Jesus' Prayer (John 17:1-12)

Today's scripture: John 17:1-12

Back to John ...

Today begins a three-day meditation on a prayer of Jesus; indeed, it was His final prayer before the cross. These words should offer tremendous encouragement for us because, not only was He praying for His disciples, but He was also praying for us (see John 17:20, which we'll look at tomorrow).

In today's verses, Jesus prayed for several things. He prayed that the Father would glorify Him and that He would give eternal life. I love the definition of "eternal life" here: "that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." If we know God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—we will have eternal life. Eternal life begins the moment we commit our lives to Jesus!

Jesus also prayed that those who followed Him would "truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me." Those of us who have committed our lives to Him understand that He is the Son of God, sent by the Father to provide salvation from our sins.

Then comes the most encouraging thing we see today: Jesus knew He would soon be leaving earth and ascending to heaven. He knew His disciples would be alone, so He earnestly prayed, "... keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are."

Jesus no longer walks the earth in human form, but we are not alone. We are being "kept" in the name of the Father. He protects us and cares for us. But we're also not alone because we're part of God's family. We are surrounded by brothers and sisters with whom we can pray, study God's words, and learn from. It's so very important to have Christ-following, Bible-believing friends, and one of the reasons is that we need to be guarded from the wiles of the enemy.

Come back tomorrow because we're going to continue looking at Jesus' prayer—for you!