Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – John 17
Set – Jeremiah 18; Psalms 93; John 17
Go! – Jeremiah 18-20; Psalms 93; John 17
John 17
1 Jesus (lifting His face to the heavens): Father, My time has come. Glorify Your Son, and I will bring You great glory 2-3 because You have given Me total authority over humanity. I have come bearing the plentiful gifts of God; and all who receive Me will experience everlasting life, a new intimate relationship with You (the one True God) and Jesus the Anointed (the One You have sent). 4 I have glorified You on earth and fulfilled the mission You set before Me.
5 In this moment, Father, fuse Our collective glory and bring Us together as We were before creation existed. 6 You have entrusted Me with these men who have come out of this corrupt world order. I have told them about Your nature and declared Your name to them, and they have held on to Your words and understood that these words, 7 like everything else You have given Me, come from You. 8 It is true that these men You gave Me have received the words that come from You and not only understood them but also believed that You sent Me. 9 I am now making an appeal to You on their behalf. This request is not for the entire world; it is for those whom You have given to Me because they are Yours. 10 Yours and Mine, Mine and Yours, for all that are Mine are Yours. Through them I have been glorified.
11 I will no longer be physically present in this world, but they will remain in this world. As I return to be with You, holy Father, remain with them through Your name, the name You have given Me. May they be one even as We are one. 12 While I was physically present with them, I protected them through Your name. I watched over them closely; and only one was lost, the one the Scriptures said was the son of destruction. 13 Now I am returning to You. I am speaking this prayer here in the created cosmos alongside friends and foes so that in hearing it they might be consumed with joy. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has despised them because they are not products of the world, in the same way that I am not a product of the corrupt world order. 15 Do not take them out of this world; protect them from the evil one.
16 Like Me, they are not products of the corrupt world order. 17 Immerse them in the truth, the truth Your voice speaks. 18 In the same way You sent Me into this world, I am sending them. 19 It is entirely for their benefit that I have set Myself apart so that they may be set apart by truth. 20 I am not asking solely for their benefit; this prayer is also for all the believers who will follow them and hear them speak. 21 Father, may they all be one as You are in Me and I am in You; may they be in Us, for by this unity the world will believe that You sent Me.
22 All the glory You have given to Me, I pass on to them. May that glory unify them and make them one as We are one, 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be refined so that all will know that You sent Me, and You love them in the same way You love Me.
24 Father, I long for the time when those You have given Me can join Me in My place so they may witness My glory, which comes from You. You have loved Me before the foundations of the cosmos were laid. 25 Father, You are just; though this corrupt world order does not know You, I do. These followers know that You have sent Me. 26 I have told them about Your nature; and I will continue to speak of Your name in order that Your love, which was poured out on Me, will be in them. And I will also be in them.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
John records My prayer to the Father in the garden My last night before the crucifixion. I prayed for My disciples. Those who walked with Me while I lived alongside you in the flesh for some thirty years, and for those who would believe in Me because of their message through the centuries to come. I pray you are among that group.
My prayer speaks of the unity between My Father and Me and between My disciples and Me. I also long for unity between My disciples. The only way that can happen, though, comes from My living in you though My presence in the form of My Spirit in you. You must invite Me into your life. You must turn your life over to Me and do as I ask. You must become a disciple, one who becomes like his or her teacher, if you expect to understand Me and My word.
I call all My children to discipleship. I don’t want to leave you where you are. I want you to become like Me. Just ask Me into your life and let Me show you the difference I can make.
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