One Heart - PeacemakersSample

UNITY IN OUR FAITH

A worthy walk before God will be marked by lowliness and gentleness, not a pushy desire to defend our own rights and advance our own agenda but bearing with one another. We need this so that the inevitable wrongs that occur between people in God’s family will not work against God’s purpose of bringing all things together in Jesus.

Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. God never commands us to create unity among believers. He has created it by His Spirit; our duty is to recognize and keep it. This is a spiritual unity, not necessarily a structural or denominational unity. This is evident in the quick fellowship possible among Christians of different races, nationalities, languages, and economic classes. The church where the Gentile and Jewish believers were united was no mere enrolment on a register of membership; it involved their union with Christ by faith and, therefore, their union with each other as fellow members of his body. Our unity is because in Jesus, we share one body, one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one Father. Each of these common areas is greater than any potential difference. The purpose of the offices of spiritual leadership in the church is to equip the members of the Body for the work of ministry(service) so that the body of Christ would be built up (expanded and strengthened) and united in our faith. Growing up into Christ will cause believers to mature, discern deception, become increasingly Christlike in their conduct, in their ability to live pure and holy lives, to forgive and reconcile, and to become ministers of reconciliation in the world around them.

PRAYER POINTS

ME: Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart. Did you grieve the Holy Spirit through lying, stealing, cursing, vulgar language, or unforgiveness? Are your actions always full of grace, kindness, compassion, and righteousness? Then, it is time to put off the old ways and seek to be clothed in Christ's holiness.

US: Pray for the local churches in your area. Be as specific as you can, naming the churches and praying for their leadership. Pray that the shackles of spiritual apathy, lethargy, slumber, and indifference will be broken off the Body of Christ. Pray that the Church would be sober and vigilant, watching and praying, and grow in the unity of faith in Jesus Christ.

THEM: Pray for an abundance of grace to be released through the church into the world. Pray for the grace and truth of Jesus Christ to bring healing to your nation. Pray that the stronghold of unforgiveness, hatred, bitterness, resentment, and anger will be broken.

Remember your scripture memory of John 17.

The prime duty of the ministers of the church is not to baptize, marry, and bury the members of their church, to comfort and console them, and to get them somehow into heaven, as the Arab guides get tourists to the top of the Pyramids. Their duty is to perfect, that is, to adjust the church members for the work of ministry, that they may contribute to the building up of the Church.– F.B. Meyer.