Unity?

““I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony. My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father--that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are-- I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.” John 17:20-23, NLT

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on me

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on us

Heal us LORD of our judgmentalism.

Heal us LORD of our egotism.

Heal us LORD—we are a bunch of control freaks.

Heal us LORD—we are more interested in getting our own feet washed, instead of washing another’s person’s feet.

Heal us LORD—we are confused; arrogant and we build our own kingdoms.

Heal us LORD—we are not very interested in laying down our lives for each other.

Heal us LORD—we have confused our local churches with the kingdom of God.

Heal us LORD—we are more concerned with the carpet colour than the sick, the lost, or the forsaken.

Heal us LORD—we are earthly minded.

Heal us LORD—we service our own edifices, our own little piece of the pie, and yet Your word is pretty clear—there is ONE church!

Heal us LORD—lost people get this—they keep asking, ‘What are there so many churches?”

Heal us LORD—we fight, send nasty emails, preach ugly sermons—against the church down the street!   

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on us

Heal us LORD—we act as though You have slipped off Your throne and asked for us to take over!

Heal us LORD—we pontificate, shoot our mouths off, and we bully people with our words and attitudes.

Heal us LORD—You love the unlovely—we love the rich and influential. 

Heal us LORD—of our sins.

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on us

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning to hate your sin

Image
   John 5:13-15 (NLT) 13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” 15 Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.   Lord give me grace, power, and effort to maintain a resilience against sin.  Sin is ALWAYS a dark path. It ALWAYS pays wages.  The wage of sin is death.  Sin will always hurt, always destroy, always wound—you, relationships, stuff, goals, etc.  It is a killer.  It is a wound-er.  It is a consumer of all that is healthy, strong, good, and perfect. Learn to hate sin. Learn to fear sin. Learn to run as fast as you can away from sin. Search deeply for hidden sin. Be disgusted with your sin.  Repent, repent, repent daily for your sin. Be afraid of your sin. Be petrified of your sin. Be worried ab...
Read more

Meditation

Image
Meditation I realize as we move on with this series that there are two things that need some clarification.  We already looked at the idea of silence and quietness—this week we will look at meditation.  Let’s begin by giving you the descriptions of the differences between these two disciplines.  Although from an outsider’s position there may be little or subtle differences, I want to help you process the vast difference between these—-and the immense benefit from both of these disciplines: Silence/ Quietness: Here the idea is shutting out your active mind —leaving lots of space for two things.  First, space to give your mind a rest, relaxing your mind.  It is a stopping of your mind from racing around solving all the problems of the world.  Second, giving space to hear from God! It is laying aside your agenda.  It is putting aside the debris, hurriedness, and hectic pace to relax in God’s presence.  Often music can help...
Read more

God is after you! And... for a different reason than you think!

Have you ever been pursued by a suitor—a lover—someone who is very interested in you? Was it pleasant to be liked?  Was it pleasant to be wanted?  Well, yeah—for sure.  Who doesn’t want to be loved? Who doesn’t want to be sought after?  Who doesn’t want to be appreciated? I do!  I am sure you do too! Did you know that is actually the message of Christmas—and the actual ‘story’ of the Bible?  It’s a story about God pursuing humanity. Too often when we think of God, or church, or the Bible—we think of behaving ourselves enough to get God’s attention.  Or, we think of trying hard to impress God—so that God would appreciate the hard work we are doing down here and give us His nod. Well, actually that is not true.  That is not the message of the Bible—nor the core message of Christmas.  It is actually the total opposite.  The core message of Christmas is not our chasing God—it is God chasing us! God is so in love with ...
Read more