This guide has been created to journey through reconciliation and oneness as we pray through John 17: “… I pray that all of them may be one”. Firstly, becoming one with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Secondly, with our brothers and sisters in the Body of Jesus Christ, the Church. Thirdly, our role as peacemakers in the world around us. This is week two in a five-part series.
24-7 PRAYER SOUTH AFRICA
Day 1
Scriptures: Acts 17:26-27, Deuteronomy 10:17, Acts 10:34, Genesis 11:1-8, Genesis 12:1-3
And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.” Act.17:26 NKJV
All human beings are descendants from Adam and Eve, one bloodline. The Bible clearly states that God loves all humans equally and does not show favouritism or partiality (Deut.10:17; Act.10:34). There was no racial distinction until after the flood and the building of the tower of Babel. Everybody spoke the same language. However, because they did not believe in God, their oneness resulted in rebellion against God (Gen.11:1-8). God intervened and confused their language. It caused people to be scattered across the earth and to form distinct nations.
God began His work of redemption. He chose Abraham, separated him from his idolatrous background, and promised to make him a great nation in which all the families of the earth will be blessed (Gen.12:1-3). It was the first indication that God wanted a people that was separated unto Himself. His choice was not based on race but on faith. This was God’s pattern. In the Old Testament, people were divided between believers and unbelievers; between Israelites (who believed in God through revelation of Himself to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the nation of Israel, priests, prophets, and kings) and the pagan nations (who believed in their own gods). In the New Testament, all people can believe in God through Jesus Christ. As far as God is concerned, there are only two races on earth —those who have chosen to be a part of His family and those who haven’t.
Racism is the belief that humans are divided into separate and exclusive biological entities called “races”; with inherited physical traits of personality, intellect, morality, cultural and behavioural features; and that some races are genetically superior to others. The term also applies to political, economic, or legal institutions and systems that discriminate based on race or reinforce racial inequalities in wealth and income, education, healthcare, civil rights, and other areas. God makes no such distinction. – “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.” (Rom.10:12, NKJV)
John 17 was Jesus’ prayer for His disciples the night before He was betrayed. “… I pray that all of them may be one”. It is still His prayer today. We would like to encourage you to memorise the chapter of John 17 or at least the verses that speak to your heart this week, to pray it daily and to ask that Jesus’ prayer would be fulfilled in you and through you.
CORPORATE PRAYER (Ideally)
Father God, we humble ourselves before You. We have sinned against You and against our fellow humans through racism. We turn from our wicked ways. We need your help to stand against the evil of racism. Please deliver us from this evil. We pray for a work of your Holy Spirit in our hearts, in our families, and in our churches. Search our hearts, Lord, and convict us of our sins. Give us a new heart that will be one as You and your Son are one. Amen.
“The devil knows what he does in hindering the communion of believers; in doing this he hinders the progress of grace, bringing Christians into a declining, wasting state. – William Gurnall
Day 2
Scriptures: Ezekiel 11:19, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Acts 4:31-32, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 4:4-6
BE ONE!
“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 11:19 NIV
The Israelites in the Old Testament struggled to stay faithful to God. They repeatedly strayed from God and participated in the detestable idolatrous practices of the surrounding nations. God was patient and sent prophet after prophet to call them to repentance. They did not repent. God had to execute judgment on them for the sake of His holy name. Their disobedience caused God’s Name to be ridiculed by the pagan nations. In the midst of the judgment, He promised redemption. He would make a new covenant with them: do a heart transplant by removing the old stony heart and give them a new heart of flesh, an undivided, singular heart. He would also give them a new spirit. (Jer.31:31-34)
The new covenant began on that glorious day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God was poured out. Those who believed in the good news of Jesus Christ were born again, filled by the Spirit of God, and received one heart, one soul (mind and emotions), one body by the one Spirit, filled with one hope, one faith, one baptism of the Spirit, having one Lord, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Act.4:31-32; 1 Cor.12:13; Eph.4:4-6).
Each day, we will pray through the different aspects of becoming one. First becoming one with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Secondly, becoming one with our brothers and sisters in the Body of Jesus Christ, the Church. Thirdly, our role as peacemakers in the world around us. Daily prayer points focus first on our own individual lives (ME), then on the Church (US), and then on the world (THEM).
