May
27, 2001
John 17:20-26
"I am praying not only for [these followers]
But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind--
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they'll be as unified and together as we are--
I in them and you in me.
Then they'll be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you've sent me and loved them
In the same way you've loved me."
<The Message >
=======
1.
[verse 21.] That the world may believe --
Here Christ prays for the world. Observe the sum of his whole
prayer,
1. Receive me into thy own and my glory;
2. Let my apostles share therein;
3. And all other believers:
4. And let all the world believe.
<John Wesley's Notes on the New Testament, 1754
>
2.
Homework: write a prayer each day for the next week which incorporates
each of the four point in 1. above.
3.
Do you stumble over the same point each time you write? What do
you think is the blockage? Find someone to talk with about this
phenomena.
What did you find out about prayer through this exercise? What
did you find out about being in "oneness"?