PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY

[Jesus said,] "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You.  May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me."  -- John 17:20,21 (NIV)

Unless we look upon ourselves as called to unity, we shall never be united.  If God does not will that we should be united, what can our devices for producing it avail?  Whereas, if we believe that it is His will, and that we are fighting against His will by our divisions, we have a right confidently to hope that He will at last bring us to repentance, or, if we do not repent, will accomplish His purposes in spite of us. 

-- F. D. Maurice (1805-1872) in Hope for Mankind


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