As you pray through the different topics this week, allow the Holy Spirit to guide you into the truth concerning your own heart to bring conviction, ask for forgiveness or extend forgiveness as necessary, and empower you to reconcile and bring healing and restoration to others. If emotions should surface during your prayer, try to identify these emotions and ask the Lord to show you the incident(s) that caused you to have these emotions. This is usually where healing can occur through confession or forgiveness. If you are reminded of specific people who were involved in these incidents and you have the opportunity to personally speak to them to ask for forgiveness or to forgive, please try to do so at the first opportunity in a face-to-face meeting or via telephone.
PRAYER POINTS
ME: Have you ever contemplated the length, breadth, height, and depth of the salvation of God accomplished through His Son and the Holy Spirit? Submit yourself again to this heart transplant, trusting God to do you everything that He promised: to enable you to become one body, one heart, one mind, one soul, and one faith with believers from any race, nation, colour, or background.
US: Pray that the work of the Holy Spirit will overcome the denominational and doctrinal differences in and amongst us. Pray that the Lord will bind us together in true unity and restoration. Pray that He will open our eyes to collectively see the pain and wounds around us. Ask the Lord to root out pride from our hearts and replace it with the Holy Spirit’s fruit of humility and compassion. Let us bow down with humble hearts filled with repentance.
THEM: Ask the Lord for forgiveness for our disobedience, which caused His name to be ridiculed by unbelievers. If you know any people who were hurt or disappointed in God because of your or other Christians’ behavior, ask them for their forgiveness.
Remember your scripture memory of John 17.
“Reconciliation is the physical demonstration that God is at work in the world. Any fool can put people at odds. Only God – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all – can bring those opposed to one another together as sisters and brothers. When we lose reconciliation, we lose the purposes of Jesus.” – Sean Palmer.
Day 3
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 7:9-11, 1 John 1:9, Luke 3:8, Acts 26:20, Psalms 51:2-5
SAYING SORRY
“… your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.” 2 Corinthians7:9-11 NIV
There are several core principles for reconciliation. Without confession and repentance, reconciliation is not possible. Although the two words confession and repentance often go together, they are not the same. Maybe we were convicted of our sin after a sermon, at a Bible study, or a meaningful time of prayer. Perhaps a friend’s rebuke or a time of self-examination convicted us of sin. In these moments, the Holy Spirit gives a heart-wrenching conviction of sin. Emotional brokenness and convincing regret quickly follow, and we’re suddenly in agreement with God about our sins. This leads to confession. How many times have we seen this happen without genuine and lasting change? Why does genuine transformation still evade us? Confession may give us the impression that our work is done, failing to realise that it is just the beginning. This failure is why many people experience false transformation.
Repentance can be defined as feeling or expressing remorse about something. It is when an individual thinks about his past actions, evaluates them, and feels regret for the offenses that he has committed against other people, chooses to renounce the sin, turns away from the opposing thought, belief, or action that prompted the confession, and then walks the road of godly grief. Some of the biggest challenges to repentance are pride, minimizing or making excuses for our sins, or blame-shifting. To become a new person, we must die to our pride and embrace the path of repentance through a genuine surrender to biblical truth and putting to death our sinful desires. When we repent, we can experience God’s forgiveness, receive His grace for inner transformation, and our behaviour will change. Then only can we rebuild trust with others, even if it takes longer than we planned.
Meditate on the scriptures provided before praying.
PRAYER POINTS
ME: If you earnestly desire Christ-likeness, it will come through prayerfully depending on God in true confession and repentance. Allow Him to convict you through godly sorrow.
US: Pray that Christians will allow the conviction of sin to bring them to a place of repentance and honest confession of sins so that the blood of Jesus can cleanse us and empower us to become instruments of reconciliation and instruments of righteousness in our nation.
THEM: Pray that the Holy Spirit will convict people in your nation of things that they personally did wrong and what our fathers (and mothers) did that was displeasing in the Lord’s sight.
Remember your John 17 memory verse.
“We will repeat this process—confession, prayer, repentance—over and over and over again. This is simply called Christianity. It is a hard, joyful, and life-long process of surrendering to God and pursuing the fruit of the Spirit. God has started a good work in us but He is not finished yet.” -– Ty Gooch.
Day 4
Scriptures: Matthew 6:12-15, 1 John 1:9-10, Matthew 18:21-35, Exodus 34:6-7
FATHER, FORGIVE THEM
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors… For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”Matthew 6:12-15 NIV
Forgiveness is another core principle for reconciliation. The core of Christianity is the belief that Christ died on the cross for our sins and that God loved us so much that He gave his son so that our sins might be forgiven and our guilt might be atoned for. The Scriptures confirm this repeatedly: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). This is where the Christian faith differs from other religions: we can constantly start anew. In his love and mercy, the Lord forgives us day by day and clasps us to his heart. But Jesus taught us that as God forgives us, we must forgive those who have harmed us. He not only included this command in the Lord’s Prayer but often mentioned it to his followers and explained it in parables (Matt.18:21-35). This is an important lesson that we must learn in our own lives and our communities.
