November 21, 2009

• Behold, how good and pleasant it is when we dwell in unity!

  My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

  A couple days ago I called Christians here to engage in a praise assault. In that post I encouraged you to write a post giving praise to God as well as thanksgiving for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Last night I covered the first portion of that with my post Blessed be God for His Kindness Which Leads us to Repentance and now today I'm covering the second. I confess there are times I struggle with loving my brothers and sisters as God has loved me...so this post is my prayer for myself (and the rest of us) who have difficulty giving thanks for those in the Body of Christ. I ask you to forgive me and I ask you to continue to pray for me. I do give thanks for you all; His grace alone allows me to do so. I pray that I would not quench His Spirit, but let His love for all of you continue to flow through me in a spirit of thanksgiving and cooperation so we might build up one another and together take His Gospel of grace to the ends of the earth.

  "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity."
  

  
  I humbly invite those of you who are Christians to engage in a praise and thanksgiving assault here at Xanga and Revelife so we might push back the kingdom of darkness and give way for the Kingdom of Light to shine in this place and overcome the darkness. By His grace and power at work in us, let us endeavor together to keep the unity of the Spirit, to contend for the Gospel and to give our Lord the glory due His Name and bring His Kingdom here to Xanga and Revelife!

  * * *
  

  Pray then like this:
  “OUR Father in heaven..."
  Matthew 6:9a

  
  

  1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is
  when brothers dwell in unity!
  2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
  running down on the beard,
  on the beard of Aaron,
  running down on the collar of his robes!
  3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
  which falls on the mountains of Zion!
  For there the LORD has commanded the blessing,
  life forevermore.
  
  Psalm 133

  1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

  4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

  –Ephesians 4:1-6

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  Our Father in heaven,

  When Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, taught us to pray He used the words "Our Father."
  How can we say "Our Father" if we do not welcome all those who are our brothers?

  Forgive me, O God, for not loving all Your children as I ought.
  Forgive us, O God, for not loving Your children as we ought.
  Give each one of us grace to love one another as You have loved us.
  Give each one of us grace to give thanks for all Your children.
  

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  If You loved us, we also ought to love one another.
  How can we say we love You if we do not love our brothers and sisters?

  Forgive me, O God, for not loving my brothers and sisters as I ought.
  Forgive us, O God, for not loving our brothers and sisters as we ought.
  Give each one of us grace to love one another as You have loved us.
  Give each one of us grace to give thanks for all our brothers and sisters.
  

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  There is one flock because there is only one Shepherd.
  How can we say we love the Shepherd if we do not love His sheep?

  Forgive me, O God, for not loving all the sheep as I ought.
  Forgive us, O God, for not loving all the sheep as we ought.
  Give each one of us grace to love one another as You have loved us.
  Give each one of us grace to give thanks for each and every sheep.
  

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, shed His precious blood to redeem us.
  How can we say we love our Savior if we do not love those who share the same bloodline?

  Forgive me, O God, for not loving all our blood-washed brothers and sisters as I ought.
  Forgive us, O God, for not loving all our blood-washed brothers and sisters as we ought.
  Give each one of us grace to love one another as You have loved us.
  Give each one of us grace to give thanks for all our blood-washed brothers and sisters.
  

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, died to make us one Body with many members.
  How can we say we love Him if we do not love all the members of His Body?

  Forgive me, O God, for not loving all the members of the Body as I ought.
  Forgive us, O God, for not loving all the members of the Body as we ought.
  Give each one of us grace to love one another as You have loved us.
  Give each one of us grace to give thanks for all the members of the Body.
  

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, died to make us one Body with many members.
  How can we say He is our Head if we say we do not need all the members of His Body?

  Forgive me, O God, for not loving all the members of the Body as I ought.
  Forgive us, O God, for not loving all the members of the Body as we ought.
  Give each one of us grace to love one another as You have loved us.
  Give each one of us grace to give thanks for all the members of Your Body.
  
  

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  Behold, how good and pleasant it is when we dwell together in unity!
  By Your Spirit, You have brought us together into one man, and Jesus Christ is our brother.

  Forgive me, O God, for not loving my brothers and sisters as I ought.
  Forgive us, O God, for not loving our brothers and sisters as we ought.
  Give each one of us grace to love one another as You have loved us.
  Give each one of us grace to give thanks for all our brothers and sisters.
  

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  Your Holy Spirit has come to dwell in each one of Your children.
  How we grieve Him when we do not welcome those in whom He dwells!

  Forgive me, O God, for not welcoming my brothers and sisters and grieving Your Spirit.
  Forgive us, O God, for not welcoming our brothers and sisters and grieving Your Spirit.
  Give each one of us grace to welcome one another and welcome Your Spirit.
  Give each one of us grace to give thanks for all our Spirit-indwelt brothers and sisters.
  

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  Behold, how good and pleasant it is when we dwell together in unity!
  When we do so our prayers arise as sweet incense to Your throne.

  Forgive me, O God, for not loving my brothers and sisters as I ought.
  Forgive us, O God, for not loving one another as we ought.
  Give each one of us grace to love one another as You have loved us.
  Give each one of us grace to give thanks for all our brothers and sisters.
  

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  Behold, how good and pleasant it is when we dwell together in unity!
  When we do so Your oil flows freely to one another and out into the world.

  Forgive me, O God, for not loving my brothers and sisters as I ought.
  Forgive us, O God, for not loving one another as we ought.
  Give each one of us grace to love one another as You have loved us.
  Give each one of us grace to give thanks for all our brothers and sisters.
  

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  Behold, how good and pleasant it is when we dwell together in unity!
  We need You to help us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called.

  Forgive me, O God, for not loving my brothers and sisters as I ought.
  Forgive us, O God, for not loving one another as we ought.
  Give each one of us grace to love all those You have called as You have loved us.
  Give each one of us grace to give thanks for all our brothers and sisters.
  

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  Behold, how good and pleasant it is when we dwell together in unity!
  May Christ's Spirit of humility and love dwell in us so we might eagerly maintain the unity of Your Spirit.

  Forgive me, O God, for not maintaining the unity of the Spirit as I ought.
  Forgive us, O God, for not maintaining the unity of the Spirit as we ought.
  Give each one of us grace to eagerly maintain the unity of Your Spirit.
  Give each one of us grace to give thanks for all our brothers and sisters.

  BEHOLD, HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN WE DWELL IN UNITY!

  For the glory of God the Father, for Jesus' sake and by His Spirit at work in me, I thank God for each and every one of you, my dearly beloved brothers and sisters.

  Your sister in Christ by God's love, mercy, grace, blood and Spirit,
  Karen

  • 11:41 AM
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