John 17 - Jesus Prayed for You

 

 

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

John 17:1-5

 

Do you ever wonder what Jesus was thinking while he was on earth?

 

I often wonder about those days, years and months before he began his public ministry. Did he ever worry about those petty things we worry about -

what grade am I going to get on the math test?

will I get a raise?

does that new student like me?

 will I fit in on the first day?

 

I don't think he did. Please do not misinterpret what I am writing - I do believe he struggled with all of the things that weigh us down as human beings, but ultimately I believe that his focus was on you and me. I believe that although he had to deal with how he was going to get food to eat and water to drink, his main focus wasn't on his basic needs - he knew God would provide those - rather his focus was on the impact of his choices on each one of us over 2,000 years later.

 

In the seventeenth chapter of John, the Beloved Disciple records Jesus' prayer to the Father. In this prayer his first focus is on the glory that God will receive through Jesus. His next prayer is for his disciples - all of those who had followed him through out his ministry. And he concludes his prayer with a prayer for All Believers - ALL. He actually prayed for you and for me. He was praying that through his actions and through his sacrifice we might:  that the love you have for me may be in them. John 17:26

 

Jesus was asking that the love the Father had for him be transferred to each of us. He was asking for grace. And his prayer has been granted.

 

Jesus intervenes for us every single day and I often imagine it something akin to this prayer he prayed 2,000 plus years ago. Father - let the love you have for me transform them - let it be made real to them.

 

Because, at the end of the day the love of Jesus - which is in fact the love God has for His ONLY Son - will transform you into a new being.

 

Jesus is pleading our cases to the Father. Will we be open to receiving the love given freely to us? Or will we turn our backs on the sacrificial gift of the one who gave Heaven up so that we might have new life?

 

Ultimately, the choice is freely given.

Thankfully Jesus was thinking of us all of those years ago. 

Will you accept the gift he gives to you today - the gift he has been preparing to give to you for millennia?

 

Scripture

John 17

 

Quote

Love is a gift. You can't buy it, you can't find it, someone has to give it to you. Learn to be receptive of that gift.

Kurt Lagner

 

Question

What choice will you make?

 

 

Note: I apologize for not writing for awhile...I have been under the weather but hope that we are climbing up the mountain now. Thank you for your prayers and you concern. I hope you have a blessed season as the holidays approach ~ Courtney