Forgiving someone who hurt you is one of the most difficult things to do. In fact, it is humanly impossible. Forgiveness is a divine attribute of our God (Exo.34:6-7), clearly expressed by Jesus when He forgave his executors (Luk.21:34). The scary thought is that if we don’t forgive others because of what they did to us, God will not forgive us. This was exactly what Jesus tried to explain to Peter when he asked how many times he should forgive a brother who sinned against him.
PRAYER POINTS
ME: Father God, You are merciful and gracious, slow to anger. With You, there is forgiveness. Thank You for forgiving my sins. Father, I confess before You that I am sometimes slow to forgive. Father, I confess that in my humanity, I do not want to forgive because I want justice and revenge on those who hurt me. Father, soften my heart so that I can forgive as Jesus did. I am willing and ready for You to lead me to forgive those who have sinned against me and against my people.
US: Pray that God’s Holy Spirit will work supernaturally in every denomination of the Church to prepare and soften the hearts of Christians to come to a place of willingness to forgive their former enemies and those who have hurt them. Let us pray for husbands, wives, children, teachers, students, and elderly people – any who carry grudges, bitterness, and hatred, to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to bring healing and restoration to their hearts.
THEM: As deeply traumatized and wounded nations, many people have become hard and bitter. Pray for the Holy Spirit to help us with true forgiveness and true reconciliation. Pray that God will grant us a season of forgiveness and reconciliation in our nations and that many people, even non-Christians, will want to work together for peace and reconciliation. Pray for a season of divine grace over us as nations to begin a true, lasting reconciliation process.
Remember your John 17 memory verse.
“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.” – Nelson Mandela
Day 5
Scriptures: Luke 6:35, Luke 6:27-28, Romans 5:5, Acts 7:60
LOVE YOUR ENEMIES
“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” Luke 6:35 ESV
One of the most difficult things a Christian will face is offering genuine forgiveness to those who have deeply hurt us. When Jesus commands us to love our enemies and offer our forgiveness to them, it’s hard for us to believe that He knew what He was talking about. Yet, he does understand and commands we forgive precisely because He understands. Jesus knows that even the deepest wounds can heal through his blood.
Corrie Ten Boom worked against the Nazis in World War Two, hiding Jews in her home. When she was caught, she was sent to a concentration camp where she was stripped of her dignity, saw her father and her sister (Betsie) die, and suffered more at the hands of other people than we could possibly imagine. Here is her story. Let the Holy Spirit minister to you as you read it:
“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower door in the processing centre at Ravensbrück concentration camp. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly, it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain-blanched face. He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. ‘How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.’ He said. ‘To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!’ His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who preached so often to the people in Bloemendal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so, again, I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness. As I took his hand, the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand, a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. “I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart!” And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on his. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”
PRAYER POINTS
ME: Have you noticed that love & forgiveness are not ours? We extend Jesus’ love to the world with our forgiveness. Open your heart to the Holy Spirit to give to you such a love.
US: It is only among brothers and sisters in the Church that true reconciliation with former enemies is possible. Pray that the Church will set the example of this heart transformation so that unbelievers will have to acknowledge that God is real and loves them.
THEM: Pray that Christians will not only reconcile with their enemies but also become ministers of reconciliation in their own communities and spheres of influence.
Day 6
Scriptures: Romans 12:19-21, Ephesians 4:31-32, Hebrews 12:14-15
REVENGE
“Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God’s anger do it. For the scripture says, “I will take revenge, I will pay back, says the Lord.” Instead, as the scripture says: “If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them a drink; for by doing this you will make them burn with shame.” Do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good.” Romans 12:19-21 GNB
Anger, hatred, bitterness, resentment, and revenge are part of a natural instinct and a normal response when someone wrongs you. No one wants to feel like they let a culprit “get away with it.” Our natural sense of self-protection compels us to act to avoid feeling vulnerable as if there is nothing we can do to right the wrong. However, forgiving someone doesn’t make you a pushover, and it’s not about letting the other person “off the hook.” Instead, forgiveness is about overcoming your anger and quelching your desire to punish the other person. Contemplating how to “get payback” negatively impacts your physical, mental, and emotional health. Studies show that focusing on revenge increases stress, inhibits mental functions, and weakens the immune system; the negative emotions that you harbour do more harm to yourself than the person who offended you.
