The following is a letter that the Lord has placed on my heart for all of you and it is my prayer that you search your hearts and be open to the Lord as you read this. God wants unity and love in His Body but may I say that we, as Christians, are shamefully inadequate toward one another, especially in the areas of unconditional love and complete forgiveness of one another. So let us allow the Lord to cleanse us and unite us as one body so that we may finally see those dry bones rise from the desert floor, be joined and LIVE! (Ezek. 37) We have absolutely no idea all that God has for us as ONE BODY if we will just lay down our bows and arrows and stop shooting at one another!

Job's friends...ah yes! We all seem to have a few of those in our lives, don't we? But did you notice the rebuke from the Lord after they were all done telling Job what was wrong? And did you see what God did to "redeem" them? He asked them to prepare an offering and asked Job to pray for them! So, Job prayed, being a type of Christ to them, standing in the gap as Christ did for us. He prayed for them and God forgave them, Job forgave them and because of that, God healed Job and restored double to him! See Job 42:10. Is there a message in this for us? That is why God healed me! I PRAYED FOR MY FRIENDS AND THOSE WHO REJECTED ME AND ABUSED ME, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, I FORGAVE THEM! And with some people it took many times in prayer, but I forgave all of them TOTALLY! And then...GOD HEALED ME!

The Bible says, "For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation TO HIMSELF, not discerning {but opposing} the Body {of Christ}. {That's the way the original Greek reads}. FOR THIS CAUSE MANY ARE WEAK AND SICKLY AMONG YOU, AND MANY SLEEP IN DEATH {Gk.}" 1Cor. 11:29-30. So we unknowingly are causing sickness and death in the Body of Christ and in ourselves because we do not examine our hearts, repent and forgive those who have wronged us BEFORE we partake in fellowship with God and one another! Jesus said, "But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be IN DANGER OF THE JUDGEMENT: and whosoever shall say to his brother 'Raca' {thou worthless one}, shall be in danger of the counsel: but whosoever shall say 'thou fool', shall be IN DANGER OF HELL FIRE. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother {or sister} has ought {something} against you; Leave your gift before the altar, and go your way and be reconciled to your brother, AND THEN COME AND OFFER YOUR GIFT." Mtt.5:22-24

How many times have we held grudges, hurts and unforgiveness and when we went to our heart's altar {or the one at church}, GOD WAS NOT THERE? How many of our prayers go unanswered because we have some unforgiveness in our hearts toward another person? How many of our bodies are sick and weak because we don't discern but oppose the Body of Christ?

"Jesus, forgive us for not discerning your Body, those whom you love and died for. Forgive us for our ignorance and our stubborness in holding grudges. For you said that if we do not forgive our brother, you will not forgive us and we are sick and weak, and some sleep in death. Please forgive us Lord! We are truly sorry for our anger, unforgiveness, rejection and for not discerning your Body. We will be quick to forgive all who wrong us and we DO forgive each and every person who has ever hurt or rejected us. We release all anger and animosity, frustration, feelings of unfairness, victimization and despair in Jesus name! And we accept your forgiveness Lord. We receive your cleansing. And we will NOT accept any feelings of guilt or condemnation, for we are new creatures in you, old things are passed away! Thank you that you love us and forgive us and make a way for us! Thank you that you died for our sins and that you cast them away from us as far as the East is from the West, NEVER to remember them against us again! Therefore, we will not remember them either and if the enemy reminds us about them, we will bring them again to you and receive forgiveness and we will go on with our lives believing you to care for us and bring us through each fire we face! AMEN!"

"And now Lord, we ask that you bring healing and restoration to your Body, beginning with us! We want your healing power in our bodies and in our hearts! We receive all that you have for us, we receive healing for our bodies, we receive healing for our souls. Thank you, Lord! We will believe you each day as we wake that you will heal us and deliver us from the enemy of our souls. And from this day forward, we will walk in faith before you! For you said, "...whatsoever is not of faith IS SIN!" We will walk worthy of our calling to you, Lord! We will believe you even when it looks impossible, for you are THE GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH! You are a God of miracles! We love you, Jesus! Amen"

I love all of you but God loves you more! My heart is to see healing between brothers and sisters, nations, races, saved and unsaved! Let's allow God to do that in us because we CAN change ourselves. And as we change, then others around us AMAZINGLY change! God is good and He loves us! LET THOSE BONES LIVE!

copyright by KAREN B. SNYDER Nov. 21, 1997