Educated By September 11th

On this very day, 2001, on a Tuesday morning, I remember getting a call from my husband telling me to turn on the television , because America had been attacked. I remember sitting in front of the TV in shock, questioning how this could happen, and a new reality hitting me: “America is not as “safe” as I thought it was.”

What I observed next were fire and rescue workers, the police department and other citizens jumping in together to help, rescue, and save the people effected by the Twin Towers collapsing.

There was no question about religious preference. There was no thought about racial tension. There was no political affiliation considered.

“Wait. They may be affiliated with that ‘cult’ of a church. Wait. Their skin color is different than mine. Wait. Are you a leftist? Wait. Have you been vaccinated? Do

You have on a mask? “

But on September 11th, the questions, judgement, and prejudices, were obliterated. No one was overlooked or shunned or ghosted. All of that went down the drain. No one cared about those things anymore. Suddenly, nothing else mattered. Nothing else mattered but coming together in unity to help your fellow man.

Didn’t we learn a lesson there? Or has it been so long that we forgot? What will it take for us to be reminded of what REALLY matters?

Today, let’s not forget that our strength is our unity.

OUR STRENGTH IS OUR UNITY

Jesus could have prayed ANYTHING before He left this earth. He could have commanded us to DO anything before He left this earth. But He prayed for unity. He commanded that we go and make disciples of ALL nations.

John 17:

This is what Jesus prayed as he looked up into heaven, “Father, the time has come. Unveil the glorious splendor of your Son so that I will magnify your glory!

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You have already given me authority over all people so that I may give the gift of eternal life to all those that you have given to me.

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Eternal life means to know and experience you as the only true God, and to know and experience Jesus Christ, as the Son whom you have sent.

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I have glorified you on the earth by faithfully doing everything you’ve told me to do.

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So my Father, restore me back to the glory

that we shared together when we were face-to-face before the universe was created.”

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“Father, I have manifested who you really are and I have revealed you to the men and women that you gave to me. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have fastened your Word firmly to their hearts.

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And now at last they know that everything I have is a gift from you,

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And the very words you gave to me to speak

I have passed on to them. They have received your words and carry them in their hearts.They are convinced that I have come from your presence, and they have fully believed that you sent me to represent you.

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So with deep love, I pray for my disciples.

I’m not asking on behalf of the unbelieving world, but for those who belong to you,

those you have given me.

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For all who belong to me now belong to you.

And all who belong to you now belong to me as well, and my glory is revealed through their surrendered lives.

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“Holy Father, I am about to leave this world to return and be with you, but my disciples will remain here. Holy Father, each one that you have given me, keep them in your name so that they will be united as one, even as we are one.

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While I was with these that you have given me, I was guarding them and keeping them in your name. Not one of them is lost,

except the one that was destined to be lost, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

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“But now I am returning to you so Father,

I pray that they will experience and enter into my joyous delight in you so that it is fulfilled in them and overflows.

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I have given them your message and that is why the unbelieving world hates them. For their allegiance is no longer to this world

because I am not of this world.

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I am not asking that you remove them from the world, but I ask that you guard their hearts from evil,

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For they no longer belong to this world any more than I do.

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“Your Word is truth! So make them holy by the truth.

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I have commissioned them to represent me just as you commissioned me to represent you.

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And now I dedicate myself to them as a holy sacrifice so that they will live as fully dedicated to God and be made holy by your truth.”

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“And I ask not only for these disciples, but also for all those who will one day believe in me through their message.

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I pray for them all to be joined together as one even as you and I, Father, are joined together as one. I pray for them to become one with us so that the world will recognize that you sent me.

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For the very glory you have given to me I have given them so that they will be joined together as one and experience the same unity that we enjoy.

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You live fully in me and now I live fully in them so that they will experience perfect unity, and the world will be convinced that you have sent me, for they will see that you love each one of them with the same passionate love that you have for me.

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“Father, I ask that you allow everyone that you have given to me to be with me where I am! Then they will see my full glory— the very splendor you have placed upon me

because you have loved me even before the beginning of time.

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“You are my righteous Father, but the unbelieving world has never known you

in the perfect way that I know you! And all those who believe in me also know that you have sent me!

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I have revealed to them who you are and I will continue to make you even more real to them, so that they may experience the same endless love that you have for me, for your love will now live in them, even as I live in them!”

Perhaps God is speaking to us again about UNITY in the Body of Christ. Perhaps on THIS September 11th, the questions, judgement, and prejudices, will be obliterated. That no one would be overlooked or shunned or ghosted. Maybe all of that can go down the drain. Maybe we won’t care about those things anymore, except for the Body of Christ to come together in unity to help your fellow man find the love of God demonstrated in the person of Jesus Christ.

Rosh Hashanah celebrates the Jewish new year on the Hebrew calendar as 5782. The number “2” is all about unity. We will enter 2022 in January. 3 “2’s”! We need UNITY, UNITY, UNITY!!!!

The best thing we could do this year to truly honor September 11th is to become a UNIFIED body of Believer’s, committed to one single thing: making disciples; helping others walk with God as you walk with God.

Let’s be educated by September 11th. Let’s learn the value of focusing on what REALLY matters to God.

A great first step towards UNITY is to join a bunch of women for The Deeper Retreat, November 12-13!!! To find out more and to register, go HERE!!!