God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
It is not our job to “produce” unity. Unity is “of the Spirit” (Ephesians 4:3). Unity is automatic when the Spirit is in control of everyone's lives. Our job is to “preserve” the unity of the Spirit – to do nothing to disrupt the unity He is producing… We must take care of our relationships and be quick to clean up our offenses. We must make right our wrongs so that the unity of the Spirit is not disrupted.
God has a fixed will. The world is not governed by theoretical possibilities. Yet we are commanded to pray, and our prayer has value. It’s woven into His sovereign will. We joyfully bring our desires to the Father. However, we submit ourselves to Him for the outcome. Like Jesus in the Garden, we pray His will, not our will be done.