John 17  This prayer is truly the Lord's prayer..  a prayer that reveals His heart for the Father and His heart for us who believe in Him. 

The first thing that Jesus prays for at this final hour is that the Father would glorify Him so that He could glorify the Father.  Jesus said in verse 4 that He glorified  the Father on the earth, "having accomplished the work which" He gave Him to do. For that glory to be made manifest to us the Father gave the Son authority over all mankind. He gave the Son the authority to give eternal life.. "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." ( v3).  This is the work that Jesus came to do and this work glorified the Father. 

This glory that Jesus desires is found in the unity that He has with the Father.. a unity that He had before "the world was".  Jesus gives this glory to all who believe on Him. It is a glory found in "oneness" with the Father and the Son.

Jesus prays for the Father to guard His disciples. He prays that the Father would "keep them from the evil one."  He prays that they might be "sanctified in truth."  He prays for all those that come to believe through the word of the disciples would also be made one with the Father and the Son.  He prayed that the message of Christ, sent from the Father, would be heard and believed.  He prayed that those who believe would be "perfected in unity".  He prayed that through those who believe that the "world" would come to know Him.. that all would know the love of the Father who sent Him. 

"O righteous Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee; and these have known that Thou didst send Me; and I have made Thy name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them and I in them." 

Father in heaven, we have come to know You through the Word.. the Living Word who became flesh and dwelt on this earth. His Words have brought us, by faith, into the blessed unity with You.  We are made new in Christ Jesus. We are Yours and You are our God and Father. Fill us with Your Spirit and keep us in that oneness of love and glory through Jesus Christ the Son.  You have given us to Him and we will not be forsaken. You are righteous and faithful always. Your compassions never fail. We give You praise and thanksgiving. May Your Name be glorified in us always we pray. Amen. 

 John 16:23-33  "And in that day you will ask Me no question."   The disciples were always full of questions.. like us.. they want to know what God's plans are.. what is really happening.. what part do we play in all of this?  Jesus gave them a promise that was beyond anything they could imagine. "Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything. He will give it to you in My name." 

Jesus has given them this promise more than once.... (John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23, 26.)   Ask.. ask in My Name.. ask that the Father will be glorified in the Son; ask so the fruit will remain; ask so that your joy "may be made full"; ask because the Father loves you! 

This asking and receiving happens in the context of this "oneness" that Jesus has brought His followers into by the revelation of the Father's love.  The Father loves those who have loved the Son.. have believed that He was sent by the Father into the world.. and that He left the world to return to the Father.  We believe in the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension  of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to save us from sin and death.  He came because "God so loved the world".. He spoke the Words that God gave Him to speak. He did the works that God gave Him to do.  He died on a cross just as the Father had asked Him to... so that we could live. And Praise the Lord... He rose again from the grave so that we can also have eternal Life.. with Him in heaven. 

Ask of the Father.. Jesus tells us. Ask, seek, and knock.  The Father hears us and He loves us.  We are included in His inner circle.. because of Jesus. Hallelujah! What a Savior. 

Father in heaven, we ask that Your Name would be glorified and hallowed.  We ask that Your Kingdom would come. We ask that Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  We ask that we would be fruitful branches staying connected to the True Vine. We ask You to fill us with Your great love that we might truly love You with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies.  We ask that You would give us love for one another.. and love for our enemies as well. We ask all these things in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Amen. 

 John 16:16-22  Jesus told His disciples that the Father gives "all things" to the Son.. and the Son  gives to the Spirit.. and the Spirit would disclose it to them. This connection.. this oneness.. is what He came to provide for all who would believe. There is nothing like this outside of God.   Jesus spoke and acted only what the Father said and did.  The Spirit would remind and teach His disciples these truths. He guides us into the fulness of the Word of God.  Let us wrap our minds around this and cling to this revelation that Christ has brought to us. 

Jesus spoke again to His disciples on that fateful night.. "A little while, and you will no longer behold Me; and again a little while and you will see Me. "   It was like a riddle to the disciples.  They couldn't figure out what He was talking about. They kept trying to solve the riddle, but were truly confused.  In a few hours they would understand the first part.. for He would go to His death and be laid in a borrowed tomb.  It would be three days later before they would experience the second part of the riddle..  "your sorrow will be turned to joy"!!!! 

Jesus illustrated this change by telling how a woman has "travail" in childbirth but as soon as that baby comes, she forgets all about the anguish "for joy that a child has been born".  In the same way, they were about to go through a sorrowful time.. the anguish would be real.  ".. but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy away from you." 

