Theologians may consider Amos a “minor” prophet, but the man of God offered some major revelations that serve believers well today.
Intercessors and worshippers love Amos 9:11, which promises the restoration of the tabernacle of David. Prophets love verses like Amos 3:8, which declares that “the Lord has spoken—who can but prophesy?” They are also quick to tell you that God does nothing unless He reveals it to His servants the prophets (see Amos 3:7).
Yes, Amos is full of fire and prophetic declarations. There’s one nugget of wisdom in particular that I believe is prophetically significant in this season. It comes from Amos 3:3 and served as a pointed question—eight prophetic words—that should cause you to consider your alignments: How can two walk together unless they agree?
What Is Agreement?
Now, before you run too far ahead let me clarify that statement. We’re not all going to agree on everything all the time. That’s not the spirit of the Scripture. Certainly, there are open-handed differences and closed-handed differences.
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One definition for “agree” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “to have the same opinion.” It also means “to concur in (as an opinion); to consent to as a course of action; and to accept or concede something (as the views or wishes of another).” When you agree with someone, you are essentially endorsing his or her viewpoint.
In the context of Amos, the word “agree” suggests that there is peace between God and man but the same principle applies between man and man. Two people cannot walk together with peaceful unity in ministry if they have massive theological differences. When you align with someone, you are effectively endorsing their ministry—and you can’t do that if you aren’t at peace with their beliefs and behavior.
Now, two people can love one another if they don’t agree. They can be friends. They can fellowship together. But when it comes to the work of the ministry, two cannot walk together if they have stark disagreements about what they believe or how they should minister. While there is power in agreement, there is often strife in disagreement. The anointing flows from unity (see Ps. 133:2). Strife kills the anointing.
Open-Handed vs. Close-Handed Differences
How can two walk together unless they agree? Again, we’re not all going to agree on everything all the time. Let’s talk about open-handed verse close-handed differences.
In the awakening movement, we’re seeing people from many different streams unite under the Appeal to Heaven banner believing for the next great move of God. I talk about this in my book and how it thrills my heart. We don’t all agree on praying in tongues or end-time theology or women preachers, but we all agree that God wants to pour out His Spirit and bring transforming revival—a Third Great Awakening—to America. So we labor together in love toward that prize.
Now, if you are contending for a Third Great Awakening and one of your friends tells you flat out that she doesn’t believe God is bringing transforming revival to the nation, you cannot touch and agree for the next great move of God because one of you doesn’t agree. You can’t walk together that area of ministry because your belief systems are far different. It just won’t work.
Put another way, if I am believing for transforming revival and you are prophesying doom and gloom with no hope for an outpouring, we can still be friends but we cannot walk together in ministry because we are not laboring toward the same goal.
The Amos 3:3 Reality
Here’s another example: End-time theology—whether you believe in pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib or no trib—is an open-handed difference in ministry, at least most of the time. But it’s a closed-handed difference if you are writing a book about the end times with someone who does not agree with you. How could you write that book if you don’t agree?
If I pray in tongues and believe in the gifts of the Spirit and you don’t, we can love one another, but we will probably not worship at the same church. If you believe in female angels and I don’t, we can agree that Jesus is Lord, but you are probably not going to invite me to speak at your next conference about supernatural female angelic encounters. Are you getting my drift yet?
As Christians, we are all united under the banner of Christ’s love and I should not rebuke you for what you believe beyond that (nor should you rebuke me for not believing the same doctrine as you), but that doesn’t mean we can align with one another in the work of the ministry. I owe you respect and love, not endorsements and alignment. If we disagree on areas in which we are passionate, how can we walk closely together with those opposing views without compromising what we believe? We can’t, but we can still love one another.
Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, co-founder of AwakeningTV.com, on the leadership team of the New Breed Revival Network and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening; Mornings With the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the Still, Small Voice of God; The Making of a Prophet and Satan’s Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter. Jennifer’s Periscope handle is @propheticbooks.