Praying in unity

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! Psalm 133: 1

As I wrote yesterday, the Body of Christ – the Church – has a high calling to dwell together in unity to bring about God’s incredible plans and purposes.  

I was reminded this morning that when we stand with others in heaven, either when we leave this life, or when Jesus returns, we will stand in perfect unity. Our focus will be on one thing and one thing only, our Lord and Saviour, the King of the Universe, Jesus Christ. 

Everything we do in eternity, and I firmly believe we will busy about the King’s business, will be for him and for his glory.  Our training ground is our life on this Earth. All that we have learned and accomplished here will be carried forward into eternity. Everything from our days on earth will be tested in his fire (1 Corinthians 3: 12 - 15) and those things that withstand the fire will be rewarded. Everything else will be burnt to ash. 

C S Lewis wrote If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. 

With this thought in mind, dwelling together in unity now, will yield incredible treasure in heaven.  It prepares us not only for our life in eternity but also brings about what God desires in our lives, churches and nations now.

Jonathan Edwards said When God is about to do a mighty new thing He always sets His people praying.

If there is one thing that Brexit has achieved in the Body of Christ in UK has been prayer. I do not think there has ever been as much prayer for the nation since the Second World War. However for our prayers to be truly effective we must ‘Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace’ Ephesians 4: 3. 

The only way to do this when praying about this highly contentious issue is ‘to fix our eyes upon Jesus’Hebrews 12: 2.  When we focus on him, not on our wishes and opinions, I believe we will move closer and closer together and will find ourselves praying ever more effectively for his will and his Kingdom to come. 

Desiring and praying for God’s plans, laying aside our personal opinions on the subject, no matter how much we believe we are right, will release a mighty outworking of Kingdom power that will startle us, our nation, and the world. 

Proving the will of God

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12: 2

In order for our lives to be transformed and our minds renewed, we need an increasing revelation from God about who he is, what he wants to do and who we are as his children. Bill Johnson talks a lot about our need for ongoing revelation from God. He says, ‘I am convinced that the pace of revelation will increase very rapidly in these last hours of history.’

Our minds need to be renewed so we no longer think ungodly, unbelieving thoughts but think right things about God and his ways. In this season we are all aware of the need for intimacy and it is during these precious one-on-one times with God that we get to know our King and understand his ways. However knowing more is never enough. Bill Johnsons says, ‘To renew the mind we must not just think differently but live differently, in a new experience of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.’

God wants not just for our minds to be thinking Godly thoughts along Godly lines but also for our lives to be doing Godly things. He wants us to prove to ourselves that what he says is true. He wants us to KNOW that what he says is true by our own experience. Experience is vital.

Several years ago we took teams of young people (aged 11 to 16) on mission overseas and in this country. One of the best aspects of this was that young people began to know and prove for themselves that what God said is true. It was not enough to know that God is our provider. They learned to prove it by having to trust and ask him to provide the necessary money to go overseas. One young lady whose parents were on government benefits prayed and asked God for the money. One week at church there was a special collection for an area of the world in desperate need. She felt she should empty the contents of her purse which was not very much into the collection. The next day she got two large cheques through the post. Eventually she had all the money she needed and was helping support others. She had proved God’s will for her life.

Knowing God is a healer, provider, Saviour, restorer, miracle worker and so on needs to be proved. Revelation needs to be applied to our lives by practical experience. The world desperately needs the power of the King and the Kingdom being increasingly revealed by the people of God who know and have proved what his will is; to save, heal and deliver the world from sin and its consequences.

Walking in agreement

Yesterday as we looked at the life of Enoch we saw that he walked with God for 300 years in habitual fellowship.  Walking together for any length of time with anyone requires quite a level of agreement.  In Amos chapter 3 it says, ‘do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?’ Walking together requires agreement on where we are walking and the pace we are walking at.  We cannot walk together in two different directions nor can we walk together at two different speeds.

If we are to walk with God for 300 days, let alone 300 years it will require an agreement on our part to walk with God and this will mean at his pace and in His direction.  God actually knows what is best for us and contrary to what a lot of people think, God will not ask us to do or go anywhere that is not good for us.  God is not waiting for us to agree to let him have his way in our life, so he can get us to do something horrible that we will hate.  We wouldn’t do that to our children so why would God want to do that to us? 

However, the best prayer we can say is to echo Jesus’ words in the garden of Gethsemane, ‘yet not my will but yours be done’.  God’s will for our life is good, pleasing and perfect according to Paul in Romans.  The more we can get our reluctant hearts to agree to that, the closer our walk with God will be.