Thursday, March 19, 2009

Jesus Last Prayer For His Disciples

scripture


John 17

observation

Jesus prayer here at the end of his last teaching opportunity with his disciples before going to the cross gives us some things to think about.

What a perfect relationship each person of the trinity has with the other, each of them bring glory to the other, they share everything, there is no fear, it is the perfect model for relationships the way that God intended for them to be.

1 “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you.

23-24 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

Jesus prayed for his disciples and for his future disciples, he prays for our protection from “the evil one”, that is something that we don’t think about every day. How many times have I gotten up in the morning and prayed for protection from the devil? Not often enough! He prayed that we would be with him someday but for now we have to remain in the world and keep our protection on.

He prayed that we would be taught the truth and that the truth that we learn would make us holy.

Then Jesus prays for us to obtain the same unity that he has with the Father so that we will have perfect unity with each other in the church so that the world will become aware of the love that we have and that they will be shown the source of that love.

application

I will pray for protection from the devil everyday and I will strive for the unity that Jesus wants us all to have.

prayer

Thank you Lord for loving me and for coming into this world of hate to show me the way to heaven and the way to live while I am here on earth. Give me protection today to stand firm against the devil. Help me to grow in my relationships to be more loving and to be in unity with other believers.