21 Days of Prayer - Day 9 Devotional
21 Days of Fasting & Prayer Devotional – Day 9: United in Christ
The ancient city of Corinth was a melting pot of different people groups, religious ideals, and socioeconomic levels. Corinth was also a wealthy seaport city filled with idolatry because of the vast diversity of its population that came and went. Things were always changing in Corinth!
In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul addresses a big change in the church’s former life of idolatry to its new life empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is here that he points not just to the diversity of gifts that all believers have been given but emphasizes the strength that comes when those gifts are united together.
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-13
Though we have all been given unique and individually assigned gifts, the reality is our gifts are a part of a much bigger purpose. So, it should be that our prayers go beyond our individual needs to also pray for and focus on what God would have for His Church.
As theologian and author Richard Foster wrote, “The power of Christ in a gathered community can be an awesome thing. A quickening presence somehow breaks down the isolation of our individual lives and unites us together in ways we could never imagine nor create on our own.”
To be gathered or united means to look beyond our own agendas and recognize that God has brought us together for a far greater impact; that there is a miraculous power that comes from a unity of faith and spirit.
Like never before, we are living in a time where the world needs to see and encounter this power. So many people are experiencing defeat, suffering from hopelessness, divided by politics, race, and religious beliefs. And what the world needs is a praying and united people who are filled with the Spirit and demonstrating the love of God in a powerful way!
Scriptures
1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (ESV)
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Ephesians 4:1-4 (ESV)
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call.
In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul addresses a big change in the church’s former life of idolatry to its new life empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is here that he points not just to the diversity of gifts that all believers have been given but emphasizes the strength that comes when those gifts are united together.
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-13
Though we have all been given unique and individually assigned gifts, the reality is our gifts are a part of a much bigger purpose. So, it should be that our prayers go beyond our individual needs to also pray for and focus on what God would have for His Church.
As theologian and author Richard Foster wrote, “The power of Christ in a gathered community can be an awesome thing. A quickening presence somehow breaks down the isolation of our individual lives and unites us together in ways we could never imagine nor create on our own.”
To be gathered or united means to look beyond our own agendas and recognize that God has brought us together for a far greater impact; that there is a miraculous power that comes from a unity of faith and spirit.
Like never before, we are living in a time where the world needs to see and encounter this power. So many people are experiencing defeat, suffering from hopelessness, divided by politics, race, and religious beliefs. And what the world needs is a praying and united people who are filled with the Spirit and demonstrating the love of God in a powerful way!
Scriptures
1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (ESV)
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Ephesians 4:1-4 (ESV)
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call.
Recent
Archive
2024
January
21 Days of Prayer - Day 1 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 2 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 3 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 4 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 5 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 6 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 7 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 8 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 9 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 10 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 11 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 12 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 13 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 14 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 15 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 16 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 17 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 18 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 19 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 20 Devotional21 Days of Prayer - Day 21 DevotionalVision Sunday 2024 Recap
2023
January
June
October
November
2022
January
February
July
September
2021
April