my strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices. With my song I will thank him. Yahweh is their strength. He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed.”
Psalms 29:11- “Yahweh will give strength to his people. Yahweh will bless his people with peace.”
Psalms 105:4- “Seek Yahweh and his strength. Seek his face forever more.”
There are several instances in the Bible when the people of God gathered themselves together on one accord to revere, honor, thank, praise, repent, and seek God’s protection and forgiveness. It is amazing the things God will do when his people are in agreement and on one accord. King Hezekiah called for all the people of Israel and Judah to come together to Yahweh’s house at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover of the Lord (2 Chronicles 30:1). “Many people assembled at Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great assembly. They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the altars of incense and threw them into the brook of Kidron,” (2 Chronicles 30:13-14). These altars that the people of God took away and destroyed were altars used to worship false, idol gods. Together the people were taking a stand for the word of the Lord and were affirming God’s sovereignty as the one and only true God of the heavens and earth. “All the assembly of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the assembly who came out of Israel, and the foreigners who came out of the land of Israel and who lived in Judah rejoiced. So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayers came up to his holy habitation, even to the heaven,” (2 Chronicles 30:25-27). What a wonderful thing for the unified prayers of the people of God to reach God’s heavenly throne. The church today should fervently desire for our prayers to reach the heavens and God’s heavenly residence.
Another major gathering of the people of God occurs in the book of Esther. “Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Susa, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish,” (Esther 4:16). God heard their prayers and delivered them from the wicked plans of Haman, who had sought to destroy all the Jewish people within King Ahasuerus’ kingdom (Esther 3:5-6, Esther 8-9). As a result, the Jewish people gathered in unity offering up praise and thanksgiving to God the father for their victory over their enemies. “But the Jews who were in Susa assembled together on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth days of the month; and on the fifteenth day of that month, they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a holiday, and a day of sending presents of food to one another,” (Esther 9:18-19). “This feast is called Purim,” (Esther 9:26-28).
A third gathering of the people of God, occurs in the book of Jonah; where the people of Nineveh gathered to worship, repent, and to seek God’s forgiveness and mercy for their terrible sins (Jonah 3).
A fourth gathering of God’s people that occurs in Acts chapter two, results in God’s power and Holy Spirit being released on all that were gathered in Jerusalem to worship God.
We should long for God’s presence to be among us like it was among the people of God during these gatherings. What an amazing feeling it is to be in the presence of the Lord.
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