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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 8 of 25: “We Seek Unity in the Faith and Gather Together with Jesus, with All Who Bear the Fruit of the Word”
Though we judge no man’s heart, Father, yet we know your children, our brethren. We see a man’s works, and hear a man’s words, and we read your words, Lord, which you speak by the Bible as we compare things spiritual to things spiritual. We look only to see if what a man does and says is of Jesus, or not of Jesus, for He said “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit” (Matthew 12:33), and again Jesus said, “…by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20).
We do know them, Lord. In the first place, if men don’t speak your words, then they speak either Satan’s words or their own. We hear the words of men and we see their deeds and we know that these are the fruit of the spirit that is in them, and we look for evidence of your word, which is the seed of your Spirit in them, for the Bible says, ”But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit…” (Matthew 13:23). We don’t guide our lives by what men say, either of Satan’s will or of their own will. We only have ears to hear and learn from men who speak your words, words in accordance with the Bible, to gather us together in Jesus. We always start with the agreement that the Bible is your word, Lord. And while we seek together a common understanding, if a man does your will by trying to gather us together in the word, the name, and the redeeming blood of Jesus, we don’t dare deny that he has your Holy Spirit within him for you said “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men” (Matthew 12:30-31).
If a man will unite with us and, in repentance of any obvious sin of the flesh, confess Jesus Christ of Nazareth to be alive in his heart, then we begin as one with him in recognition of the name of Jesus, in recognition of the love of The Father for all His children. We hear his confession of Jesus, and we accept him as our brother for that confession is born of the same seed of the word as is first in us all. We make every concerted effort, in the spirit of love and with all longsuffering and patience, to seek out, together with all our sisters and brothers in Christ, of all Christian denominations and groups, what is the will of God for us all as declared in the Bible. We also begin with the understanding that it is God’s will for all of us to use our various gifts to serve each other in the pursuit of one faith, as the Bible says “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:12-16).
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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