John 17:20 (NLT)
20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. 22 I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! 25 O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. 26 I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”
20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. 22 I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! 25 O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. 26 I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”
Chapter 17 of John tells of one of the final prayers of
Jesus. In this prayer Jesus prays for those who belong to Him both present and
in future tense. The verses above begin where Jesus mentions those would ever
believe in Him (future). Jesus prays that those who belong to Him might be kept
close to Him, that they might be sanctified, that they might be united and that
they might be glorified.
In 1974, Philippe Petit, a tight rope walker, with the
assistance of his crew extended a steel cable between the twin towers of the
World Trade Center while it was still under construction. He walked the quarter
mile distance 8 times amazing a crowd below. He told a Newsweek magazine reporter
it never occurred to him to use a safety net and then he added, “I never fall.
But yes, I have landed on the earth many, many times.”
Psalm 91:9-12, “If you make the Lord your refuge, if you
make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come
near your home. For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.
They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a
stone.”
This is what Jesus considered for you and me. He wanted
us to be with Him and The Father. He desired we would always be kept close to Him
so nothing would overcome us. He would
even go as far as ordering the angels to protect and watch over us. Even though
we might fall -- the angels would keep us from falling into the world where we
might be lost.
Christ often prayed for the welfare of others – might we
also do the same?
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