That they may be one as we are

[Ebn Barbara]

“Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are… I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 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” (John 17:11-22).

This is the great prayer that the Lord lifted to the Heavenly Father before he went to heaven. He has prayed this for His disciples and for those who will believe in Him, i.e. us..
If you meditate on chapter 17 of John’s Gospel, you would discover the insistence of the Lord on the necessity of unity among believers, and it’s not any unity but the unity that existed between Him and the Father, because He knew its importance, and He also knew the danger of not being one, and of having fights and divisions, for He is the one who said:
“… Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25).

And in such a country as ours, we don’t need to think a lot or to make a deep study on the subject to discover the climate of divisions and fights prevailing on the country since many decades. Divisions came into the level of one house and family, and led everyone to sanguinary wars.
What is regrettable is that those divisions infiltrated the church, the body of the Lord, and contrary to what’s expected, which is that the church will impact the community it belongs to, the community impacted the church!!!
Add to it the size and depth of the wound the church is causing to the Lord’s heart, through the fights and divisions that exist in it, the church is making His heart to bleed!!!

The apostle Paul said to the church of Corinth:
“Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, ‘I am of Paul,’ or ‘I am of Apollos,’ or ‘I am of Cephas,’ or ‘I am of Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:10-13).
This is one of the situations of division and fight. You may see elsewhere different situations than this one, but the result is the same: Division and fight, in other words, the absence of the unity which the Lord prayed for and insisted upon.. and this is what matters to the devil!!!

Where do these fights, strives and divisions come from?
The word of the Lord is the only appropriate reference that answers our questions, and not our analysis, thoughts and justifications: “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:1-3).

Beloved: Let no one be upset from these words, for it is not mine, but God’s.. for the word exposes the enemy’s craftiness, and the secrets of the heart and soul, because:
“… For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12).

Yes.. the origin of fights comes from our nature that didn’t die yet and seeks its own, and not what pleases the Lord or others.. the Lord is not first in our life with all that this expression implies in conduct, it’s not Him who increases while we decrease, we don’t honor others before ourselves, we always want to possess what is not ours or what is for others, we desire to interfere in what is not of our concern, we want to judge others and we try to guide them according to our view of things, we want to impose our opinion in all things, and we don’t obtain any of this because it is not God’s will for us, therefore we envy, we complain, we fight and we quarrel. The word says: “we murder” too, not real murder of course, however how many times did we kill each other with hurtful words and difficult situations, it made a lot of us “living dead” bleeding and suffering continually from the effects and results of what we were exposed to; and how many brothers among the people of God don’t love one another, don’t even talk to one another, and the reasons and justifications are numerous, however they are very far from the word and heart of the Lord.

The result on a personal level, and on the level of the body, is very difficult indeed, and if we humble ourselves today under the hand of God, and we allowed the Holy Spirit to examine our motives, attitudes, desires, and relationships with one another, each one of us would discover that these words apply to him or her with all certainty, even if the ratios are different..

Nevertheless, what if we were one? What would happen?
“Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; together they shall plunder the people of the East; They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; And the people of Ammon shall obey them.” (Isaiah 11:13-14).

How great are the results of the unity among believers, dear beloved.. For when Ephraim stopped envying Judah, and when Judah’s hostility toward Ephraim ceased, they attacked their enemies, captured their cities, plundered their spoils, and subdued the people of Ammon..
This is a symbol of what happens today in the New Testament when we become united.

Are you at war and defeated by your enemies on a personal level and as a body?
Look for the envy, the fights and the divisions, because this is what the word of the Lord says:
The house divided against itself will not stand, and the envy and conflict make us defeated in front our enemies, and the opposite is true, the unity as it is between the Father and the Son, makes us attack together our enemies so we can defeat them, subdue them and plunder their spoils.

Are the enemies gathered around us these days?
Do we pray, intercede and fight but to no avail or we only see small results?
Come let us meditate together again:
“When Joab saw that the battle line was against him before and behind, he chose some of Israel’s best, and put them in battle array against the Syrians. And the rest of the people he put under the command of Abishai his brother, and they set themselves in battle array against the people of Ammon. Then he said, ‘If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the people of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you. Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in His sight.’ So Joab and the people who were with him drew near for the battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him… And when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his servants. So the Syrians were not willing to help the people of Ammon anymore.” (1 Chronicles 19:10-19).

This is how we should be with one another.. we should support one another; if the enemy is too strong for my brother, I stand up and help him, and if the enemy is too strong for me, my brother comes to my rescue, and the enemies will flee before us.

Meditate also with me on what the Holy Spirit wrote down in this passage:
Joab said to his brother: Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in His sight!!!

The purpose was for the sake of all the people, and for the Lord..
And the Lord will make these intentions and purposes succeed without any doubt.. for the Lord is not satisfied with defeating the enemies.. but with cutting off the alliance between them, for the word says: So the Syrians were not willing to help the people of Ammon anymore..
So, shall we do what the people of the Lord did before us?
This is a question I will leave with you, let each one of you give the answer to the Lord.

What else:
“Then King Hezekiah rose early, gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah… So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Likewise they killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. Then they brought out the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. And the priests killed them; and they presented their blood on the altar as a sin offering to make an atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel.” (2 Chronicles 29:20-24).

Everybody knows that the kingdom of Israel was divided into two kingdoms because of what king Salomon committed, and a lot of wars happened between them, however some of you may not know the heart of king Hezekiah, of whom the word of God says that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father David has done.

For in spite of the enmity and division, when he cleansed the temple from the abominations and idols, he insisted on presenting offerings for all the kingdom of Israel and not only for Judah.. However what is remarkable is that he presented offerings for the kingdom first and then for Judah..
This is the heart of the Lord, dear beloved.. this is how the Lord wants men to behave today in our midst.. men who work for and pursue unity and not division whether it be on purpose or unintentional..

Who creates unity? What is the role of each one of us?
The Holy Spirit creates unity, the Spirit of Glory, and this is what the Lord said in His prayer to our Heavenly Father:
“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one” (John 17:22).
Yes.. when the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Glory likes to come upon us, He knows how to create unity among us..
As for our role in this matter, we have to give Him the liberty to perform this work..
That is, we shouldn’t grieve nor quench the Spirit:
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30).

“Do not quench the Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
This is how our whole way of life should be while we are in this body, and most importantly what the Apostle Paul said to the people of Ephesus:
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3).
Lowliness.. gentleness of heart.. longsuffering.. bearing with one another..
Finally, Love.. The love that suffers long and is kind.. does not envy.. does not boast, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. The love that makes me prefer my brother to myself.. that makes me give up my rights so the Lord can increase and I decrease.. the love that never fails.

This is how we give the Holy Spirit the possibility to create unity among us, the unity that defeats the enemies, divides them, scatters them, stops them from making alliances against us, and makes us plunder the spoils, win the souls, make the kingdom of God advance, and the kingdom of darkness regress..
Most importantly, with this unity among us, we make the heart of the Lord rejoice when He looks at us and sees us one as Him and the Father are one.

Finally, let us end with what Joab said to his brother Abishai:

Let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in His sight!!!

[بنت معلم الاجيال]

Thank you

very beautiful