JAMES ROBISON — Imagine a family Christmas gathering where several members are bickering and dividing. No amount of shiny presents under the tree could make that a joyful occasion. What any sane person would long for in such a moment would be for a spirit of peace and brotherly love to rein over the gathering. Jesus is no different in this respect. The Prince of Peace longs for his family on earth to be one in spirit, united by the bond of peace.

So let’s give Jesus the greatest possible birthday gift this Christmas as we celebrate the birth that made possible the “new birth” and reshaped life now and for eternity in the most positive way. This year let’s give Him a birthday gift that will thrill Him and the Father, and inspire the greatest possible angelic praise on high. As committed believers determined to soar as eagles on the turbulence of the times, let us stop bickering and dividing amongst each other and instead become the united people God uses to spark the greatest awakening in history.

The next great awakening will lead the Father’s family — the church of the living God, the very body of Christ — to become adorned in His glory so the world will see Him, the Lord Jesus, high and lifted up, and He will “draw all men to Himself.” We must become as salt, protecting and preserving what is precious, while also being the supernatural light that reveals the way out of prevailing darkness. We must become that shining city set on a hill that CANNOT be hidden. This gift presented to the Lord Jesus would make His hope a reality if each of us would fall on our face before God and with all of our heart seek to become an answer to His prayer in John 17.

Yes, Lord, let it happen just as You prayed. Let us be “one with the Father as you are.” And You declared, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” If we are Your body, and totally yielded to you and filled with the Holy Spirit, then even the lost, deceived and desperate may see Your people and say, “I have seen His Church, so I have seen the Son. I have seen the Son, so I have seen the Father.” May it be so, Lord.

It will happen if, as He prayed, we allow His Word, His truth, to sanctify us and release the power of His Holy Spirit, enabling us to become one with each other in supernatural unity.

The true unity that Christ prayed for has only been glimpsed briefly throughout history, and each time the world was profoundly and positively impacted. It is this supernatural unity that Satan has assaulted from the moment Jesus prayed. Now is the time to see Jesus’s prayer answered for His glory. This can and will happen if we yield our lives together to Him in humility and brokenness to become the vessels of honor He desires us to become.

Dear Jesus, let it be that we can say to you not only “Happy Birthday,” but also “Here is the gift you asked of the Father before You paid the price necessary for it to be possible.”

Jesus wanted with all of His heart for this prayer to be answered, not because of what it would do for Him, but for what it would do for those who witness it and experience the power of God’s favor. His focus is on us, and ours must be on Him.