Being on Alert about our Speaking and Opinions, for One Accord is the Key to God’s Blessing

The master key to every blessing in the New Testament is the one accord; we need to realize that in the church life everything depends on God’s blessing, and He pours out His blessing, even the fullness of the blessing of Christ, upon the saints in one accord. Amen!

The one accord is really the key, even the master key, to all the blessings in the New Testament; for us to be under God’s blessing both personally and corporately, we need to have and keep the one accord.

However, we may not have the one accord among us simply because we utter our opinion; we may think something and immediately utter it in the fellowship, and our opinion (which is not one with Christ) brings in darkness and death.

When Peter uttered his opinion based on his good feeling toward the Lord in Matt. 16, he didn’t say something bad, evil, unscriptural, or mean; he simply expressed his feeling that the Lord should not die.

But the expression of such an opinion was a gate of Hades being opened so that death and darkness would come in.

In 1 Corinthians we also see that the believers there didn’t have the one accord, and one of the causes was that some said they were of Paul, others of Cephas, others of Apollos, and still others of Christ.

There was not the same mind but four different minds with four different results, and the one accord was lost.

Whenever we are not attuned in the same mind, thinking the same thing, we lose the one accord.

When we are not one with the Lord in uttering our opinion, and when our opinion is different from God’s will, oneness is gone, the Body of Christ is lost, and the building is no more. Oh, Lord!

How can we be one when we have different opinions, we speak a mind that is different from the mind of Christ, and we don’t speak the same thing with the same mouth?

It is a glory to God when we are attuned in the same mind and speak the same thing with the same mouth; it is a shame to the enemy when this happens, but it is a shame to the Lord when we try to be different, express our unrenewed mind, and utter our own opinions.

We need to realize that we are members of the Body, and we are NOT the Head; Christ is the Head, He is the only One who can speak and think, and we need to hold Christ as the Head and be one with Him in our speaking.

For us to have one mind and one mouth means that we have only one Head, who is Christ; because the Body of Christ has only one Head, this one Head has the mouth and the mind, and we need to let the mind of Christ be in us!

May we practice the one accord by speaking the same thing, even speaking with one mouth, for God to be glorified!

The world encourages us, trains us, and entices us if we speak something different, having “our own voice” and “doing our own thing”; however, God is glorified when we speak the same one thing (Christ) with the same one mouth (Christ) as the Body of Christ.

The One Accord is the Master Key to every Blessing in the New Testament – we want to Receive God’s Commanded Blessing!

What brought in the blessing of God upon the church was the one accord of the one hundred twenty; the landmark between the Gospels and the book of Acts is the prayer in one accord of the disciples.

If today all the members of a local church have the one accord, the baptism of the Spirit will be there.

The key to all the blessings of God in the New Testament is the one accord; when we practice the one accord, we have the master key to every blessing in the New Testament.

The master key to all the rooms in the New Testament is the one accord; this is why Paul told Euodias and Syntyche to be in one accord.

God’s blessing doesn’t come merely upon one who receives God’s life and reads the Bible, regularly attends the church meetings, and does what the Bible tells him to do.

God’s blessing is upon the one accord. In Matt. 18 the Lord gave the master key to all the blessings when He said that, whenever two are in harmony on earth when they ask, it will be done for them by the Father, for the Father blesses the one accord.

This one accord is the practice of the oneness. The one accord is the master key to every blessing in the New Testament (see Acts 1:14; Eph. 1:3; Rom. 15:29).

We need to treasure God’s blessing and realize that in the church life everything depends on God’s blessing (Eph. 1:3).

Nothing depends on us; our growth in life, our going on with the Lord, the increase of the church, the building up of the church, and all the practical things that need to be taken care of in the church, all depend on God’s blessing.

In our personal life, our church life, our family life, our marriage life, and at work – everything depends on the Lord’s blessing upon our person, our family, our church life, and everything we do.

Without God’s blessing, we are doomed; without His blessing, we have nothing.

We all want to see the churches receive God’s commanded blessing; there is a particular place where God commands His blessing – the saints dwelling in oneness, the saints practicing the one accord, as seen in Psa. 133:3.

How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in oneness; it is like the fine oil upon the head, that ran down upon the beard and to the hem of the garments.

The Lord’s blessing is upon those who are in one accord; when we practice the one accord, we have God’s commanded blessing.

God will only grace and bless the one accord; He will bless us only when practicing the oneness.

In our practice of the church life, we need to know the way for the church to be under “the fullness of the blessing of Christ” (see Rom. 15:29).

Paul told the believers in Rome that, when he comes to them he wants to come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

It is crucial for us to realize that God’s blessing can come only upon a situation of one accord; God blesses only the one accord (Acts 2:46).

If in the church life we are bickering and quarrelling, we cannot receive God’s blessing.

But if we practice the one accord, we will enjoy the Lord’s commanded blessing.

May the God of all endurance and comfort grant us to be of the same mind toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that with one accord we may with one mouth glorify God.

In order for us to receive God’s blessing, we must practice the oneness, and the way to practice the oneness is by the one accord (Acts 4:24; 15:25; Rom. 15:6).

