"Two can accomplish more than twice as much as one, for the results can be much better. If one falls, the other pulls him up; but if a man falls when he is alone, he's in trouble.....And one standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer; three is even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken" (Eccl. 4:9-12-TLB). You may remember the story from Aesop's fables, where an old farmer taught an object lesson on unity to his three children, who were constantly quarreling among themselves. Taking a number of weak sticks, he showed them how the sticks could quite easily be broken individually, but when tied together in a bundle were almost impossible to break. Even the children of this world realise that there is strength in unity and fellowship. "The locusts", the Bible says, "though small are unusually wise, for though they have no leader, they stay together in swarms (Prov. 30:27-TLB). Therein lies their safety and their power. In the church of Jesus Christ, we need to relearn this lesson.

The unity that the New Testament speaks of, is the unity of the members of Christ's Body with one another, under the Headship of Christ - an organic unity and not an organisational one. It excludes those who are outside of the Body of Christ, even if they have the label `Christian'. There can be no union between the living and the dead. Those made alive in Christ through the new birth can find their spiritual unity only with others who have been similarly regenerated by God. Christian unity is forged by the Holy Spirit Who alone makes us members of Christ's Body. The Bible exhorts us to "strive earnestly to guard the harmony and oneness produced by the Spirit" (Eph. 4:3-Amplified). Any unity formed by man is worthless.

Satan is a cunning foe and he realises that he cannot overcome a united Christian fellowship that lives under the authority of Christ and His Word. His strategy for warfare, is therefore, to begin by sowing discord, suspicion and misunderstanding among the members of a fellowship, so that he can paralyze them individually. Jesus said that the powers of Hell would not be able to overcome His church. (Matt. 16:18). It is the church, the Body of Christ, that is promised victory in the battle against Satan. A believer standing in isolation from other believers may find himself defeated. Satan attacked Christ constantly during Christ's life on earth, but was unable to prevail. Finally at the cross, Satan's power over man was taken away from him by Christ (Heb. 2:14; Col. 2:15). Today, Satan cannot attack the Risen Christ. His attacks are therefore directed at Christ's Body, the church. Victory over Satan is possible only as we stand united against him, as a Body under the Headship of our Lord. In a fellowship of Christians, even if one member is not fulfilling his function, the power of the Body is, to that extent, weakened. Satan knowing this, seeks continually to isolate individual members of a group, or to divide the group (or church) into cliques. Either way, he succeeds in his aim. This is why we must be constantly on our guard against the wiles of Satan, lest he weaken the links between us and other members of the Body of Christ.

Jesus made many promises in relation to individual believers praying to God. But in Matthew 18:18,19, we have a promise made to a section of Christ's Body praying in unison: "Whatever you bind on earth", Jesus said, "is bound in heaven, and whatever you free on earth will be freed in heaven. I also tell you this - if two of you agree down here on earth concerning anything you ask for, my Father in heaven will do it for you" (TLB). The word translated "agree" in verse 19, is the Greek word "sumphoneo", from which our English word "symphony" is derived. Jesus was referring in these verses to a unity among even two of His children that would be like a musical symphony. This implies more than just saying "Amen" at the end of another's prayer. Symphony implies a deep harmony of spirit between those who are praying together. When the fellowship of even a small group of Christians is like the symphony produced by a well-conducted orchestra, then (Jesus said) their prayers will have such authority that anything they asked for would be granted. Such a group of Christians would have authority to bind Satan's power and to liberate Satan's captives. The reason why such a fellowship could exercise such authority was explained by Jesus: "For", He said, "wherever two or three are gathered together into My Name, there I AM in the midst of them" (verse 20-Amplified). Christ the Head is present with all His authority in the midst of such a fellowship, and therefore the powers of Hell can never stand against it. One reason why the church described in the "Acts of the Apostles" knew the reality of this authority was because they had this unity in their fellowship. "All of these (the 11 apostles) with their minds in full agreement devoted themselves steadfastly to prayer..... "And all who believed were united and together.....and day after day they regularly assembled in the temple with united purpose...... "And they (the apostles and other believers).....lifted their voices together with one united mind to God......(Acts 1:14; 2:44,46; 4:24-Amplified). Because they were integrated into one Body under the authority of Christ, they could exercise the Lord's authority in prayer. They were not highly educated, they had no social influence and no financial backing, yet they turned the then-known world upside down for Christ. When Peter was locked up in prison, all of Herod's forces could not stand against the power of that early church on its knees before God (Acts 12:5-11). Satan's kingdom was shaken to its foundations by that church as it went forth as one Body, registering the victory and authority of Christ in human lives all over the Roman Empire (See Acts 19:11-20 for one example of this).

Today Satan ridicules the efforts of a disunited church trying to oust him from his strongholds by gimmicks, gadgets, conferences, theological knowledge, eloquence and trained choirs. None of these are of any avail against Satan. The church needs to know again the reality of being one Body united under the Headship of Christ. A fellowship of Christians properly related to each other, growing in love for one another and living in obedience to Christ and His Word is the greatest threat to the kingdom of the Devil on earth. Satan dreads nothing else as much as that. Let us make it our prayer that the Lord will help us to live each day in the light of the glorious truth of our being one Body in Christ. As more and more Christians throughout the world begin to understand and to live by this truth, we shall assuredly see the church, though small in number, restored to her pristine glory, an instrument in God's Hands to rout the forces of darkness and a channel of blessing to a needy world.