CA 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting

"RESTORATION OF THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH BODY"

Jesus prayed for His people toward the end of His ministry, highlighting His greatest concern for His Church in John 17: 21 – 22 "That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one."

Jesus states that part of evangelizing the world so that unbelievers believe He is sent of God is that others see His Body unified. Yet today we see more then 200 different Christian denominations, each one believing they have more to offer than other Church groups. Sadly, in many communities pastors do not fellowship, meet nor pray together. I have been involved in many ministerial associations and understand some of the challenges. How and why do we fulfill the prayer of Christ for biblical unity? Here is part of the answer. We do not arrive at unity by focusing on it as a goal. I once spoke with an old deacon in a church who longed for the unity his church enjoyed at its beginning. He recalled how when the members were all pitching in to build the church they felt great unity. They pounded nails together and carried wood together. Now that the building was done they went back to their own lives. They no longer had a joint task they shared so the unity stopped. Ephesians 4: 11-13 gives us the answer as to what Biblical Unity looks like. 
Leadership gifts are used to equip and set the people of God to work using their spiritual gifts.  "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying (building up) of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.."

The Biblical description of unity is that these leadership gifts equip believers for works of service in ministry. The ministry belongs to the Church members. The role of the clergy is to recognize the gift(s) of various individuals then equip and encourage them to go do what pastors are paid to do. Secondly, we need more than the gift of pastor at work in a community to see Biblical unity. I know there are those who believe that some of the gifts ended with the Apostles but Scripture assures us that the gifts of Apostle and Prophet are still needed to unify the body. In 1st Corinthians 1: 6, 7 the Apostle Paul gives this assurance regarding all the gifts, "Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ." This passage is referring to the return of Christ. Paul is assuring us that all the gifts will remain in the Church until His return. He also tells us in Ephesians 2: 20 that the Church "having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone."  There are two neglected gifts God is restoring to the body of Christ. Namely, He is restoring the gifts of apostle and prophet. When all five gifts are activated in equipping the people of God for works of ministry we will see Biblical Unity according to Ephesians 4: 11- 13.

    
Adventures in Prayer:

Jesus basically tells us in John 17 that we need to see our need for each other. We need to value other churches as much as we value our own. It is going to take the Church of the whole city to reach the whole city. Christ has put a depository of grace in every church that believes in Him. Lutherans carry a grace for "righteousness by faith." Baptist carry a grace for understanding the need to be born again. The list goes on and on as we look at how Christ has used many different groups to restore truth and what it means to know Him. Instead of looking at how we are better then another group, it may be that we need to look at what we add to each other!  His bride includes all Churches that confess Him.

Why not honor Christ by praying for another group other then your own. Pray for the restoration of Biblical Unity and the 5-Leadership gift to the body in Ephesians 4: 11-13: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher. Pray for the release of ministry to the body of Christ. If you do not know what each of these gifts are about take time to study them.

May we reflect God's Love, Forgiveness and Grace to everyone we meet as we live and sing deep within our soul "And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, and they'll know we are Christians by our love."   Let's SHINE for JESUS, loving Him first and our families and our neighbors as ourself -

Please continue to pray for the upcoming election (candidates, issues, etc.), for Lou Engle and Team www.thecall.com and for Jim Garlow and others who are leading Yes on 8 and for all the Watchmen who are taking an active stand for Christ's Kingdom and Righteousness.

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