«　WEEK 5　DAY 1　»

　　Eph. 4:4-6 One Body and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

　　John 17:11 …Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given to Me, that they may be one even as We are.

　　After telling us to keep the oneness of the Spirit, Paul does not say, “One church and one Spirit”; rather, he says, “One Body and one Spirit” [Eph. 4:4]. The church may be plural as the churches in different localities, but the Body could never be plural. Whether it is viewed locally or universally, the Body is one. In contrast, the church is universally one but locally many.

　　In the Body we need oneness; in the churches and among the churches, we need the one accord. The one accord is for our practice; the oneness is primarily for the actuality, for the fact. In John 17 the Lord Jesus prayed for such a fact, and on the day of Pentecost, by pouring out Himself as the consummated Spirit, He accomplished His prayer. That was the actuality of the oneness. After the accomplishment of the actuality of the oneness, there is the need for the practice of the oneness. When the oneness is practiced, it becomes the one accord. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “Elders’ Training, Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (2),” p. 371)

　　If we have only the oneness as an actuality and do not have the present, practical one accord, the oneness that we have will be objective and abstract; it will not be real to us. If we would apply the oneness accomplished by the outpouring of the Spirit, we must practice the one accord. If among us there is no one accord, how could we say that there is oneness? If in a prayer meeting we each pray in our own way, without any accord among us, how could we say that we are practicing the oneness? As long as we have differences existing among us, the oneness is not applied. We must have the one accord to swallow up all the differences; then oneness will be present.

　　The Lord did not teach us concerning oneness. In John 17 He prayed for oneness, but in Matthew 18 He led us to practice the one accord. In Matthew 18:19 the Lord spoke of two praying together on earth in harmony, in one accord. That was His leading, His training, and His directing us to pray in one accord. As a test of whether we are practicing the oneness or not, we may check to see whether there is one accord in our prayer meeting. When certain ones pray, we may shake our head as an indication of our displeasure, and when others pray, we may nod our head as an expression of our agreement. Such a shaking and nodding of our head is strong evidence that we do not practice oneness, because we do not have the one accord.

　　If only two on earth pray in one accord, their prayer will be answered. The one accord is the practice, the application, of the oneness, and the oneness is the basis on which we practice the one accord.

　　Our one accord could never be based on the different races and colors. We practice one accord based on the fact that we all have a common life. We may be different in race and in the color of our skin, but when we come together to pray, we must forget about the different races and colors.

　　If we do not have the same understanding, the same intention, the same purpose, the same goal, it will be impossible to pray together in one accord. There will be no base for such prayer. If we each have our own opinion, our own intention, and our own goal, there will be no base on which we can pray in one accord. But when we who are saved and who love the Lord and mean business for the Lord’s purpose come together, we surely have the base to pray in one accord. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “Elders’ Training, Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (2),” pp. 371-372)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1986, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 9: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (1),” ch. 1