The Bible promotes the idea of people working together, since that multiplies their effectiveness. So the ideas of community and partnership are well supported in the Bible.
“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if one falls his companion can lift him up. But pity the one who falls without another to help him up.” Ecclesiastes 4:9,10
“Five of you will chase an hundred, and an hundred of you will put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies will fall before you by the sword.” Leviticus 26:8
Yesterday I caught a sweet thought about having God On Your Side that I’d like to encourage you with.
While having others around to support us is a wonderful benefit, and our cumulative efforts multiply our effectiveness, yet there is another dimension of partnership that I find quite delightful.
A missionary friend, Geoff Holland, bravely went into troubled parts of Africa to encourage the Christians. He faced many dangerous situations and had amazing experiences.
One day his vehicle broke down in Africa on a remote dusty road, on his way to speak at a meeting. His driver went to a nearby village and found that parts would take many hours to get to them. Geoff committed the situation to God.
Soon after clouds of dust appeared as a cavalcade of cars approached. Geoff stood out among those standing on the side of road, as the only white man. Suddenly the cars slowed and stopped, a door opened and Geoff was invited into the main vehicle. He found himself sitting opposite the President of the country. It seems they assumed Geoff was with the UN, or something similar and gave him the courtesy of a lift to the next city. No one else spoke English, so the two men travelled in silence, the President working on his documents and Geoff preparing his preaching messages. The car passed effortlessly through check-points and congestion.
Geoff was dropped in the next city and found the conference on time. For those few hours of travel with the President, Geoff was in a sort of partnership with him.
Geoff, who should have been stuck on a dusty road, waiting in the heat for car parts, was given prestige treatment with the most important man in the country.
So that’s a benefit of partnership not readily recognised. Consider the person being given a tour of a factory by the Manager. That person has no right to even be in the building, but in that temporary partnership with the Boss he can go to places other employees aren’t even allowed to go.
Consider someone trying to get into a building where the security detail won’t let them in. If a senior executive were to meet them and escort them into the building, that partnership would open doors otherwise closed to them.
I recall a man telling me about how he got to watch a big game. Tickets were sold-out and there was no way for him to get into the game. However, he found a catering company that would employ him in one of the business lounges overlooking the ground. By that ‘partnership’ he not only got into the game, he watched it from a prime vantage point.
If we partner with one with greater standing and authority than us we benefit from being in their wake.
We get to go where they can go and engage with things they are invited to.
In a sense junior employees of a company are in partnership with the business. When they go somewhere on company business the company name and reputation allows them to be treated with respect and privilege. They are not acting on their own account, but as a ‘partner’ of the business and its dealings.
You might be the junior partner, or even a humble assistant, but you are part of their entourage and that opens doors for you that you would otherwise never get through.
So, with that picture in mind, consider what might happen for you if you are in a divine partnership with God On Your Side. Imagine being in God’s entourage, able to go where He can go and do what He can do. Imagine the doors that would open to you if you were acting as God’s associate.
What’s more, you would have the resources of God to back you up. We see that several times in the Bible when God fights with or for God’s people.
“One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as He promised.” Joshua 23:10
Moses, an eighty year old shepherd from the middle of nowhere, could step into the throne room of Pharaoh and demand things, because Moses was in partnership with God and had God on his side.
Prophets could speak to kings, nations, rulers and powerful people, not based on their own authority, but as those who spoke on God’s behalf – in partnership with God.
On your own account you have no significant authority on the earth or against the spirit realm. But as God’s child, in partnership with God, and as an ambassador for Jesus and the Gospel, you have great authority. You can rebuke the devil and have him flee from you.
“Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
Partnering with God, Elisha knew what the Syrian king talked about in secret.
“The king of Syria was enraged and called his servants, asking, Show me which one of us works for the king of Israel? A servant replied, None, my lord O king. Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedchamber.” 2Kings 6:12
As God’s children we are all in a very special partnership with God, as God’s sons. We are in partnership with Christ, as His brothers, and we are in partnership with the Holy Spirit, since the Holy Spirit lives within us. So God is on our side.
We have eternal truth in God’s Word, eternal salvation through Christ’s blood, God’s unlimited wisdom and power through the Holy Spirit, divine authority on the earth through God’s calling on our lives and many instructions about how to reign in life and do the work of God’s Kingdom.
There is no limit to what you can become, what you can do or what you can achieve as you live out your privileged life, teamed up with God. So, my friends, may you be blessed and encouraged as you stop and consider who you are and what you can do because God Is On Your Side.
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