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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 13 OF 25: “Together In Jesus and His Kingdom, We Obey Even His New Commandment to Show the Perfection of the Father’s Love for All His Children in Us; So He Can Show to the World that We Are the Disciples of the Living Son, Sent by the One True God”
Knowing in our hearts that your words are truth, Father, we are given to declare with certainty “Thy kingdom come…” (Matthew 6:10). We know your kingdom is come because we look inside ourselves and see a part of you there in our hearts: the Holy Spirit which you have given us by the seed of your word. We see your love for us in our loving King Jesus, who serves us as King by having given His life for every one of us in His kingdom. And we see our love for you in our self-sacrificial love for all our brethren, our fellow-citizens whom we serve in your kingdom, Lord, because the Bible says, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10), and again, “O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee; But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight” (Psalms 16:2-3).
We know we can’t pay you back, Father, for the smallest part of the goodness you’ve given us, in your Son alone, much less all your good gifts. Our own, earned goodness won’t ever reach to you. And we know that our literal death won’t save any soul by our own goodness. But we can obey you, Lord, in the one commandment Jesus called “my commandment” and “a new commandment”. In the spirit of unity in your love for all your children, Father, we find loving ways to lay down our own lives for our Christian brothers in all other Christian denominations and groups, because Jesus died for us, and the Bible says, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). In these ways of self-sacrifice for all our brethren in Christ, of all Christian denominations and groups, we show each other and the world that we are in your kingdom and that all have heard and perform the King’s new commandment, for you said “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34-35).
Made perfect in one by our love for all our sisters and brothers in the eternal life of Jesus, who is your eternal love for all your children, Father, we show the world that we are the disciples of the living Son of the one true God, for Jesus said, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:21); and again, Jesus said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3).
Heavenly Father, we are made the virgin-perfect bride for your Son, made perfect because we have your love for all your children, so that the world may know that you are the one true God who sent Jesus, and that we may be bold in the day of judgment like Jesus, because Jesus said, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me” (John 17:23); and the Bible says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:11-12), and again, “¶ Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).
You love us, Father, with a love that makes us one with you in our hearts by your sacrifice of Jesus for us; so we love each other with a love that makes us one in our hearts among ourselves, by our self-sacrifice for all our Christian brethren, in honor to Jesus, our one king who loves us like a friend, and Jesus said, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (John 15:12-14).
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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