Healing Line

Healing Line

Unity In Christ - A Prayer for God's People

by Joy Lamb
Spring 1998

What is the body of Christ? Is it your local church? Is it your parish? Does it mean solely your particular denomination? Is it all Protestant churches, or all Roman Catholic churches? As we approach Easter and ponder the wonder of our Lord Jesus' great sacrifice for us, let us ask ourselves for whom He died.

In 1995, as I was preparing the third edition of Sword of the Spirit, I was awakened in the night on several occasions with the thought of adding a section to the book about the unity and healing of the Church. I had no idea why this was happening. I had not had such thoughts prior to these "wake up calls." The words kept coming to me: "Prayer will heal My Church–unity in prayer, unity in purpose, unity in My commission. My Word is the weapon to be used for victory in overcoming the destruction of My Church."

The destruction of His Church? What did God mean?

I decided to trust Him, as I had done with the conception of the book itself, 'and I began to pray God's Word for the healing of the Body of Christ as a whole. I had seen and heard what praying God's Word was doing for other topics, so I decided to continue on the same path of praying His Word for this one.

As I began looking for Scriptures to pray in this area, I never found a listing of different denominations, nor could I find where Jesus said, "Now you go be a Methodist, you go be a Baptist, I want you to be Lutheran and you Roman Catholic, you believe this, you believe that, etc., etc." However, I did find the greatest commandment: "'Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?' He said to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:36–40).

I also found that at the end of all four gospels, Jesus' commandment to His disciples and the Body of Christ was, in essence, the same: to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them, preaching the Good News, for it is written, "repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47).

I also found where Jesus told Paul that He was sending him (Paul) to open the eyes of both the Gentiles and the Jews, "to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me" (Acts 26:18).

Later, in 1 Corinthians 10:17, Paul says, "Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf." If Jesus is the Bread of Life, what does this mean to us? It seems quite clear that God means for us to be one body.

God was making it obvious to me: the Church is the Body of Christ as a whole — every believing Christian, no matter what denomination, race or nationality–and we as living members of the Body of Christ have been given the same great commandment and the same commission.

Obviously, we must be sensitive to what is not of God. There are some groups who believe themselves to be Christians who do not believe in the foundations of Christianity as set down by the church fathers, i.e., the beliefs laid out in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, which are based solely upon Scripture. But I am talking about the Christian Church, which includes all groups of people who do espouse these beliefs. I felt the Lord leading me to pray these and other Scriptures for the healing and unity of the Church.

This Easter, let us reflect on the Body of Christ. Let us ask God what His will is for His Church as a whole. Let us remember that our God is not the author of division, of hatred, of rebellion. Our God is the Creator of Unity. The Trinity is our example of perfect unity. Do we really think He wants us to be alienated from one another? Wouldn't he rather we be unified, following the example of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Did Jesus die for only some Christians, or for all of us?

If we are willing to accept each other as children of God, as brothers and sisters of the Covenant, we may be able to reap many more blessings than we ever dreamed — and do His will in the process!

Since the Lord is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, perhaps praying the Scriptures for the healing and unity of the Church might be a good idea. Please join us in praying some Scriptural prayers as presented in Sword of the Spirit. Many of CHM's intercessors fast Tuesday and Wednesday for both breakfast and lunch to pray for our nation and the Church — that is, the Body of Christ. For those of you who observe Lent, this may be a great Lenten observance program for you.

May God richly bless you, one and all.


Joy Lamb is the Director of Intercessors at CHM. Spring 1998 Issue