Lord, everything depends upon Your blessing. We depend upon Your blessing in our family life, our marriage life, our church life, and in everything. We treasure Your blessing, for without Your blessing we are nothing and can do nothing. May we see all the local churches receive God’s commanded blessing! Amen, Lord, may we know the way for the church to be under the fullness of the blessing of Christ! Keep us in oneness and in one accord, practicing the oneness in the church life so that we may receive God’s blessing. Amen, Lord, we treasure the one accord and we want to practice the one accord in our local church life. May Your blessing come upon us as we practice being in one accord in all the local churches! May all the saints practice the oneness by the one accord so that we may be under Your blessing!

Being on the Alert concerning our Speaking and our Opinions in the Church Life so that we may Practice the One Accord and Receive God’s Blessing

When we speak of practicing the oneness so that we may have the one accord, we need to realize that we already have the oneness – we just need to practice it.

As we practice the oneness, our mind, our love, and our speaking are touched by the Lord, for whenever we express ourselves, oneness is affected.

Many times our mind is wild, running free like a wild horse without any restrain; we think about this and then about that, and our mind is not restrained in any way.

Our emotion is not regulated, and we may love this person today but tomorrow we don’t.

And as for our words, we speak in such a loose way; we get familiar with the saints and we just speak what’s on our mind, having no filter, and not checking with the Lord in our spirit.

If we are not restrained in our mind, regulated in our emotion, and on the alert in our speaking, we can damage the oneness.

Actually, many times we have violated the practice of oneness, simply by expressing ourselves without checking with the Lord.

Throughout the ages the oneness has been damaged because the believers did not check with the Lord, they were not restrained and governed by Him in their thinking, loving, and speaking, and therefore much damage has been done.

We may not speak evil words of reviling, but we may be loose in our speaking, and it is so easy for us to give our opinion about something.

We may help someone to do something or we may just visit someone in their home, and our opinions are flowing free, while our speaking is so loose. Oh, Lord!

When we are not one with the Lord in our thinking, our speaking, and our loving, it is easy to bring many problems in the church and even spread division among the saints.

We must be on the alert; before we speak something, we should simply turn to the Lord and consider whether it is Christ speaking in us or not.

If we would simply stop and turn to the Lord, being on the alert that it might not be Him speaking in us at that time, many problems would be avoided.

If we love the saints and yet some of them are not so lovable to us, we need to ask ourselves before the Lord if our love has different classes, degrees, and depths; we need to allow the Lord to adjust us accordingly.

Similarly, in our speaking, we need to learn to turn to the Lord before we give our opinion we need to speak only if Christ speaks, and not speak if He in us doesn’t speak.

Actually, we need to become Christ in our thinking (let His mind be in us) and in our speaking (let Christ speak in us); otherwise, what we speak may not be evil or divisive, but it may bring in problems and even division.

Our desire is that the church would receive grace and blessing; His commanded blessing is upon the saints dwelling in oneness.

We can dwell in oneness when we’re on the alert that it may be us speaking, thinking, or loving, so we turn to the Lord and allow His mind to become our mind, let Him speak in us, and be adjusted in our emotion according to Him. Amen!

The oneness that we have and practice is not the oneness that the world speaks of; it is a perfected oneness by all of us being in the Father’s name and life, in his word of reality, and in His glory.

Only by being in God can we be one and practice the oneness, and only in this way, we can receive God’s blessing.

And we do this in the midst of our living our daily life, laboring for the Lord, working at a job, and taking care of our daily activities.

In all these things we are on the alert that Christ would live in us and be expressed through us.

Lord Jesus, we want to be on the alert, turning to You before we speak something so that we would not utter our opinion but have the mind of Christ, love with Christ as our emotion, and express Christ through our words. Make us one with You, Lord, and remind us to turn to our spirit again and again. Oh Lord, may we be on the alert so that we would not have a wild and unrestrained mind, an unregulated emotion, or a light and loose speaking. Save us from expressing ourselves and speaking our own opinions in the church life. May we turn, pray, call on the Lord, and consider before Him before we react to things and before we speak anything. Oh Lord, gain the dwelling together of the saints in oneness so that You may have a way to pour out Your commanded blessing! We want to practice the one accord in the church life today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1990, vol. 2, “The Oneness and the One Accord according to the Lord’s Aspiration and the Body Life and Service according to His Pleasure,” ch. 1, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Vital Factors for the Lord’s Recovery of the Church Life (2021 ITERO), week 5, The Factor of the Genuine One Accord.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Behold, how good, how pleasant ‘tis / When brethren dwell in one! / ’Tis like the oil on Aaron’s head, / Which to his skirts did run; / As dew of Hermon that descends / On Zion’s mountains o’er; / The Lord His blessing there commands, / E’en life forevermore. (Hymns #855)
  – Behold how good and how pleasant it is, / For brethren to dwell together in unity! / Behold how good and how pleasant it is, / For brethren to dwell together in unity! / As the dew of Hermon, And as the dew that descended / Upon the mountains of Zion: / For there the Lord commanded the blessing, / Even life forevermore. (Hymns #1339)
  – Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Speaking nothing in pretense; / Ask according to the spirit, / Praying by the inner sense. (Hymns #784)