⏱ 4 min read

• Just before Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane to be betrayed and arrested (John 18), we have Jesus’ longest recorded prayer in John 17.
• In this prayer, Jesus prayed for Himself (v1-5), for His disciples (v6-19) and for all believers (v20-26). Let’s dig in on one of these:

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. ~ John 17:11

• Jesus prayed that God will protect the disciples so that they will be one; this was Jesus’ concern!
• Jesus understood that if there was anything that could destroy what He was going to do on the cross; it was disunity.
• Dear friend, if Jesus considered this as the most important thing to pray about, wouldn’t it be wise we do same?

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. ~ Matthew 12:25

“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.” ~ (John 17:20-21)

Jesus Prayed for Unity at All Levels: Divine Design

• Dearly beloved, do we see how Jesus prayed for unity at all levels? He knew that a lot depended on the unity of the body.
• The kind of unity that the Word of God describes is the type that makes us join to become a body of inseparable parts (1 Corinthians 12:12-27)

There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. 
It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts.
27 You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.
(1 Corinthians 12:12-14,27)

We have not achieved unity until our separation from a member or co-worker in the Kingdom is like the separation of a part of our body. That is why we are called the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27).

• Our joining together is the joining of body parts into one inseparable unit (think about it for a moment).
• Question: How easy is it for you to be separated from your Christian family?
• Answer: How easy is it for your kidney, your breast or your leg to be separated from your body?

It is a very difficult, complicated, painful process because the parts of the body are well and truly connected to each other. That is how we must be connected to each other. Dear friend, stay connected!

• Develop connections between yourself and all the essential people that God has placed in your life and ministry!
• These must be connections that will be difficult to break and separate! That is the meaning of unity at all levels; and this is what Jesus prayed for!

Let’s pray that we will be connected to this divine design of the body of Christ; to our spiritual family (bonded together by the superior blood of Jesus and the baptism of the Holy Spirit).

• Pray for the unity of your local church family and the universal body of Christ!
• Pray for the unity of believers across the globe. Jesus prayed it and so should we!