Strength and Power in Unity

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God’s warnings and counsels are plain and decided. As we read the Scriptures, and see the power for good that there is in unity, and the power for evil that there is in disunion, how can we fail to receive the word of God into our hearts? Suspicion and distrust are as evil leaven. Unity bears witness to the power of the truth.

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Christ says plainly that it is by the unity and co-operation of His followers that the world is to know that God has sent His Son into the world. In the prayer that He offered for His disciples just before His crucifixion, He said: «That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one. I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.»

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We are to be guided and controlled by the same Spirit, but in order for this to be, it is not necessary that we all have the same gifts. «There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all,» to bring these different operations into perfect harmony. «God hath set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased Him.» He has placed every man at his post of duty, assigning to him a given work. If you have any question as to your post of duty, pray to God for guidance, and your work will be assigned. God has told us expressly that He has placed every man at his post.

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«To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit.»

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«Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.» «When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. . . . He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.» Here the members of the church of God are shown acting their different parts, all under the supervision of the great Master-worker, who knows just what each one in His service should do to meet the necessities that arise.

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When the hearts of God’s people are melted and subdued by the Holy Spirit, ministers and lay-members will bear a testimony that is in perfect accord. And the Lord will look down on them with pleasure, rejoicing in their oneness. —