Perfect Unity

(credit to Wikimedia.org)

Oh God, last night a dear sister friend of mine came to my house unannounced and told me to put on a coat and go outside with her.  As I walked outside, she said let's walk up on the hill of the farm.  So we went through the gate and walked up to the top of the hill that looks east toward the Massanutten mountain.  As I got to the top of the hill, there it was!  It was an amazing site.  It was a full, bright, almost glowing orange moon that was radiating hues of white, and yellow from it.  It was the most spectacular moon sight that I have seen against the backdrop of the clear night sky.  It looked like a fall or harvest moon.  We both just kept walking out into the field trying to get closer to it.  We found a space in the field to sit down beside each other where we could just marvel at God's beauty and wonder what He would say to us.  We held each others hands and just began to pray and praise God by asking him for his protection and anointing upon us.  We asked that He fill us with His peace.  This was before I even knew that I would be reading Psalm 122 later that evening in preparation for my Palestine/Israel trip in which the scripture says "peace be within you". 
We felt God's presence in that moment by the gentle wind that was swirling around our faces.  We were breathing in deep so that we could draw Him in closer to us.  We told God that we needed and wanted more of Him.  As I am preparing myself for Palestine/Israel, there is this peace within me where I am expectant that God will reveal Himself to me.  I can't name what that feeling or knowing is, but I just have a sense that He is going to reveal himself to me in a very profound way.

My prayer was, God let me see, hear and feel your presence.  I want all that you have to give me.  I want your peace, joy, grace, mercy, and unending love.  Fill me God from the inside out.  So I then read Colossians 3:12-17 that tells us to
"clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful."

What would that look like if everyone could truly forgive each other, forgive the events and traumas from generations past and to live with complete abandonment of self by loving each other.  To me, that is God's constant message, to LOVE all in all circumstances and situations.  It is love that covers a multitude of things which can bring about peace and unity. 

Then I turned to one of my many favorite scriptures of Paul's prayers to the Ephesians in Ephesians 3:14-2 that says for us to know and feel that He does dwell within us and that is where our strength and power comes from.  It is Christ's dwelling in our hearts that gives us faith.  Again it is LOVE that He says we must be rooted in and we have no earthly conceptualization of how wide and long, high and deep His love is for us.  This is what I want to experience...more of God so that he can fill me with His fullness.  Yesterday my prayer was that God would take me to the center of his heart so that I could experience all of Him and what He has for me.

Perfect unity can be summed up in God's peace, forgiveness and love.  That is my prayer for the world that every person, community, state, country and the world can be filled with the fullness of God with peace, forgiveness and love that He offers us so that we can give it freely in return to our brothers and sisters.  It is this place within ourselves where we must get to experience peace, forgiveness and love where I believe heaven meets earth whereby we each individually can change the world collectively for peace and unity.  May you go with peace before you, with in you and after you radiating an unending love for all of humanity.  May God Bless You and Keep You in His Grip!