One Heart, One Soul

In the 17th chapter of St. John, Jesus prayed, “Father, make them one, as we are one.” This prayer the Father answered. Our inner man was taken out of the flesh and placed in the Spirit. Therefore, we live in the Spirit. Paul said, “In Him we live and move and have our being,” However, though we live in the Spirit, we must always endeavor to walk in the Spirit. It is this walk in the Spirit that gives us the courage to minister Christ under any circumstances. The disciples prayed in this manner:

Acts 4:27-30

27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

1. They acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God. This acknowledgement must come from a heart that also embraces Jesus as Lord of their life. In other words, you must be willing to abandon any selfish desires of your own and truly embrace those of the Master. But this can only be done if the heart is full of love, adoration and respect.

2. All the powers that be were against Christ. The mind of Christ must be embraced here. He is our example. Although the world was against Christ, He remained true to His purpose. He came to reconcile evil men to God. It did not matter that the evil was poured out on Him. He wanted to please the Father. Therefore, He remained obedient even unto death. You must rid yourself of the thought of justification in not loving those who hate you. There are those who will forfeit their God-given privilege to serve Him in ministry, simply because it is always about them. It is always about what they suffer at the hands of others; even though in many cases, they have brought such offenses upon themselves.

Here is where you need to connect the dots. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. If you deny Christ, He will deny you. That is about as straight as it could ever be. You might not be the one to do as Peter did, claim not to know Christ. You deny Him just the same, when you will not allow His character to come forth when adversity comes your way. When your soulful desires must be satisfied in total disregard for the purpose of God, then you too have truly denied the Lord and will suffer the consequences.

Many in the Body are guilty of this selfishness. They simply refuse to allow the love of Christ to be revealed in the midst of offenses. Yet they wonder why they are not granted their heart’s desire in things both natural and spiritual. Truly, much will be withheld from them because they withhold much from God. God sees this behavior as pride and arrogance. Quite often they are very zealous in ministry, and would minister or counsel all the righteous mindsets to others, regarding offense and unforgiveness. But they themselves quickly abandon righteousness and purpose when they are offended. 'Holding your peace and turning the other cheek,' is always for the other individual. It’s too degrading, demeaning and embarrassing for them. Therefore, they simply refuse to enter into the fellowship of Christ’s suffering when it calls for any humiliation of the flesh. Thus Christ is not truly seen in that individual. He is forbidden to love and long-suffer with his offender, for whom He died. If this is your issue? If so, it is manifest that you are not of the same heart, mind and soul as the Jesus who lives in you. You are in rebellion and have no true fellowship with God.

Why are we so hard-hearted against the Word of God when our little personage is attacked or threatened? What are we trying to preserve? The truth is, we are more concerned about maintaining an image before man even at the expense of destroying our relationship with God. With this heart, the mouth of the prophet is silenced, and the intercessor has no audience with God. In some cases where groups of intercessors are coming together to pray, most of them are not being heard. Therefore, when the prayers are answered, it is due to either the sovereign purpose of God, or the voice of one or two in the bunch who were of one heart with Christ.

The heart of a true intercessor is not wanton or lustful to do the things that grieve the Spirit of God. The soul is in agreement with Jesus and does not seek its own. Later verses in this same chapter, speak to the early church having all things common. We look at our present state and think to ourselves, “This latter day church will never have that mindset.” Well, if that is true, then surely God is a failure. I don’t think so. The Lord will never leave Himself without a witness to His Word.

We have a promise in Ephesians 4:11-13, that the Church will come to the unity of the faith through the operation of the five-fold ministry. Don’t deceive yourself any longer. You will pay a heavy penalty for resisting the Holy Ghost. You only have one soul, but it will be forfeited if you do not obey from the heart the Word of God. Beloved, this is not a hard thing. You simply must remind yourself that you are not your own; but you have been bought with a price. The glory of the Father is only manifested when you suffer in the flesh. You can do this by simply destroying your pride, humbling yourself and submitting to the Christ who lives within you.