We can all be instruments of REAL change in this world. We don’t have to be Presidents—or Senators or Governors or other bigwig public officials. If we’re born-again, we have all the tools we need at our disposal.

Okay, so you’ve already been praying for a different candidate to win—or for this to happen or that not to happen, and it didn’t turn out the way you prayed for. Me, too. So what’s wrong?

Luke 11:17 says: “. . . Any kingdom divided against itself is laid to waste; and a house divided against itself falls.” With all the disunity in the body of Christ, it would have to be defined as a house divided against itself. One denomination says you have to belong to it in order to be saved. Another says only its members have Biblical truth. We spend our time and energy arguing about our differences rather than letting the Holy Spirit that’s resident in all of us bring us together and lead us to love one another, and that division within the body weakens the power of your prayers and mine.

So how do we overcome this problem? How do we get the sort of unity in the body of Christ that will being real power for Christians to have overcoming lives?

II Chronicles 7:14 points the way. It says: “[If] My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Since this promise is under the old covenant, we need to give it a bit of thought and interpretation. Under the old covenant, God dealt with the nation of Israel. When He promises to heal their land, He’s talking about healing the nation.

Under the new covenant, God deals with the body of Christ. That same promise today means He will heal the church—not your church or my church, but the body of Christ. If He is to heal the body, He must heal the division that so weakens it. That would bring the body of Christ—the church—us—into the sort of unity that would put power into the prayers of His people—our prayers.

How about turning the verse from II Chronicles 7 into a prayer? “Move on the hearts and minds of Your people around the world, leading all of us daily to humble ourselves and pray and seek Your face and turn from our wicked ways, so You can hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and heal the church.”

[I personally add, “Use us as salt and light to this lost world for whatever time remains, but send Your Son soon to call us up into the clouds to meet Him, before the turmoil and tribulations of this world get any worse than they already are.” This is my own addition to the prayer, which you may or may not want to adopt. Neither would diminish the power of the prayer above. The primary thing is that we put ourselves and our will into submission to His and that we pray His own words back to Him.]

If we all started praying this daily and sharing this concept with our Christian friends, urging them to do likewise, think of the possibilities. By the time our friends sent it to their friends, and they sent it to theirs, and so forth, we would begin to have a large body praying in unison for God to heal the church. God answers the fervent prayers of His people—especially a fervent prayer sent up in unity by a large block of Christianity.

In this way, you and I can be the beginning of real change in the world.

Ø How do you think the power of your prayers compares with that of the first-century apostles’ and disciples’ prayers?

Ø What’s more important to you—the unity of the body of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, or proving to others that your beliefs are truer and better than theirs?