Episode 51: John 17:22-23
Transcription
Today’s verse is John 17:22-23
“I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are one—I in them and You in Me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.”
Let’s pray together.
Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, today I want to spend time admiring Your glory, wondering at Your majesty, thrilling in Your unity. I cannot say that I understand You—Your intricacy, Your identity—You are far beyond my human ability to comprehend. I believe that You are One God and You are all God. Each of You so powerfully helps us, each of You is amazingly unique, each of You is the same. It boggles my mind to consider it, but help me to spend time just breathing in and out, thinking of You, pondering the mysteries of the intimacies of the Trinity, existing in Your holy Presence.
And this mystery continues, because You have given that glory to us. You have invited us in to Your unity. You have been gracious enough to love us. Lift me up into that unity, immerse me in it, let it be my covering, the way the world looks at me. May they only see You. I accept Your gift of mercy and I pray that I may treat it with the honor and reverence and love it deserves. Help me, dear LORD.
God, there is a brokenness in our relationship. I have sinned and rebelled against You. I am prideful and consider my own ways and desires and self to be above what the Holy God demands in justice and truth. Every day when I wake up, there are new cracks in our oneness. I cannot claim the same sublime level of peace and togetherness that Jesus describes. But, oh, I want it. I want to surrender in to it. Please enable my heart to give up, to surrender, to trust, to be at a shalom level contentment in who You are and what You mean to me.
Because all of this is to showcase Your love, Your Person, Your will. I pray that it may be. I pray when others interact with me, they are really interacting with You. I pray that before I act, speak, and think, I am offering those things before You. Be the first responder to the attacks of the devil against me, shielding me from the deadly harm of giving in to my own selfish and needy fears. Strip from me any independent rebellion to prove or earn my own way. Show me that I belong to You; show the world that I belong to You. Help me to feel Your love and to choose Your love.
And to spread that love to others, to be the beacon of light You fashioned me to be, speaking Your words and truth, standing firm on Your principles, a compassionate, selfless, giving friend. Grant me the opportunities throughout my day to understand who You are and to show that to others. Help me to discern the needs and to bring them into the fold of our oneness, offering them to You, and offering myself as a tool for Your use. As I am loved, help me to love.
Run after me when I run away, stop me in my tracks, freeze me with Your love and mercy. Forgive me for being afraid that who I am will be swallowed up in who You are. Teach me that my identity, my personality, my character, are Yours, and that means they will be more fully me than any paltry imitation I can contrive on my own. Guide me into who I was created to be. And let that me be one with Jesus, just as Jesus is one with the Father and the Spirit.
Will you pray this with me, friends? Will you let go of the rights to yourself? Will you surrender and trust God to provide, even through your hard and difficult and legitimately worrying circumstances? Lay down the struggle, the fear, the worry, the hatred, the selfishness, the neediness. God, pick up our burdens, rid us of what we don’t need to carry, equip us to carry what we must, and be our helpmate, our friend, our source. Help us to be one with You. Nourish us with Your glory and continue to surround us with Yourself, amazing us with the fullness—never ending–of who You are. Saturate us in You. Awesome, mighty, luminous God, we worship You today.
I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
