"One Mind and One Voice"

Scripture: Romans 15:5-6
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Observations:
This is part of our supporting scripture for tonight's small group discussion at FpStudents.  As part of our We Can't Stay Here Series, we will be talking about praying as a group.  Most of our discussion will be focused around unity in our prayers but I wanted to take a minute to pick this verse apart because it is about unity in more than just prayer.

When we pray together, God has one purpose: to corporately grow us toward Him.  Our mindset is usually that we are praying together so that God will answer our prayer.  We have the mistaken impression that God is more likely to answer if more people are asking for something.

Last night, my adult small group did Part 1 of the Four Cups series that our church is doing as a small group alignment right now.  One of the questions in the discussion was something to the effect of "Do you see God working more in your circumstances or in your response to your circumstances?"  Think about that for a minute.  Most of us emphatically said B!  So often, God changes are hearts instead of changing our situation.

When we pray together as a group, our purpose is not to pray loud enough for God to hear or to pester him enough to change his mind.  God cannot be manipulated through us ganging up on him.  Instead, he has a better purpose for our unified prayer.  Romans 14:19 calls it "mutual edification" but it simply means "building each other up."  God uses our prayers as a group make us all more like Jesus.  And as our hearts mature, we begin to desire his will for our lives.  Thus our prayers are answered, if not through a change in the situation, then through a shift in our hearts.

Application:
Let's refocus the purpose of our corporate prayers onto God's purpose: Glorifying him with one mind and one voice.  What if each time we prayed, we were begging God to do his will in our lives, mature our faith, and use us to glorify Him?  I don't know about you, but my prayers are usually a lot more selfish than that!  Thankfully, He understands our human limitations, and He works His good purpose in our lives anyway.  But what amazing changes might we see in our group if we were praying in unity for his will?  There's one thing I know for sure… We can't stay here!

Prayer:
Lord God, I am so excited to see what you are going to do at FpStudents tonight.  I pray that you would give the girls a heart to listen and hear your truths during the message.  I pray that our small group discussion would be rich and focused.  Most of all, Lord, I pray that you would help us to refocus our purpose on mutual growth so that we can glorify you.  This is a very complex concept and I pray that you will give every girl there the ability to comprehend it in her heart.  In Jesus' name!  Amen!

Confident in this…
Miranda