Conversely, practicing forgiveness has been linked to lower blood pressure, reduced fatigue, and an improved quality of sleep. The problem for many of us is that sometimes we claim to forgive a person, but deep down, the anger or resentment lingers. It causes bitterness to enter our hearts through unresolved anger, inability to grieve, and wrong expectations. Bitterness is a poison that defiles people around you through gossip, slander, outbursts of anger, negativity, a critical spirit, division, sarcasm, insults, wrath, and meanness (Eph.4:31-32). The cure for bitterness is the grace of God enabling one to forgive and reconcile (Heb.12:14-15).
PRAYER POINTS
ME: Ask the Lord to help you discern what specific person or situation angered you. Then, ask Him to help bring the situation into perspective. Give the person by name into the hand of the Lord. Ask the Lord to help you to come to a place of forgiveness. Remember that forgiveness is not to pardon a person’s sin but to help you to become free from the person or situation that has kept you emotionally in bondage. Speak forgiveness to the person who caused the pain.
US: Pray that the Lord will help the Church in your nation to be an instrument that can facilitate the removal of this root of hatred, bitterness, and revenge in the hearts of many people. Pray that the Lord would use us to shine His light of truth into the darkness and expose our long-standing racial inequity, our idolatry of culture and nationalism, and any form of injustice or oppression.
THEM: Pray that the Holy Spirit will minister deliverance and healing to thousands of angry people who do not yet know the freedom of forgiveness.
Remember your John 17 memory verse.
“I learned a long time ago that some people would rather die than forgive. It’s a strange truth, but forgiveness is a painful and difficult process. It’s not something that happens overnight. It’s an evolution of the heart.” – Sue Monk Kidd
Day 7
Scriptures: Isaiah 59:14-16, Jeremiah 17:9, John 4:23, John 8:32, John 8:44, John 14:6, John 14:17, John 17:17
PURSUING TRUTH
“Justice is driven away, and right cannot come near. Truth stumbles in the public square, and honesty finds no place there. There is so little honesty that those who stop doing evil find themselves the victims of crime.” The LORD has seen this, and He is displeased that there is no justice. He is astonished to see that there is no one to help the oppressed. So, He will use his own power to rescue them and to win the victory.” Isaiah 59:14-16 GNB
Since the Garden of Eden, there has been a battle between light and darkness, good and evil, the truth and the lie. The god of this age has blinded the world against the truth, especially the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Cor.4:4). Some of the densest blindfolds are culture, traditions, worldviews, and religious upbringing. We live in an era where any information is available at our fingertips on our phones. But how do we verify any information? Can the media be trusted? People have used media for centuries to influence and manipulate the minds and beliefs of people. Propaganda is a very useful technique to present a lie as if it is the truth, and by repeating it often enough, people will believe anything. It was so in the Garden of Eden, and it is so even in our time. With Photoshop and recently with the development of Artificial Intelligence, any photo or video can be manipulated. Fake news is evil. And to aggravate our inability to discern truth is that our hearts are untrustworthy (Jer.17:9). Self-deception is the error that led many Christians astray through the centuries of church history.
How do we find the truth? There is only one way: we need to know the One whose name is the Way, the Truth, and the Light. And we need to be filled with His gift to us, the Spirit of Truth. This is the only way to discern between darkness and light, good and evil, the truth and the lie. Now, more than ever, we need to know our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to know His ways, intentions, words, and warnings. We need new hearts, spirits, and love, and our first allegiance must be not to our culture, people group, or nation but to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Let us today determine that we will search for the truth and find it in our endeavor to become one.
PRAYER POINTS
ME: Bow low before the Lord Jesus Christ. Present to Him your heart. Ask Him to expose all lies and deception in your own heart, be it from your culture and traditions, your political alliance now and in the past, your fallen nature, or an evil spirit. Ask Him to fill you with the Spirit of Truth and to guide you in this journey of reconciliation.
US: Pray for the church of Jesus Christ. Our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, is still praying for us that the Father may make us one. Let us join Him in that prayer and submit ourselves to His authority, guidance, and desire for us to know the truth and worship in spirit and truth.
THEM: The truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has to be preached, taught, and lived. Let us pray that the unbelievers in our nations will come to know the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
“There are only two people who can tell you the truth about yourself – an enemy who has lost his temper and a friend who loves you dearly.” – Antisthenes