His Prayer for Me

This morning I am reading from John's Gospel.  These verses are from Jesus' prayer for us, as His followers.  Although these are all in a paragraph, I am going to present them each singly - for they are significant and are worthy of our stopping and thinking.

John 17:13-19 NIV:

[13] “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

[14] I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

[15] My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

[16] They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

[17] Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

[18] As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

[19] For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.


I don't know how you are, but when I read them in a paragraph, I just keep on reading, rather than stopping and allowing myself to comprehend the fullness of what is being said.  I guess that is the result of all the reading I have done, but it does not serve me well when trying to digest such critical truths as found in these verses.  I find that reading them in this format actually helps me stop and think after each sentence.

Paraphrasing what I hear from the Lord:

1) He wants us to have His joy, and part of that is only possible if we understand His words, and His heart.  Our reading of scriptures and meditating on them is the best way to hear what He is saying and to understand His heart.

2) I am no longer of this world. As His follower, I have been changed and given an eternal destiny that trumps this present life and existence.  I need to understand and act as if this were true, not in a strange disconnected way, but rather with an awareness that this reality is not the final reality.  He wants me to understand and live in this new reality.

3) I need the Father's protection from the evil one, and He does protect me.

4) His word sanctifies me, it sets me apart.  His word, and my believing and living by His word will separate me from the world.

5) His word is truth, and I can rely on His truth, regardless of how things seem here, for His word is based on and out of the greater reality of eternity.

6) I have been sent into the world, and if I have been sent, then it is with a purpose.  I am like His word that has been sent out and will achieve its purpose (Is 55:11).

7) In following Jesus, I am being sanctified, separated from the world.  I must expect that others will notice and I will not always be welcomed as His follower.  As He said a bit earlier, the world will hate me, even as it hated Him (verse 14).  I must choose whether I will follow Him or give into fear of the world's hatred.

8) The Lord established a path for me with His life.  He did this that I might have an example of a life lived properly for the Father, in union with the Father, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that I might know it is possible.

Thank You Lord, for praying for me, for laying out a path of life that i might follow.  I thank You that You have sent me with a purpose, and provide truth and protection to me.  I am certainly only worthy of this calling because You have made me worthy by Your grace and mercy.