THE STORY OF JESUS: John 17:6-12
“So that they may be one as we are one.” (John 17:11)
Divide and conquer, this is Satan’s strategy for defeating us, and God.
He succeeded in turning Adam and Eve on God, on each other, and Cain on Abel.
It is our separation from God that makes our world is warn-torn mess it is.
Jesus lived in loving harmony with God – Satan could not separate Him from God!
This is what Jesus is praying for His disciples.
Consider how many splits, factions and wars there have been in the church.
Protestants, Catholics, multiple Baptist and Reformed denominations.
Using God’s Name to separate themselves from others who didn’t agree with them.
We are saved by grace, not by our correct beliefs or doctrines.
Grace ought to humble us, reminding us that we haven’t got it all together.
What unites us to God and each other is God’s love expressed through Jesus.
We can disagree, we can look at things differently.
But don’t let the enemy turn us against each other.
What unites us (God, Jesus, love, grace) is always greater than what divides us!
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, we Christians have divided ourselves into many factions, but there is only One Name that unites us. Hold us together by the power of Your Name!
Jesus follower
trying to find His way
Once again, as in the beginning, we see that God and Jesus are One. We see this in the words Jesus spoke –
‘All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. ‘
As th Father and the Son are One, in sync with oneanother we too as God’s people need to be in harmony – in oneness – oneanothering. As Jesus prayed for His followers and protected them and guided them and enabled them, so too His people need to do the same – praying for His followers – everywhere – and we too will come home to the Father as His Son did to live Him today and all of our tomorrows.
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah they’ll know we are Christians by our love
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.