Scripture: "They were all with one accord in one place." "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost."—ACTS ii. 1, 4.
Our last chapters have opened to us wonderful thoughts of the solidarity of the whole body of Christ, and the need of the deliberate cultivation of the slumbering or buried talents of intercession. We may indeed thank God, for we know of the tens of thousands of His children who in daily prayer are pleading for some portion of the work of God's kingdom in which they are personally interested. But in many cases they take an interest in, and there is a lack of that large-hearted and universal love that takes up all the saints of God and their service into its embrace. There is not the boldness and the strength that comes from the consciousness of being part of a large and conquering army under the leadership of our conquering King.
We said that a wrestler in the games gathers up his whole strength and counts upon every member of his body doing its very utmost. In the British Army in the present war, with its millions of soldiers, each detachment not only throws its whole heart into the work that it has to do, but it is ready to rejoice and take new courage from every tiding of the bravery and enthusiasm of the far-distant members of the one great army. And is not this what we need in the Church of Christ, such an enthusiasm for the King and His Kingdom and such a faith in His purpose, that His name shall be made known to every human being, that our prayers shall rise up every day, with a large-hearted love that grasps the whole body of Christ and pleads daily for the power of the Holy Spirit on all its members, even to the very feeblest ?
The strength unity gives is something inconceivable. The power of each individual member is increased to a large degree by the inspiration of fellowship with a large and conquering host. Nothing can so help us to an ever-larger faith as the consciousness of being one body and one spirit in Christ Jesus. It was as the disciples were all with one accord in one place on the Day of Pentecost, that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. United prayer brings the answer to prayer.
