“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one–as you in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.” John 17:20-21
When Jesus was in the garden, he asked that the Father would make us one. I’ve experienced that here at training camp more than anywhere else. I’ve seen it in our team as a whole. We don’t all think the same by far, but we all mesh together. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but where one person is weak, someone else on the team is strong. When we’re put together, we’re solid. So many people throw that word around as slang, but this is literal. If we were a wall there would be zero cracks in it. There will be some rough times as a team ahead, but patch up the cracks in no time.
I’ve seen the unity in the other guys on the team. We’ve only been together for a few days, but we’re already just like a group of brothers. We hear each other out, we give advise, we take advice, we have patience, and we always have a good laugh.
The place where I’ve seen unity the most is in worship. Scripture says that God is spirit and WE (plural) must worship Him in SPIRIT (singular). I’m not sure if that is exactly what it means but it makes since to me. Us as separate individuals must worship with one spirit, one heart, and one unified passion. In my experience, we (and I include me) just go as far as making sure everyone is singing the same song. We never look at the deeper unity of it. And I’m not saying we all have to worship the same way. NO! Here it’s crazy! We’ll have some people dancing, some shouting prayer and praise, some on their knees, some with their hands lifted high, and even some who just sat there in silence. Everyone of them beautiful in their own way, but we cried out with the same longing to worship God and give Him glory. At one point I sat back to watch it and it was the most incredible thing I had ever seen! And when I joined back in, I didn’t just see myself worshiping, and listen to where I was at in worship, but I wanted to see where we were as a whole. And I saw that we were before the throne of God and it was glorious!
We are the body. And as the body we are filled with the power of the Spirit. And there is nothing that can stand in our way.
