Unity & Prayer

What does unity have to do with prayer? Are our prayers strengthened when we are united? What is meant by unity in the context of prayer? These are all good questions and theydeserve our attention in light of the statement Jesus makes about prayer. He tells us that, "...if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven." What does he mean to agree?

I believe that often we think we have agreement when we really don't. So often I have been in groups of two or more and we have agreed to prayer for or about something without agreeing in detail about that for which we were praying. When jesus left his followers for the last time on earth He told them not to leave Jerusalem until they received the power of the Holy Spirit. We are told that they were together, or united, when the Holy Spirit came upon them in great power. This was the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer in John 17:10-11 when He told the Father, "...all I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ...Holy Father protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one." This is what it means to agree in prayer, this is the unity He invites us to experience! And when we do our prayers will find a power that will transform our world.