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 That We Should Be One

Prayer is one of the most potent avenues at the disposal of humanity. Through prayer, petitions and requests can be voiced to the Creator and Savior of the world. God has allowed sinful man to come into His presence seeking blessings. Prayer has changed the lives of the people of God who find, in its simple form, the grace of a loving Father caring for His child. When a man has spent time in prayer, he has enjoyed the divinely appointed moment to stand in the presence of the Almighty God.

When a man prays, he struggles to seek blessings from the Father because he is sinful. On the night He was betrayed, Jesus prayed to His Father in deep tones of agony, suffering, expectation, and hope. What made the prayer of Jesus different from the prayers of men is that He came to His Father sinless. The measure of prayer is found in the petitioner asking favors undeserved from a merciful Father. Jesus sought blessings as the Son of God, Deity approaching Deity, the Divine pleading to His Divine Father.

The prayer of Jesus was imploring God’s blessings on the assembly of believers who would come to know the redeeming blood of Jesus. In His prayer, Jesus prayed for Himself, and then He prayed for the eleven. Then, He turned His eyes to the future when the believers in Christ would be united under the banner of truth in unity. As the gospel was spread to all corners of the globe, Jesus prayed that all believers be one, united in purpose, design, function, and hope – everything under the name of Jesus Christ.

Not long after praying His final prayer, Jesus would be arrested, tried, and nailed to a cross. His death would open the avenue of grace through the blood He shed for the sins of mankind. Through the power of God, who raised Him from the dead, Jesus would establish His kingdom. He would build His church. The church’s plan was in God’s mind before time began. Jesus had promised to build His church, and the gates of Hades would not prevail against it. As the shadow of the cross hung heavy on the heart of Jesus, He knew the plan of His Father would come to fruition shortly after His resurrection.

Jesus did not pray vain prayers. His prayer to the Father was a deeply, calculated, and designed prayer to establish the design and purpose of what He came to accomplish. Jesus prayed that all those who believed in the word would be united together as one. He uses the relationship He shared with the Father to explain the unity. Jesus and the Father were one in speech, purpose, plan, design, and judgment. The Son of God was going to die on the cross to unite Jews and Gentiles together in the church of Christ, the kingdom of God.

The apostles preached the first gospel sermon of the new kingdom at Pentecost. Luke records the acts of the twelve as they took the gospel to the whole world. One characteristic evident in reading the books of the New Testament is there was only one church. Jesus prayed there be unity in believers, and in the first century, all believers were united under the single banner of one Lord, one faith, one Spirit, one hope, one baptism, on God – and one church or body. That is what Jesus prayed for because that is the will of God.

Today, the prayer of Jesus is ignored. Now, you can attend the church of your choice with little resemblance to the New Testament body of believers. There is no unity of believers. Churches wear different names, teach other doctrines, require different plans of salvation, and follow different creeds. The true church has always existed, but man has become so steeped in religious error that it is hard to identify without careful examination. Many are turned away from Jesus Christ because they can see the confusion in so many churches.

One of the reasons many people do not believe in God, His Son, or the Bible is because there is no unity with so many, many churches claiming to be the Lord’s church. Jesus prayed to the Father that all believers be one so the world may believe in Him. A name on a sign does not make a church the true church. To be found as the New Testament church, open your Bible and follow the words of the Holy Spirit. Take nothing less than what the Lord says. Be the answer to the prayer of Jesus. Be one with God and Him alone.