I will come and help you. Be courageous!

2 Samuel 10:11-12 NLT

Siblings… do you have them?

Growing up, there were four of us and everyone was very talkative!

In our younger years, it was chaos… everyone talking at once or arguing!

I loved my siblings, but there were times we were divided.

As we aged and matured, an unfortunate crisis actually… united us.

It was similar for God’s people. A crisis brought unity, so brothers helped each other…

When Joab saw that he would have to fight on both the front and the rear, he chose some of Israel’s elite troops and placed them under his personal command to fight the Arameans in the fields. He left the rest of the army under the command of his brother Abishai, who was to attack the Ammonites. “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then come over and help me,” Joab told his brother. “And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come and help you. Be courageous! Let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. May the Lord’s will be done” (2 Samuel 10:9-14 NLT).

God still wants unity for His people.

Although crisis can unify, God has another plan to bring reconciliation… love.

Consider Jesus’ desire in this incredible prayer for His church…

So they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world would know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me (John 17:22-23 NLT).  

When the church experiences unity and love, it reflects a message to the world that God loves us and sent us Jesus!

Consider the unity Jesus desires for the church.

…Unity to stand firm on the truth, the message in God’s Word.

…Unity to share the One we know, Jesus, with the world.

When the church works together like this, we reflect our experience of God’s love.

I have found this true for me, too!

As I unite with fellow Christians and share Jesus with the world, I experience God’s love filling me so I can reflect Him!

Father, in the quiet of my heart, You speak to me whispering… work together in unity with your fellow Christians to share the message of Jesus. Then you will experience the unity and love that Jesus gives, because you are united with Him. Thank you, Lord, for your amazing blessings! In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Stacy A. Davis