One of the most joyful times in a woman's life is when she holds her newborn child in her arms. There is nothing like that feeling.. when a new love fills your whole body, soul, and spirit with a joy like no other. This kind of joy, Jesus told His followers, would be theirs in " a little while."  Imagine the disciples in that room when Jesus appeared!  When they finally realized that He was there in their midst.. what great joy!  It is hard for me to grasp how great that must have been.  We weren't there.  But.. one day.. Jesus will return.. and we will be with Him and we will rejoice for all eternity!  Yes, we are living in a world where there is trouble and anguish, and sorrow.. but in just " a little while" we will be with Jesus!  Joy is ahead.. let us not forget it!

Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name!  May Your Kingdom come.. Your will be done!  May we enter into the joy of the Lord where we will serve You, singing praises and worshipping You with every breath.  What a day that will be!  Keep our eyes on Jesus.. holding on to these truths.  Spirit of truth teach us and guide us through the Word of Christ Jesus, to the glory of the Father. Amen. 

 John 16:1-15  "These thing I have spoken to you, that you may be kept from stumbling."  Jesus and His disciples left the upper room.. but they have not gone into the garden yet.  There are things that Jesus wants to say.. things that would prepare them as best they can for what is about to happen.  

He has talked about oneness.. with the Father and with Himself. He has talked about loving one another and being hated by the world.  Jesus does not want them to "stumble"... to trip up and be trapped by the things that are coming, so He warns them ahead of time.  They will be persecuted. They will be thrown out of the synagogue.  They will be killed.  "And these things they will do because they have not known the Father, or Me."  When this happens.. "remember"..  Remember that Jesus went before us.. He suffered persecution.. He died.. but that was not the end of the story! Hallelujah!

Jesus repeated His promise to the disciples that He would send the "Helper".. the "Spirit of truth".  The disciples didn't know exactly what that meant at the time.. but they clung to that promise.  

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit who would "convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgement."  He would guide them into "all the truth".  He would hear the Word and speak the Word, disclosing to them "what is to come".   He would glorify Jesus by taking what is His.. what is the Father's  and disclose it to them. 

We also have been given the Spirit of Truth, the Helper, who comes to disclose the Word of God to us.  He is the One who convicts of sin.. so that we can turn to Jesus Christ in faith for forgiveness of all sin.  He convicts of righteousness.. "because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me."  Righteousness is found in Christ alone.. He is the Redeemer who died and rose again so that we can be declared righteous when we are in Him.  The Spirit also will convict of "judgement".  Judgement is certain.. "the ruler of this world has been judged".  There is no escaping from God's righteous judgement.. there is only one Hope.. and that is in the glorified Son of God.  The Spirit guides us into these truths. 

Father in Heaven, open our ears to hear the Truth that we might not stumble but walk in the Light of Your Spirit who brings us the Word.  When we see the events of this world and know the hatred that comes upon Your children, may we stand firm by remembering all that Jesus spoke.. may we be ready, covered by His righteousness, filled with Your Spirit, and living in the power of Your Name. Direct our hearts into the greatness of Your Love we pray.  In Jesus' name. Amen. 

 John 15:18-27   Hatred.. such a hard word.. such a sad word.. a word that comes all too easy to some, but a word that I find hard to even speak.  Jesus did not hold back as He spoke to His disciples about hatred.  These were hard truths that they needed to understand. We need to understand it too. 

Verse 18 " If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you."  The "world"  speaks of  the earth and its inhabitants .. all those who have not been chosen "out of the world".. the godless, those who hate Jesus and hate the Father. These would "hate" the disciples just like they hated Jesus. 

This hatred would result in persecution. The disciples of Jesus are pursued, mistreated, harassed, and pressed toward a different end. The world will always try to turn believers away from the Truth and back into the darkness that it dwells in.  The world, Jesus says, does not know the One who sent Him and so they will seek to destroy those who do. 

Jesus said that those who heard His words and saw His works were and are "without excuse for their sin." 

 He also told His disciples that the Holy Spirit who is "sent to your from the Father" would bear witness of Him and that they would also be His witnesses.  They would share His words and tell of His works.. they would give opportunities to others so that they might love Him and love the Father.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way we can turn from hatred to love.  When we chose to believe and follow Jesus we find life.. a life of love and oneness.  When we turn away from the truth we remain in a world that hates.. a world that brings persecution and pain... a world without love, hope, and joy that come from fellowship with God. 

