If we desire to see God’s will fulfilled on the earth, the Lord expects us to be in agreement with Him!
Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:
2 “You only have I known of all the families of the earth;
Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
3 Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? Amos 3:1-3
7 Surely the Lord God does nothing,
Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. Amos 3:7
As I shared in the last devotional, the above passage stresses the importance of our agreement with God. Amos 3:7 gives us insight into another reason that we need to be agreement with God. This scripture tells us that God operates on the earth by revealing His plan to the prophets. If the prophets are distracted with carnality and running around trying to please to everyone, they will not hear God’s secrets, nor will they be obedient to the Lord’s direction. Jonah is an example of a prophet who, for a season, did not walk in agreement with God.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Jonah 1:1-3
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Jonah 3:1-4
Jonah denied God’s revelation and direction for a season, because he was not in agreement with what the Lord desired to do in the Assyrians’ lives. When the Lord spoke to him about going to Nineveh, he went in the opposite direction because he did not like them. He ran from God thinking that he can block God’s plan for the Assyrians. However, the Lord graciously allowed him to be swallowed up by a whale leading Jonah to repentance.
Once Jonah came to his senses, he went to Nineveh and told the Assyrians that God’s judgement was coming. While Jonah still did not like the Assyrians, he did what the Lord asked him to do. Jonah had understood first-hand that life outside of agreeing with God was miserable and full of problems.
We all have our preferences, but God’s direction is more important than our preferences, tradition, or opinions. We have good examples in the Bible of those who agreed with God despite their own feelings. For example, Ananias went to see Paul when he was directed by the Lord. The Lord had already spoken to Paul that this man was coming. What if Ananias had rejected God’s direction!? What would have happened to Paul while he was waiting for God’s miracle through this man to show up in his life!?
Another example of agreeing with God is Peter who had to go to Cornelius’ house. Even though he had considered Gentiles unclean up to that point, he was obedient to the vision God gave him. What if Cornelius had sent people to get Peter and Peter had refused to go!? What would have happened to Cornelius’ family and all the other Gentiles that came after him?
These stories show us the significance of remaining in agreement with God. We need to do some heart work to ensure we are not avoiding the Lord’s direction or denying that He has spoken to us. We can’t be afraid of what others think of our actions when it is clearly the Lord’s direction.
If Jonah had not come into agreement with God, the Assyrians would have missed the warning message and the coming of God’s judgement. God was looking for His prophet to be in agreement with Him, so He can accomplish what He desired on the earth.
Many times we are in the danger of having made up our minds about various issues. We also have people in our circles who are agree with us, so we are not open to seeing or hearing anything different than we already know. I wonder how many messages have not been heard or obeyed by God’s prophetic people because we were not in agreement with Him!? Are you in agreement with God? Do you find yourself arguing with God or sharing your opinion when you know clearly God has spoken!?