Day 20

Week 3:  The Greatest Prayer Ever Prayed

Jesus Prays for Unity 

 

SCRIPTURE

• John 17:11 (NIV) ¹¹ 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.

• John 17:20-21 (NIV) ²⁰ "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹  that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

OBSERVATION

In Jesus’ prayer we are given some insight as to what is near and dear to His heart.  He wants us to be holy and sanctified, He wants us to glorify Him and in so doing glorify His Father.  And now He prays for our unity.

UNDERSTANDING

All of the things Jesus prayed for like our holiness and our unity ultimately brings glory to the Father.  God has provided all the resources to glorify Him and to remain faithful to Him.  We have His Word and it reveals to us all that we have in Jesus. 

We have the Son who is interceding for us, and since the Father always answers the prayers of His Son we can live with confidence.

We also have the fellowship of the church.  Jesus prays that we will be one as the Trinity is one.  Nowhere in the New Testament do you see such a thing as isolated believers.  Wherever you find the church you find them in fellowship.  Why?  Because God’s people need each other.  We are to live in unity.  That does not mean we dress the same and have no opinions of our own or are simply clones of one another, but unity means that we are united around the same purpose – to glorify the Father in our lives.  We glorify Him in the fellowship by loving one another, putting the needs of others above our own, by choosing to sacrificially love like Jesus loves.  We are to pray for one another and to forgive one another.  

Unity is not the absence of disagreements but it is the presence of a reconciling spirit.  We are willing to contribute our points of view but we do not allow our disagreements to divide us because we look to keep the unity of the spirit by a bond of peace.

LIFE APPLICATION

Where are there places you have not been living in unity?  Where your disagreement has led to division?  Jesus prays that we will have a reconciling Spirit.  Take a moment today and ask Him to show you the areas where you are not building the unity of the fellowship and then go to those people and reconcile so that we can live the way Jesus desires we live, in unity.  When we are obedient to this God is glorified!