Father in heaven,  live in us and fill us with Your holy love.  We, who have believed in Jesus Christ.. who confess that He came in the flesh.. that He died on a cruel cross.. and that He rose again to victory and that He now awaits the day when He will call us to be with Him.. we love You and know that You are love.  Fill us Spirit of truth and remove all hatred and unbelief.. all sin from Your people.  Let Your Kingdom come and Your will be done, Holy Father.  Let Your love make us complete in Christ Jesus that we might show others the greatness of Your perfect love..  we pray this in Jesus' name. . Amen. 

 John 15:12-17  "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you."  Love -  is the greatest commandment.  Jesus said, - "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind, This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  (Matthew 22:37-39 and Deuteronomy 6:5)

Jesus gives us a deeper picture of the love that He commands us to have for one another.  It is a "greater love" than what the world knows.  This love would enable a man to "lay down his life for his friends."  This is the kind of love that Jesus loves us with, for He was willing to go to the cross.. to take on all our sins.. to die for us. This is the kind of love that He desires and commands His friends to have.  

Jesus told His disciples that they were no longer slaves.  They were free to choose to love Him and to love the Father. He had chosen them for this very reason.. to make known to them the great love of the Father  so that they could love others with this greater love.. bearing fruit to the glory of His Name. 

John wrote more about this love in his letters.. 1st John 3 is especially focused on this kind of love.. the abundant love that the Father gave to us, His children.. and the love that we bestow on others. "Little children, let us not love with word or with the tongue, but in deed and truth. " v18  

Love.. abiding love .. is the essence of our oneness with our Father and with our Lord Jesus.  "No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." (1st John 4:13-14) And verse 16 "And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love and the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him." 

Father in heaven, we thank You that we have  come to know Your great love... love  that You have manifested in us through Jesus Christ the only begotten Son who came into this world to give us life.. to reveal Your eternal Love.. to take away all fear.. By faith we receive the perfect love that You have bestowed on us.. and by faith we choose to love like You have made us able to  love.. with all our hearts and souls and minds.  Spirit of God fill us with understanding and strength that we might truly love one another as the Father and the Son have loved us.  We ask this is the Name that is above all names, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 

 John 15:1-11  Jesus gives us one of the most powerful  illustrations of what it means to be "one" with Him and the Father.  "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser..... I am the vine, your are the branches.. " ( v1,5)

The Father in heaven.. the Creator and Mighty God who spoke all of creation into being.. Jesus calls the "vinedresser" .. the "husbandman".. a farmer.. one who tills the soil and dresses the vines.  His "work"  is  centered around His crop... cutting off fruitless branches.. and pruning those that are bearing fruit so that they bear more. 

Jesus calls Himself the "true vine".  He is the genuine vine.. the real deal.. not counterfeit, imaginary, or pretend... but the True product of God's Hands.  He is the vine.. out of Him comes everything.  He is the root and the trunk.. Without Him there would be no branches..no leaves.. and no fruit. There can be no life without Jesus. 

Jesus calls His followers "the branches".  Jesus said that only as the branches abide in the Vine can they bear any fruit. There must be a vital connection between the Vine and the branch for fruit to be produced.  If the branch is fruitless.. then it shows that there is no connection and then the Vinedresser will cut it off and throw it into the fire.  But if the branch is connected and holding fast to the Vine, it will produce fruit. Not only that but the Vinedresser will "prune" it to allow it to bear more fruit.  

Pruning means cleansing. Purging all that is impure.. removing all that is unacceptable.. all that hinders more fruit from growing.  Jesus told His disciples that they had already been made "clean" by His Words, but they needed to keep abiding in Him.. staying present in their relationship with Him.. in order to keep bearing fruit to the glory of the Father. 

Apart from Jesus, He tells us, we can do nothing.  No fruit will grow on a dead branch.  Life flows only from the True Vine.  It is in abiding.. remaining.. continuing.. being present in this relationship with Jesus that Life continues to flow into us and we bear fruit to the glory of God.  We abide by staying in the Word of God, by asking and receiving His Life in us, by keeping His commandments, and resting in His love. 

The Father cares for the Vine and the Branches with great love. Love flows from the Vine, Jesus Christ, into us.. the branches that abide in His Love.   "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."  Jesus said. 

Father in heaven, cleanse us from anything that keeps us from bearing fruit to the glory of Your Name.  Keep us abiding in the Word, continually walking in the Lord Jesus, and giving our lives to do Your will. Keep us in Your Love and in the Love of Jesus the True Vine.  Help us to know the Truth of these words with all of our hearts.  May Your Will be done in us we pray .. in the Name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.