God, Your Word tells us to love our enemies, to pray for those who spite or persecute us. That's quite a "tall order" for a human, but through the enabling of your Holy Spirit, I can do it. Please remind me to pray instead of complain, to pray instead of get angry, to pray instead of feel sorry for myself. I pray for all the people I have relationships with in my family, neighborhood, workplace, church, school...wherever I live, work, and play, that you would help them to focus on you. If they do not know you, draw them to you. If they do know you, remind them to think "What would Jesus do?" before they act. Remind me too. Thank you for your love and patience with us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. "Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you" (Lev 26:8).
The Church of Jesus Christ is called to impact the world. The biblical definition "church" is not an institution or building, but rather it is made up of individuals. Jesus said "wherever two or more meet together, I am in the midst of them." The biblical word translated as "church" is ekklesia which is the original Greek meaning "the people of God."
The New Testament used this word in two different ways. Sometimes it refers to people of God gathered together in congregations. That is our traditional idea of the local church. But other times it means believers in general, wherever they might find themselves.
God calls the Church to be transformers of society through their collective influence. Jesus prayed that His Church would be unified in order for the world to respond to Him. "May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me" (John 17:23). The enemy of the Church is secularism, a religion that says there is no God. When local congregations fail to come together as a collective voice and operate instead as individual silos in their community society is given over to the evils created as a result of an unbelieving society. Conversely, when the Body of Christ - the Church puts its collective resources together to solve societal issues, our enemies; crime, poverty, sexual perversion, etc. will fall by the sword of a unified Church.
God is birthing city coalitions of His Church among congregations in the city in order to fulfill John 17:23. Are you willing to be a catalyst in your community to see His Church take back your city?
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