It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the Lord commanded the blessing —
Life forevermore.”

Psalm 133 (NKJV)

What does unity have to do with anointing?

The benefits of unity are not hard to sell. “Good”, “pleasant”, a “commanded blessing”, “life forevermore”.

In our increasingly divided and aggressively polarising world, our nation and our world could do with some unity more than ever.

However, the benefits of unity should never be limited to the medicine cabinet, to be used only in situations where there is fighting or friction. Maybe the greatest benefit of unity is found in verse 2 – that it causes the oil to flow down the whole body.

In Scripture, “oil” speaks of the presence of God and his anointing. What does unity have to do with anointing? Apparently a lot.

The question for all of us is, “Will they find oil?”

Unity is God’s secret weapon of mass acceleration. He hardwired immense promise and blessing to “brethren [who] dwell together in unity”, including seeing the whole body anointed with oil. God wants the whole body of Christ anointed. Not just the leadership, not just pastors, but every member in the body.

To touch a city, to reach the people in our world, we will need the whole body of Christ anointed.  When the woman with the issue of blood was reaching for her miracle, she touched the “edge” of Jesus’ garment. Thankfully, there was enough “oil” on the edge of the body of Christ that day for her healing. She wasn’t able to touch his hand or his face, but the edge was literally anointed.

This is a prophetic picture of what God wants the church to look like in 2024. God wants the whole body of Christ today anointed, including the edges of his body.

Perhaps most of your town or city isn’t going to be able to touch the head or the neck of your church, but they will come in contact with the “edge”, and the question for all of us is, “Will they find oil?”

One reason many people prefer to see the pastor is that they have been to the edge, but perhaps there was no oil. Pastors and leaders burn out when too few do too much. But the key to an anointed church is a united church – where we dwell in unity, it is like the oil running down the beard of Aaron, down to the edge of the garment.

Unity is often reduced to agreement, but it’s deeper than that.

In 2024, let’s give the Lord what he asked for in John 17. If we stay united, he will keep us anointed.

Unity is often reduced to agreement, but it’s deeper than that. It’s commitment. When we disagree, if we divide, divorce or depart, we break the flow of oil. But if there is something deeper holding us together, then when we disagree unity pulls us back to resolve our issues, because at the core of unity is commitment.

`My wife Jemima and I are united. Though we don’t agree on everything, disagreements don’t mean we walk away. Our commitment to each other pulls us back to talk and resolve, because commitment is a stronger glue than agreement.

I’m praying that you have a committed family and a committed church, and that we remain a committed movement in 2024, because where there is unity, God commands a blessing – life forevermore.

Mark Varughese, Senior Leader of Kingdomcity

Mark Varughese is Founder and Senior Leader of the Kingdomcity global church movement.