Scripture for the week: John 17:6-19

Quote for the week: “…so that they may be one as we are one.”

Jesus wants us (that is you and me!) to be in the exact same relationship with Him and each other as He is with the Father. WOW! We hear it but we really do not understand it. This is the most amazing part about our position as believers. WE are one with Jesus just as He is one with the Father. Did that sink in yet? YOU have the same relationship with Jesus as Jesus has with the Father. Our problem in life? We think we only need that relationship when we need it, which we think is when we are not strong enough or smart enough or _________ enough. WRONG! We need it FOR OUR LIFE. That is the intent. We have heard Jesus say He did NOTHING apart from the Father, and that is how we are to live: NOTHING apart from the Father.

It is all about HIM, not US. That is our big mistake; we are worried about what WE will do, how WE will be impacted, how WE should respond. Jesus has said it over and over, let Him do it. We need to understand it is really all about HIM anyway, HIS glory and HIS majesty. We are simply the vessels of clay He is delivered in on this earth.

Prayer for the week: Father, thank you for accepting me into your glory. I pray today that you be glorified in my life. Let nothing I do shine, only your light. Allow me to be your vessel to those I encounter today.

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

“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. 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. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

John 17:6-19 (NIV)