Gospel Reading Plan: John 1-2
Christ`s High Priestly Prayer
Read: John 17
This prayer of Jesus begins with Him praying for Himself. He asks that He may be glorified and that His
exaltation would bring glory to the Father (vs. 1-5). His loyalty to the Father can be seen in this
prayer. He prays for His disciples (vs.
6-19), that the Father would protect them and keep them safe and that none of
them would be lost. He prays that they
would be protected from the evil one and sanctified by the truth, which is
God`s Word. His desire is not that they
be taken out of the world but that they are kept from evil and sin. He then goes on to pray for all believers
(vs. 20-26). He knows that the disciples
will bring a message and many will believe and He sees the importance of all
believers being unified as one. This is
His prayer, that the church may be one, just like the Father and the Son are
One. He prays that this unity would
testify to the world that He was sent by God and of His love. Notice how intently Christ`s heart was set on
unity. What a mess the church has made
of this. Division and strife are the
devil`s gift to the church, not God`s plan.
Division has left the church weak.
Are we praying for the unity that Christ prayed for? Jesus closes His life knowing that He
finished the work that the Father gave Him to do (vs. 4). May we find that we can say the same at the
end of our lives?
PRAYER AND MEDITATION
- What things can you learn about prayer from Christ’s prayer in today’s Scripture reading?
- Go through Christ’s prayer section by section; use each as a model to for your own prayer. Example: section 1 (vs. 1-5) pray about your life bringing glory to the Father; section 2 (vs. 6-19), pray about protection and that you would be kept from sin, etc.
- In listening prayer, ask Jesus to show you His heart towards you today – what pleases Him about your life!
