Well, an army is a complicated system. Every officer must answer to another, higher-ranking officer. Battles are confusing and a disjointed. Many men end up killing their own comrades without even realizing it. Some battles become outright massacres if the officers do not coordinate properly. Spiritually, if we do not keep our lives straight we will be in danger of a massacre: total destruction at the hands of our enemies. God has a place for us in His army to destroy those enemies instead, and guide us through our problems. He wants us to join with Him in the fight against our foes.

If we will only put our trust in God, He will guide us through the battle. When we cooperate with Him like a soldier cooperates with their superiors, we are in the undefeatable fortress of God. [Clearly this requires, well, cooperation.  -Ed.] I need to be aware of my mental, emotional, or even physical enemies so He can direct me. If I don’t follow directions, my day is not going to be easy. That’s not to say that following directions is always easy — it’s difficult for many people — but He’s still our superior. And maybe we’ll mess up from time to time because we’re not perfect, but that’s why we have a God to catch us if we fall. Psalms 119:105 says that God’s word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. This means that God will direct us where we need to go: all we need to do is follow.

A faithful soldier who communicates with his superiors is far preferable in the eyes of a general to a “lone wolf”, whose unguided attacks may hinder his own comrades. Likewise, if we are spiritually active but not in agreement with God, we may do more harm than good. Victory over our personal enemies — whatever they may be — is dependent on our unity with God.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

Unity is a successive step, an extension of the Mosaic Law. Jesus stated both simply: the law of Moses teaches us to (1) love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and (2) love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37,39). He stated the principle of unity as ‘one-ness’ with each other. He implies identification, communication, and mutual support with these phrases. If God’s laws can be distilled to principles of love, then unity must be a side effect, for it displays the effects of an atmosphere of brotherly love.

If the above argument has not convinced you that unity is an important part of being an effective Christ-follower, I encourage you to search out every Biblical mention of unity’s opposite: division. You will find that there is no place in the house of God for divisive attitudes or actions. There is plenty of room for discussion and even disagreements without being divisive about it. Without unity a group of people will scatter to the wind; with unity that same group can remain when all else has fallen. We will revisit the effects of unity in later articles.

The New Free Thinkers also think that unity is important to a successful spiritual life — so much so that we are sponsoring a series of prayer meetings in the Northeast United States to encourage church youth groups (and others) to get in unity with each other. This project, called Unitiative, will endeavor connect groups of Christian young people to God and to other young people who share their desire to live for God. To find a meeting near you, or to volunteer to host a meeting, visit:

JoinTheUnitiative.com

The phone beckons you from its corner. You walk over to it and look at the caller ID. It’s Jesus! At that instant you decide whether to pick up the phone or to ignore the call and go about your day, eventually forgetting that the call was even made.

We do this time and time again, and each time we wonder why God isn’t talking to us – when all along He has been tirelessly calling us. This is a problem that many people face nowadays: we go through our day wondering where God is while He’s trying to talk to us every second of the day. He calls us and wants us to answer so He can have an open connection with us. I’ve been guilty of this many times over. I ask Him to speak to me, but when He does I seem to just leave the phone on the hook.

Scripture says in Isaiah 55:6 to “seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.” We need to take every opportunity to answer that call. His call is a privilege; we are privileged just to get this call. Romans 8:28 tells us that “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose.” We are the called! And if we are the called we need to answer the call!

Let’s stand up and answer, because if we answer we will get our answer! Maybe it’s a tongue twister, but that’s really how it works! I know that from this point on, I will focus on trying to listen more intently to the call. I hope you will, too, because if we do, we will finally be able to call ourselves “those who answer” and not just “those who are called”!

Do you intend to become someone who answers God’s call? Will you start to pay more attention to your inner caller ID and pick up more quickly when He speaks to you? Practice a little bit by answering those questions in the comments!