John 17:13-26 (NIV)
Read by: Marvin Gates
So far in this section of John’s gospel, Jesus has gone from teaching his disciples to praying to the Father. The prayer that John records in today's passage tells us a lot about the nature of God’s purpose in sending Jesus. Remember when Jesus told Nicodemous that God so loved the world that he gave his only son?
In Jesus’ prayer we see that same love being reflected back to the Father. Because of God’s love, we are to remain in the world rather than be taken out of the world. This runs in contrast to some of the ways we can tend to think about what it means to be a Christian, but consider that Jesus prayed the words that you are about to hear, less than 24 hours before his execution.
----------REFLECT----------
1. Which of Jesus' requests stood out to you as you listened to this passage?
2. What would it look like practically for us to not be taken out of the world but to be protected from the evil one? What about you, today, what would it look like? What might need to change? What might need to stay the same?
3. Jesus prays that we would be one just as he and the Father are one. These days it can feel like we are more divided than we ever have been? Take a moment and allow the Spirit to bring to mind a relationship that needs to move towards unity.
----------CONNECT----------
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