AM I AN ANSWER TO JESUS’S PRAYER?
SCRIPTURE
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
-John 17:11
Have you ever heard someone pray for you who did not know you were listening? The closest I ever came was seeing my name written in my mother's Bible with a date. I knew my mother prayed for me and, because I recognized the date, I knew how God answered her prayer.
Printed on the pages of our Bibles, captured for us in black and white, we can eavesdrop on the prayer Jesus prayed for us before he went to the cross. Think about it. Before Jesus paid the price as our sacrificed lamb to take away our sins and return us to the loving arms of our Creator, Jesus carried us to his Father's heart.
Before anything else, Jesus prayed for our unity (vv. 20-21). He asked his Father to help us establish oneness so deep and unbreakable that the world would know us by our unity instead of our protests (v. 21). He didn't only want us to be one with each other; he also prayed for oneness with God that would mirror the relationship of Jesus with his Father (v. 20-21). He prayed fervently that the world would come to know who he was and what he came to do because of the way his followers understood and carried out his mission (v. 23).
Are we living answers to this personal and intimate prayer of Jesus? Each part of Jesus's prayer shares a sobering question we must answer before we take our places before the cross on Good Friday. Jesus didn't die for our excuses or complacency; he died for every way we have rejected or replaced God's ways. The call of the cross comes to us through Jesus's prayer. Ultimately, we must answer whether it has become our prayer as well.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. How are you answering Jesus's prayer for you and your faith community?
2. How can you address any areas where you are not an answer to Jesus's prayer but want to be?
AFFIRMATION
The more I am one with Jesus and his purpose, the more I participate in the unity he prayed for.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Sovereign Lord, I want to be an answer to your prayer for unity. Show me where to begin.
SCRIPTURE
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
-John 17:11
Have you ever heard someone pray for you who did not know you were listening? The closest I ever came was seeing my name written in my mother's Bible with a date. I knew my mother prayed for me and, because I recognized the date, I knew how God answered her prayer.
Printed on the pages of our Bibles, captured for us in black and white, we can eavesdrop on the prayer Jesus prayed for us before he went to the cross. Think about it. Before Jesus paid the price as our sacrificed lamb to take away our sins and return us to the loving arms of our Creator, Jesus carried us to his Father's heart.
Before anything else, Jesus prayed for our unity (vv. 20-21). He asked his Father to help us establish oneness so deep and unbreakable that the world would know us by our unity instead of our protests (v. 21). He didn't only want us to be one with each other; he also prayed for oneness with God that would mirror the relationship of Jesus with his Father (v. 20-21). He prayed fervently that the world would come to know who he was and what he came to do because of the way his followers understood and carried out his mission (v. 23).
Are we living answers to this personal and intimate prayer of Jesus? Each part of Jesus's prayer shares a sobering question we must answer before we take our places before the cross on Good Friday. Jesus didn't die for our excuses or complacency; he died for every way we have rejected or replaced God's ways. The call of the cross comes to us through Jesus's prayer. Ultimately, we must answer whether it has become our prayer as well.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. How are you answering Jesus's prayer for you and your faith community?
2. How can you address any areas where you are not an answer to Jesus's prayer but want to be?
AFFIRMATION
The more I am one with Jesus and his purpose, the more I participate in the unity he prayed for.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Sovereign Lord, I want to be an answer to your prayer for unity. Show me where to begin.
Posted in Lent