His Prayers

When I was a kid, Easter to me meant family trips to Florida, beaches, chocolate bunnies, Easter baskets and egg hunts.  When I finished college and got a job, Easter to me meant a ham dinner on a Sunday and back to work on Monday.  Since becoming saved, Easter means so much more!  It's not about bunnies and candy anymore than Christmas is about presents and decorations, it's about Jesus.  I know it's said all the time but I've learned what it means.  God loves the people He created so much that He gave us His one and only Son (Christmas) and whoever believes in Jesus and what he did for us on the cross where he took all past, present and future sins of man upon himself and defeated death so that we could live in eternity with him and the Father (Easter). 

Seeing as Resurrection Day is just around the corner, I've been spending a lot of time this week reading scriptures around the events just before Christ's crucifixion and his resurrection.  I particularly like reading verses covering His time before being arrested and I'd like to share how some of those verses are speaking to me.

Towards the end of the book of John, Jesus had finished the Last Supper with His Disciples.  He then told them about what was going to happen with them when He is gone and how the world will treat them because of their belief that He was the Son of God.  He reassures them that the Holy Spirit will be with them and guide them as He had done on Earth.  Knowing that He was soon to be arrested and crucified, He then spends time praying (chapter 17).  He first prays for God to, "...¹glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you."  Then He prays for protection of the Disciples, "...¹¹Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one."  Finally, Jesus prays for all Believers in chapter 17, verses 20-26.

Inclusion 
²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message," - He is speaking about the Disciples since the prayer preceding this one is for them.  He is not limiting his prayer to the 11 who had followed Him, but extending His prayers to all people who listen to and receive God's word through His teachings of the Disciples (scripture).  Interesting thought is that He's not just praying for Believers, but also for those yet to believe when He says, "...those who will believe in me"

Unity 
^21 "that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." - This is an invitation..an invitation to be with Jesus and with God, that we are all one simply by believing the Jesus was sent by God!  He prayed earlier on for the Disciples to also be one with Him and with God.  Jesus spent time praying for the unity of people though the belief that God sent His Son to bring people to eternal salvation.

Salvation
²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world." - Another invitation, this time for salvation.  He wants those who have had some exposure to Jesus "...those you have given me" to be with Him where He is (heaven for eternity).  The reason for His desire to have people see the glory of God is because God loved Jesus even before the creation of the world.  Previous verses connects Believers with Jesus and Jesus with God and God with Believers.  This illustrates God's love for us as He loves Jesus before creation.

Forgiveness
²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” - To me is a great verse about the continuation of expanding God's kingdom through Christ.  "...and I will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."  Jesus knew He was going to be killed and yet says He is going to continue to make known God's love so that all people can be with them.  That's talking about us, here and now.  It reassures that His church continues even today and since Jesus says "I will" means to me that He lives on for eternity and with the invitations to us, we only need to accept God as Lord of our lives through His Son Christ Jesus.  

Praise God!

John 17:20-26

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Prays for All Believers

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”