This past week has not gone as I had originally planned.
I got sick with a head cold while traveling back from visiting family.
And I am still in recovery.
Thus, I have not prepared my intended post for this date.
Instead, I have been taking care of my body by sleeping and drinking plenty of hot tea or brothy soups.
My pets have enjoyed getting to snuggle more with me than usual.
Each day I am making progress and anticipate resuming a more normal routine soon.
Meanwhile, as you prepare for the festivities of this Christmas season, please take some time to ponder the following prayer of Christ to God, found in the gospel of John.
6“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.
8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify themin the truth; your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
19 And for their sake I consecrate myself,that they also may be sanctifiedin truth.
(Joh 17:6-19 ESV)
Describe in your own words Christ’s heart for His followers based on the above prayer.
How does your daily life reflect Christ’s prayer for you?
Is there anything you need to do differently in your daily life because of Christ’s prayer for you?
What examples can you share in the comments below where you have experienced Christ’s prayer occurring in your life?
Blessings,
Barbara Lynn
SHARE WITH OTHERS