THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW

JESUS PRAYS FOR US

Read: John 17:1–26

     I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.  John 17:4-5 NIV

* * *

     Now Jesus spoke to His Father in the presence of His disciples. He was going to be entering Heaven very soon, restored to the glory He left behind when He became a man. The disciples must have been encouraged when they heard Him tell His Father,

     "I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me." (17:8) "...My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one." (17:15)

* * *

     Lord, I am so thankful that in this prayer You said, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message." (17:20) As I meditate on this chapter and all the words You said for them and for us - I claim these words for my family: "I in them and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." (17:23 NKJV)

* * *

     "I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."  John 17:26 NKJV