A PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH

Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Head of the Body, the Church. You are the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, and in everything, You are supreme. It pleased the Father to let all His fullness dwell in You, and through You to reconcile all things to Himself, by making peace through Your blood, that was shed on the cross (Col.1:18-20).

We confess as a Church that we have not discerned Your Body correctly but have thought of ourselves more highly than we ought to, forgetting that it is one Body with many members and that all the members do not have the same function, but still, each member belongs to all others (Rom.12:3-5). We confess that we have become puffed up with our own ideas, and so as a Body, we lost connection with You the Head, and the Body has suffered and became disjointed and could not grow up to maturity (Col.2:18-19). We kept on biting and devouring one another, and some members were destroyed by our lack of love (Gal.5:14-15). Please forgive us and restore our relationships. You had combined the members of the Body so that there should be no division, but that we should have equal concern for each other, and suffer together as well as rejoice when other members are honoured (1 Cor.12:24-27). Let us be one as You and the Father are one. May Your prayer be answered that the Father will protect us by the power of His Name, the Name given to You so that our oneness will be manifested in the love that we have for one another (Joh.17:11), since it is through this love that the world will know that we belong to You (Joh.13:35).

Lord Jesus Christ, help us to put off our old selves that are corrupted with deceitful desires and transform the attitudes of our minds so that we can put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, and so live together as members of one Body (Eph.4:22-25). Let your peace rule in our hearts (Col.3:15), so that when we fast and pray, and humble ourselves to seek Your face, You will hear our prayers and answer us and come and heal our land (Isa.58:3-4; 2Chron.7:14).

The mystery You have revealed to the Church is that we Gentiles have become heirs together with Israel through the Gospel. We are members of one Body, sharing together in the promise of Christ Jesus (Eph.3:6). As we pray together as nations of the world, restore us, the Church, to the purpose You had for us before You even created us (Eph.2:15; Eph.3:10,11). As we accept one another in unity, may Your Name be praised (Rom.15:7).

How good and pleasant it is when brothers (and sisters) live together in unity! It is like precious oil on the Head, running down on the beard of our High Priest. For it is in unity where the Lord bestows His blessing – Life forevermore! (Ps.133:1-3) May Your Church experience this life as it flows from the Head to the Body, all united. Amen.

Congratulations! You have just completed seven days (or potentially seven weeks) of journeying with God on Reconciliation and Oneness, starting in your own heart and praying for your church community and your society at large. We trust that God has started a wonderful work in and through your prayers and that you are already seeing the movement of the Spirit. If you have enjoyed this study, please share it with your friends and family and, ideally, your church. This is a community project; ideally, it should be done with others.

Other Resources: As part of this journey, we decided to capture stories of reconciliation in South Africa and in other contexts where reconciliation doesn't make sense (but for Jesus). These have been captured in podcast format in partnership with The Follower Podcast. They are available wherever you get your podcasts.

If you found the challenge to memorise John 17 tricky or too overwhelming, here’s a link for some ideas to help you Memorize the Bible.