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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 9 OF 25: “We Pray, Born Again with Hearts Purified in Fervent Mutual Love to Bear the Fruit of the Spirit to One Another, and Be Given Whatsoever We Ask, in the Name of the Father’s Love for All His Children”
With purified hearts, all of us born again by God’s eternal words in the Bible, purified and born again in un-pretended, fervent love of the brethren in all Christian denominations and groups, we give to all our sisters and brothers the fruit of the Spirit whom we obey in our own hearts; the fruit which has been born of the seed of the word in us, and we look to see what manner of fruit they may offer to us in return, for the Bible says, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…” (Galatians 5:22-23), and again “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter 1:22-23).
All these are the fruit of the Spirit which we offer, Father, according to your plan: fruit for the enjoyment and positive identification of other Christians, and fruit to draw in all men to Jesus, for Jesus said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Matthew 7:16). We know, Father, that this fruit of the Spirit can grow for all men to see your love only if we remain in the vine, Jesus, who is the embodiment of your love for all your children, of all Christian denominations and groups. We know we can do nothing without Him, Father.
We now know, Father, how the fruit of the Spirit is part of your plan, not ours, and that from now on, Jesus calls us friends, because Jesus said, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (Matthew 15:15-16). We pray, Father, that you bless us, as the friends of Jesus, with whatever we ask in the name of Jesus, because we now show that we know your plan by our doing these things, whatsoever Jesus commands us, including that we love one another, all members in the whole body of Christ, for Jesus said, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (Matthew 15:14), and again, “These things I command you, that ye love one another” (Matthew 15:17).
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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