God has reminded me this morning that we are His eyes, ears, hands, and feet. We are one with Him. I randomly came across this passage in John this morning and it blows me away... this is Jesus praying for ALL believers:
"I pray not only for these (referring to disciples) but also those who believe in Me through their message. May they all be one, as you Father, are in Me and I am in You.
May they also be one in Us so the world may believe You sent Me. I have given them the glory You have given Me.
May they be one as We are one. I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know you have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Father, I desire those You have given Me to be with Me where I am. Then they will see My glory, which You have given Me because you loved Me before the world's foundation.
Righteous Father! The world has not known You. However, I have known You, and these have known that You sent Me.
I made Your name known to them and will make it known, so the love You have loved Me with may be in them and I may be in them."
John 17:20-26
Jesus desires us to be one with all believers as He is one with God. Jesus also desires for us to be one in Him and the Father. What would it look like if we all acted as one in our faith together? What if we set aside our traditions and denominations that only hinder us to be one in Christ? What great things could be accomplished for our community?
Scott and I have talked about this before about the church and it has been our hope and prayer for Cedarcrest Church to continually be one with God, in spite of the challenges of growing and building up a new church. There can be so many distractions for the church- some people are used to having it this way or that way, complaints will be made about how the church is running this or that and soon you find that the church is off track trying to please its members and not God. We must be constantly aware that Satan is always trying to pull us down whether it's internally or within a church. I think our church has done a great job of avoiding this tragedy, but we will never be immune to the threat! The same can be said for our personal lives. Satan is always trying to tear us down, but Christ will build us up to fulfill our purpose in life!
We will be victorious if we allow God to be who He is in us. We will will be victorious if we allow God to do His work through us- that is being one with God. Just believe, and out of that life will flow!
I pray Father that your love will always flow through me and out to those I come in contact with. May I be your eyes, ears, hands, and feet. Use Cedarcrest Church in this manner as well. May we put aside our traditions that may hinder us from knowing you and being one with you and other believers. May we believe in you and trust you with all that we have and may your living water flow through us!
