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This page was last updated on May 14, 2000
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, below is an excerpt from a Christian unity prayer. Please give it prayerful consideration and, if the Spirit leads, please pray this yourself and let us agree together in it, in prayer before the Lord.
CHRISTIAN UNITY PRAYER, PART 11 OF 25: “We Unite, Father, With All the Little Ones You Deliver to Jesus, Regardless of Denomination”
We know also, Father, that to the whole body of Christ you have given full authority to cut off a hand if necessary, or to pluck out any extra eye, if it will keep the whole body from being dragged down to hell. But no one among us makes this decision alone or lightly, Lord, for Jesus said, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones…” (Matthew 18:10); and He said “Even so it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:14); and He said “Woe unto you lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered” (Luke 11:52); and again Jesus said “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” (Matthew 18:7).
We love both Jesus, and each other in Jesus, so instead of giving offense to our brother who, like us, makes the claim that the Spirit of Jesus Christ is in his heart, in love we forgive what may be his ignorance and give to him our understanding of the word as a gift for him to share with us, for the Bible says “…in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men” (1 Corinthians 14:20), and again “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:29-32).
For Christ’s sake, we will never let His little ones, because of ignorance, be afraid to confess Him, for Jesus said “…Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:16). We do suffer the little ones to come to Jesus, whether the little one is a man or a Christian denomination who is yet a “little one” in the word. Though we may think that they are childish and weak in their understanding of the word, we allow all the little ones to claim God’s Spirit in their hearts, and we expect your Spirit, Lord, through the word to then give them all they need to know, just as you do for all of us.
There is no one saved among us who ever knew the truth of God in advance, before he allowed Jesus to enter his heart and give him understanding. No man among us was given to guide his own footsteps, to be led by his own knowledge, to the point in his life where he lays claim in his heart to Jesus. If any man has come to a position in his life where he confesses Jesus to be in his heart, it can only be because the Father has delivered him to that place and to Jesus, for He said “I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him” (Matthew 11:25-27).
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Love in Jesus to All!
We cordially invite any interested Christian to read and pray the rest of this prayer, or just to come and talk with Christians of all backgrounds, on a Christian unity email discussion mailing list. We’d love to hear from you about any Christian topic at all, and especially to discuss any topic related to unity of all Christians, of all Christian denominations and groups. (Btw, non-Christian visitors are welcome too!) You can find info on the email discussion mailing list, which is called the “Christian Unity Conference” (CUC), or info about a combined effort on a larger prayer for Christian unity, part of which is shown above, called the “Christian Unity Prayer Project” (CUPP), by going to the following URL:
http://www.superior.net/~pjrcmr/prayerparts.html