The Very Prayer of Jesus
I first met Christ at fifteen years old, not in a Church but in my bedroom. As a Jew, I kept my faith a secret, and when I finally entered a church, I experienced a deep sense of gratitude for finally worshiping with those who also knew Him. With childlike eyes, I saw the Believers as one. I was not merely an idealistic new Believer; this was the very prayer of Jesus, that we would be one.
It is now forty-two years since I first met the Lord, and in all these years, I have never seen a more divided Body than today. We have lost something precious that we must reclaim.
The Giant That Stands Before the Church
There was a man who saw clearly when there were great injustice and sin in the Church. You probably know his name: William Seymour. But there is the hidden part of his journey that we often miss. And his story prophesies to a divided Church that there really is a way to become one in Christ.
William Seymour mastered a giant that stood before him and his generation. And the crazy part is he killed this giant in the hidden place, way before there was ever an Azusa Street Revival.
William's Test and Victory
William Seymour was the son of formerly enslaved parents. He had lost an eye and was a black man living during an intensely racist period of American history. He had reason to feel disadvantaged. And yet we remember him as the man who sparked the Azusa Street Revival. But we may never have heard of him if it were not for the posture of his heart—a posture that enabled him to steward a revival so significant that it would impact millions. But before Seymour became the man we remember, there was a problem he had to overcome.
He was desperately hungry for the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues. He knew of a man who understood more about this than he did: Rev. Charles Parham. But there was a problem; William could not sit in the classroom with the white students. So, William sat outside and listened through the doorway. Imagine being hungry enough for God that you are willing to endure the pain and humiliation of sitting outside the door to receive what is being taught inside.
Seymour had every opportunity to foster resentment, but instead he remained hungry. He knew that the root of bitterness would choke his life with God. He refused to allow a man or a system's sin to determine the condition of his own heart.
It was as though he had learned to shut out the emotional noise and focus intently on God, as if he had an invisible box on his head. He mastered the obstacle of personal bitterness by locking himself in with God, no matter how foolish that may have seemed to others.
He could have walked away from Parham's teaching entirely. Instead, he looked beyond human flaws, befriended Parham, and recognized that there was still something from God that he needed to receive from his new friend. He regarded the teaching about the Holy Spirit as more valuable than his right to remain offended. Rev. Parham had something precious, a piece of the Kingdom, and Seymour refused to let offense keep him from receiving it. (Photo via Pexels)
The Box of Focus
Later on, once the revival started, Seymour became known for a strange practice. While people worshiped, he would put his head inside a real wooden box. Then when the time was right, he would emerge in the power of the Spirit.
We cannot know exactly why he did this, but I wonder if the box became a place of focus—a way of shutting out the pull of the room so he could stay in God's peace and discern Him clearly. I believe he had learned in the earlier years how to discern God's presence and voice amidst other voices. There was something about his ability to focus on God that was the core of his ministry.
Choosing the Box or the Soapbox
What would have happened if William Seymour had allowed offense to become his soapbox, stood on it and made his pain his platform?
William could have spent his life accusing the system around him, but God had something better for him. By allowing God and not his disappointment to be his focus, he was able to demonstrate another Kingdom. The man who had once been required to sit outside, because he was black, now stood at the center of a multi-racial movement where all people worshiped God together in unity.
Something remarkable had happened. At a time when racial segregation was deeply embedded in culture, and churches were divided along racial lines, black and white Believers worshiped together at Azusa under the leadership of a black pastor. People from other backgrounds came too. Even the leadership was interracial. It was so unusual for its time that it was described by Participate Frank Bartleman as "the color line was washed away in [Jesus'] blood."
Instead of the soapbox, William chose God's way. Isn't it interesting that Seymour's box became one of the images associated with his ministry? The man with his head in the box. The man focused on One.
Pastor Richard Gordon recently said, "In the realm of the natural, problems are a hindrance to your destiny. In the realm of the spirit, problems are an invitation to promotion." William Seymour could have been pulled by his emotions. Instead, he focused on Jesus and led the way for many. The rest is written in revival history because William chose the box. What about us?
No One Is a Stranger to Bitterness
Bitterness is a foul taste in our mouths; it often gets there because of another's sin against us. We may not be responsible for the taste, but since it landed in our mouths, we are responsible to deal with it. Scriptures describe bitterness as a root. It anchors itself in the human soul silently and will take over a healthy person if not uprooted.
Hebrews 12:15 tells us that it is possible to miss the grace of God by hanging on to bitterness. What does it mean to miss the grace of God? We miss the grace of God when we forget the grace and forgiveness that was given to us. But now we have come "to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel" (Hebrews 12:24 NIV).
Abel's blood cried out for just judgment, but Jesus' blood speaks a better word: forgiveness. Now that we have tasted His blood, we are compelled to live in His forgiveness. We must find a way to let go of offenses, because sin is crouching at the door. It wants to have us like it wanted to have Cain. (Photo via Pexels)
Do not misunderstand, forgiveness does not equal trust. Trust is earned, and it cannot be demanded or expected by anyone. When we forgive, we release a person from our need for vengeance and give the case to God. Vengeance belongs to Him. As we do this, we let go of the bitter root and get our lives back, because we were designed to carry peace, not heaviness.
"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:29–30 NIV)
We Don't Have to Always Agree
One of my favorite preachers holds a belief that I disagree with, and I could shut his teachings out of my life because of this. Instead, I have learned so much from him, because I have refused to allow doctrinal difference to stop me from respecting him and receiving the grace of God on his life. We can recognize the grace of God on someone's life without agreeing with everything they believe.
We do not have to agree on non-essential doctrines to be one unified body. As an old Christian maxim states, "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity."
It is possible to challenge differences without being disrespectful. The sons and daughters of God are called to do things differently because we are a family. God has made us dependent on one another on purpose. No person or denomination has been given the full picture (1 Corinthians 13:12). Jesus has created an obstacle for us. Yes, we are called to love and receive truth from our imperfect brothers and sisters, even those we disagree with!
I am not talking about blindly accepting everything someone teaches. Nor am I talking about abandoning discernment, accountability, or correction. Even now, there are evil powers trying to change the boundaries and origins of creation by using the label of Christianity falsely. The purpose of this article is not to address false religion with a Christian label, but to address us—the family of God.
"Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other." (Mark 9:50 NIV)
If Christ Is Not All, We Have Lost the Plot
Jesus is the groom of His Church. His Church includes everyone who trusts in Him, both the weak and the strong alike. He is not espoused to a denomination or a doctrine but to His beloved people. Our unity is around the crucified and risen Christ. This is what will draw all men to Him. No one has achieved perfection or has the full picture of any doctrine, but we have been given eyes to see something greater—Christ in His increasing glory.
Jesus' Earnest Prayer for Us
This was Jesus' earnest prayer for us, only hours before He gave His life. May your heart burn as you read it:
"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one." (John 17:20–23 NKJV)
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Mandy Adendorff
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Website:Â www.mandyadendorff.com
Mandy Adendorff has passionately released the Kingdom at home and abroad for over thirty years. She has planted an equipping supernatural school in Connecticut, teaches and ministers prophetically, and authors numerous books. Mandy is an artist at her core, creating art that impacts the human spirit. When she was fifteen years old she encountered Jesus, but because she is Jewish, she hid her faith until the fire inside couldn't be contained anymore and she has been ministering ever since. Mandy, her husband Stuart, and their two daughters immigrated to the US from South Africa and are based in New England, USA.
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