Day 4: July 4, 2024

Theme: God loves and will save anyone (so I can pray for everyone)

Scripture: Revelation 14:6-7 (KJV) And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Why do we look to heaven? Because that is a picture of the will of God. This is the destiny for the world and so when looking at that I can focus my life on those goals. Likewise, if I am looking for unity then God is the only one who knows how to accomplish that and what it will look when complete. Two major things come out of this perspective;

1. Unity will only come as God rules over mankind

2. Division is the result of sinful human nature and must be subdued

God has no favorites and this should encourage each of us we all have a place in His kingdom. If I walk after God I can have no favorites and when I do I need to recognize my partiality and work hard to remove it from my life. Partiality keeps us from praying properly. Partiality keeps us from loving equally. Partiality lets the devil in to ransack someone else's room when we are living in the same house. The house still gets robbed.

Prayer in Action:

Since love is active, we should be able to see it when it is in play. It should not be exclusive but expansive. Love is the heart of the gospel so that must mean we are to live our lives out of it. We must think through our actions and live in a way that corrects us first. Then we can love others more completely and hold them in high regard. We can stop praying for our "kindreds, and nations, and tribes" and then pray for our nation.

John 13:34-35 (KJV) A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

I believe when we pray for the good of others, our prayers are more aligned with the heart of God. We can and should "make our requests known", but we should also pray for one another. Let's do that today!

Prayer in Unity:

"Heavenly Father, we know that you love us, but we also know that you love all of us. In knowing that you love all of us we repent of having disregarded one another. We ask you to cleanse us from the biases and partiality that we all have so that we might become more like you in word and deed. May no favoritism enter our hearts as we pray but let us hear your heart and pray accordingly for all men.

Today, we pray that we become a part of helping this nation make a change. May we pray for those in authority as well as those who oppose us. May we decide that we have no enemies by Satan himself, and we will not allow him to continue to bring division into our world. To the extent that it is within our ability to do good, we choose to do good to anyone and everyone we can.

We also confess that unity will be wrought by your hand, and according to your standards and we submit our lives to that goal. We love you, Lord, because we know that you love us!"