My Prayer

Dear Precious Follower,

The verses you will read today come from a very emotional time on the night I was betrayed. These verses are My prayer for My disciples. I want you to notice five things I say to the Father — five important truths and areas of importance to Me.

First, I spoke to the Father about Our glory. I looked forward to the day when My disciples would fully experience this "collective glory." I had this glory with the Father "before the creation existed." This shared glory before creation should remind you of the love We shared long "before the foundations of the cosmos were laid." I began and ended My prayer with these thoughts.

Second, I prayed for unity. I prayed for My earliest disciples to be one. I wanted this to be more than just the unity of easy times and pleasant talk. I wanted this unity to be as real as the unity the Father and I share. My first disciples had great opportunities and faced harsh resistance and vicious persecution. They needed to be one just as the Father and I are one.

Third, I prayed for you. Yes, I prayed for you nearly two thousand years ago! You see, I prayed for those who would believe in Me because of the apostles' testimony. That is My prayer for you: I want you to be one — unified in mission, purpose, and grace. This desire is not just because I want you to get along with each other, but also because I want the world to believe in Me and that the Father sent Me. Your unity should reflect Our unity to the world.

Fourth, being one in genuine unity is really a reflection of love. I had told My disciples that a defining characteristic showing they are My disciples would be their love for each other (John 13:34-35). This genuine love, love like the Father and I have for each other, is a foretaste of the grace, joy, life, and glory that the Father and I long to share with you in Our home. The Helper, the Holy Spirit that I have given you, fills you with this love and all its attendant graces (Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22-23).

Finally, I want you to notice that My prayer as I faced My crucifixion was not for Me. I would pray later in the garden from the depths of My heart about what I faced. However, this prayer in today's verses was for My disciples in every age — for the apostles and first disciples who would take My love and My message to the world and for you who are recipients of that message centuries later and who are also called to take My Love and My message to the world. Never for one moment think My heart is not concerned for you and your part in My family and how My family will impact the world.

I want you to read this prayer several times. Listen behind the words and between the lines. Feel the depth of My love for the Father and for you. Recognize that there is so much going on in these words that is bigger than just the words themselves. These words share My heart about eternity, glory, love, and family, and you are an important part of each of these!

Jesus (lifting His face to the heavens):

Father, My time has come. Glorify Your Son, and I will bring You great glory because You have given Me total authority over humanity. I have come bearing the plentiful gifts of God; and all who receive Me will experience everlasting life, a new intimate relationship with You (the one True God) and Jesus the Anointed (the One You have sent). I have glorified You on earth and fulfilled the mission You set before Me.

In this moment, Father, fuse Our collective glory and bring Us together as We were before creation existed. You have entrusted Me with these men who have come out of this corrupt world order. I have told them about Your nature and declared Your name to them, and they have held on to Your words and understood that these words, like everything else You have given Me, come from You. It is true that these men You gave Me have received the words that come from You and not only understood them but also believed that You sent Me. I am now making an appeal to You on their behalf. This request is not for the entire world; it is for those whom You have given to Me because they are Yours. Yours and Mine, Mine and Yours, for all that are Mine are Yours. Through them I have been glorified.

I will no longer be physically present in this world, but they will remain in this world. As I return to be with You, holy Father, remain with them through Your name, the name You have given Me. May they be one even as We are one. While I was physically present with them, I protected them through Your name. I watched over them closely; and only one was lost, the one the Scriptures said was the son of destruction. Now I am returning to You. I am speaking this prayer here in the created cosmos alongside friends and foes so that in hearing it they might be consumed with joy. I have given them Your word; and the world has despised them because they are not products of the world, in the same way that I am not a product of the corrupt world order. Do not take them out of this world; protect them from the evil one.

Like Me, they are not products of the corrupt world order. Immerse them in the truth, the truth Your voice speaks. In the same way You sent Me into this world, I am sending them. It is entirely for their benefit that I have set Myself apart so that they may be set apart by truth.

I am not asking solely for their benefit; this prayer is also for all the believers who will follow them and hear them speak. Father, may they all be one as You are in Me and I am in You; may they be in Us, for by this unity the world will believe that You sent Me.

All the glory You have given to Me, I pass on to them. May that glory unify them and make them one as We are one, I in them and You in Me, that they may be refined so that all will know that You sent Me, and You love them in the same way You love Me.

Father, I long for the time when those You have given Me can join Me in My place so they may witness My glory, which comes from You. You have loved Me before the foundations of the cosmos were laid. Father, You are just; though this corrupt world order does not know You, I do. These followers know that You have sent Me. I have told them about Your nature; and I will continue to speak of Your name in order that Your love, which was poured out on Me, will be in them. And I will also be in them.

(John 17:1-26)

I am dumbfounded, Father, at the words, the love, the passion, and the prayer of Jesus. I ask the Holy Spirit to imprint their emotion and their power on my heart. Please use them to mold me into a faithful disciple, friend, and influence. O God, be glorified in my life — in my words, my thoughts, my intentions, and my actions. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.