John 17:20-26
The prayer that we have been taught from the time that we were small children to pray is just that. It was Jesus answer to his disciples who asked him, Lord teach us to pray. We call it, “the Lord’s Prayer.” It was meant as an example of the type of things that we should include in our prayers; not a prayer to be repeated by memory every time we pray. What is included in our prayers depends upon the individual, the time, and the place. The mature Christian should turn to John 17. This is a prayer of our Lord and it deals with the deep core feelings and desires of Jesus as he talked with his Father. Jesus dealt with his deepest concerns, and this prayer is going to be answered! Our vision falls short, when we ask in generalities such as, “God bless the missionaries.” Neither was he praying only for his apostles. Notice that his prayer says, “Neither pray I for these alone.” Yes, he prayed for the apostles, but he also prayed for, “ them also which shall believe on me through their word.” Go the extra mile, include their converts, the word they have been laboring to translate for all the unreached people of the world, who’s converts will carry that same Word to others, generation after generation. When I prepare a study, using a portion of His teaching, It want it to be available not only to the few I may personally be able to take it to, but I pray also for those may come across it and read it later on the web, perhaps on Facebook, Twitter, or Stumble-Upon, or perhaps by those who have been passed a study by someone using the “forward” button. It may be passed to someone in China, India, Europe, or to all over the world at one time. I know, for example, that this paragraph is going to Denmark, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and Hong Kong. How many countries can we working together, reach? This can be translated and forwarded in another language with only the click of a few buttons We have already placed translated salvation tracts to about seventy languages with this in mind. We pray that you will help pass them.
20 Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
What was it that Jesus was so concerned about? “That they may all be one.” They speak different languages, they are scattered wide, but Jesus did not pray for something that was impossible. He prayed for what is not only possible, but what will be one day. We read that every knee shall bend one day in and every head bow, when he comes in his greatness. That is going to be a great day, and it is coming. God’s timing is perfect, and when the time is right, it will be answered. The saved will all be as one, of one mind.
He also tells us why that is desirable; “that the world may believe.” Our divided faith is not what Jesus wanted for His church. Everything will change when we finally realize that He said what he wanted in His Word. It alone must become our guide and authority. The only thing we need to be one, is that we agree to accept a, “thus saith the Word.” We can’t care less what brother John Doe, or sister Josephine say! We want to know what does Jesus say.
WHY?
21 That they may all be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
“That the world may believe.” What must we continually believe? We must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that he was sent by God to make salvation possible. If he had not come, died, and risen from the dead, there would be no hope for any of us.
(“may continually believe,” John 10:38, John 17:11, John 17:23, John 17:8, John 3:17, John 17:3, John 17:8, John 17:18, John 17:23, John 17:25)
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.
Jesus is going to come in glorious power, and it will be he that unites all this splintered world into one. No one will be able to deny his authority. The world will, at last, know what real love is. “And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love,“ 1 Corinthians 13:13.
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
All that live on earth will know, where and what real love is. It existed from the foundation of the world, even before anything was created. Sex has nothing to do with it. God so loved the world, his creation, that he was willing to send his Son to make salvation available to all.
{John 17:2, John 12:26, John 1:14, John 17:22, Matthew 25:34, John 1:5)
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
(“even the world” , John 17:11, 1 John 1:9, John 7:29, John 15:21, John 3:17, John 17:3, John 18:8, John 17:18, John 17:21, John 17:23)
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
( John 17:6, John 15:9)
This is Jesus’ prayer, his concern what that we be eternally saved. This is how he wants us to pray. Pray for the world to become one, in Him.
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READ YOUR BIBLE THROUGH AGAIN THIS YEAR
MAY
26th Sunday - 1 Samuel 21, 22, John 17, Psalm 68:1-6
27th Monday - 1 Samuel 23, 24, John 18, Psalm 68:7-13
28th Tuesday - 1 Samuel 25, John 19:1-22, Proverbs 13:13-25
29th Wednesday - 1 Samuel 26, 27, John 19:23-42 Psalm 68:14-19
30th Thursday - 1 Samuel 28, 29, John 20, Psalm 68:20-27
31st Friday - 1 Samuel 30, 31, John 20, Psalm 68:28-35
JUNE
1st Saturday - 2 Samuel 1, 2, John 2, Proverbs 14:1-9
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FOR LINKS TO OUR CHRISTIAN BLOGS
and follow the links.
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MEMORY VERSE
“But these ae written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name.” - John 20:31
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FAST FOOD
When I stopped at a fast food restaurant recently, I was fascinated by a sign which offered fat free French fries. I decided to give them a try.
I was dismayed when the clerk filled a basket of fries from the fryer, which were dripping with fat. He filled a bag with them and put them in my order.
“Just a minute,” I said, “Those aren’t fat free.”
“Yes, they are. We only charge for the potatoes. The fat is free.”
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REMEMBER ALWAYS, “GOD LOVES YOU”
ENROLL YOUR FRIEND
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