The Unity of Prayer

Why not want chicken chicken maybe it's not the good for your family but it is the perfect gift for poor family ninja chicken can break the cycle of poverty for poor family yes chicken chickens and provide nourishment for family and they can sell mosaics at the market for income when you donate a chicken or any other gospel for Asian 1% of what you give goes to the field and get the ball went gospel fundraiser to support family of Jesus family this Christmas and give them six explanation see chickens and camping.

This is Robbie Gilmore from the Christian card I am king in pursuit where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the kingdom your chosen Truth Network podcasting starting in just a few seconds.

Enjoy it and share it but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the truth network you're listening to the and TruthNetwork.com encouraging prayer, God offers an open invitation for his people to talk with him anytime about anything encouraging prayer Dr. James Banks, author of the best-selling and many other books on prayer provides weekly insight help you learn to mom and now, encouraging prayer we can talk about such a vital especially in the current climate and run rest in our country to talk about the unity of prayer change let you take it from here. Will Robbie one of the beautiful things you see from church history is when God's people really pray together not just going through the motions but genuinely praying together. There's a real deepening of the bond of love between them that there are so many examples of this. One of the examples you mentioned was from the history of the Moravian church talk about that some more bandit were in Winston-Salem is the founder of the church was Count Nicholas Juan Zinzendorf who was a German nobleman during the 1700s and he opened up his land for refugees from the religious wars at that time. And sadly, no sooner did many of them get there, they began to quarrel well so Dorf knew that Jesus had prayed for our unity and that the person John 17 so we went house to house and pleaded with the people to come to a communion in prayer service and they did and God really moved there some amazing amazing things really came out of that right right just after they met some from the community came in and said they wanted to start a regular round-the-clock prayer vigil because this was the reason our adversary the devil does not sleep so households in the community started to sign up and and they sustain that effort. For over 100 years hundred years. That's a long prayer meeting. I know seem to last that long.

Soon it became out of all this no love for Jesus and for others as well is the first major Protestant mission effort.

Some of these young German missionaries went to the Dutch West Indies to preach to the slaves there and when the slaveowners didn't like it.

Missionaries offered to sell themselves into slavery so they could continue to preach and love others with the good news of Jesus while now I see why this is such a timely message for the day, especially when there's so much tension out there exactly right. Jesus went there when he said, pray for those who persecute you. Prayer really praying can diffuse so many problems and it's interesting to me that that's right where he goes. It's like inviting the referee to stand there and watch. Not to mention is just one commandment just one love one another. Well, yeah, exactly. And you're right it is praying together is like inviting that the referee because when you know that God is right there when you when you bring him into your relationships into the room right there right then, with others, it changes everything he gives you the strength to do what you couldn't do on your own and he helps us to love in ways that may not come naturally to us for the work of his Spirit in our hearts. We got to do this. I know that when I start to pray for others. There's harshness in my heart that God has some way of softening yeah you genuinely praying he does. That doesn't mean he may show us those areas where we need to grow but the beautiful thing is he'll help us there as well yeah what God requires. He also inspires well yeah will put it that way. So James, what about when people are praying together as a group forming let's talk about unity there because it's really honest. Sometimes people don't like to come together in prayer meetings because I don't like the way others pray in a loving God to bring that up because you're exactly right.

It can be really hard to pray with others of if some basic ground rules for putting together unfollowed and for example this is one of the big ones. My favorite note preach when you pray course, I am a creature. Sometimes when people pray together in groups there there tempted to talk to others.

While there, pretending to talk to God. There's an agenda behind it. Besides, humbling ourselves before God and just seeking his face, asking for his help and we really can't do that.

These are also usually longer prayers. When someone's preaching instead of praying and they don't help foster unity because there's so much self so much opinion in them, instead of just getting out a way going to God, sometimes overtly called your mama prayers because the kind of prayer. Your mom might prayer over dinner when you come home from college and she could she really wants to change something in your life and she's talking to God. But really, she's talking to you then cut about my mom's legs, you fix that the simplest approach is to just be upfront about it with the group before you begin to pray. If you're the leader you know continually encourage the group that way to remember to just talk to God and not to others.

When you pray because if you do that you let him in more of his love more of his help more of his healing. That doesn't mean that you don't prayer lament or cry out to God. You just appeal to him directly and you also just really pray for others needs.

Again, without preaching in and that helps build unity together. So the point is really praying that is going directly to God. Unity will happen. It's one of those things God does have seen it again and again he emits our hearts together when we sincerely pray humbly and and from the heart, and you see this from the book of acts on Jonathan Edwards wrote about Charles Finney, Charles Spurgeon, Dietrich Bonhoeffer doesn't really matter the century you live in. You see, God just doing the fastest bringing this kind of unity. When we pray and all how we need it. Do we ever any final thoughts as we wrap the sometimes will just one just just remember, the main thing. God genuinely will draw us together with his love as we sincerely seek him, praying on our own all or praying together.

Thanks James why don't close us with a prayer like, remember what Robbie just said that Jesus you give us one command to love each other help us help us Lord to love with the love you give because there's nothing like it all.

The Lord bless us as a nation to know you and to love you and to love others. Help us to pray, help us to pray together and find the unity only you can give. In Jesus name I hear more from Pastor James by visiting the website James Banks.org or by visiting these church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you to pray