Devotion for May 23, 2022

John 17:20-26

“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

“Pray for my sister today, she’s having surgery.”

“Pray for my friend, he’s having a hard time.”

“Say a prayer for me today, I have a job interview.”

We say lots of prayers. Often, those prayers are based on the petitions of others. Some are deeply personal while others feel like reading a checklist. Many days we pray without expecting much but the motions still matter. Other days we pray in anticipation of what God is going to do.

And then we read how Jesus prays in this passage. This is a deeply personal prayer between God and the Son. There is specificity to it. There is thanksgiving. There is petition. You and I are there too. We are there in the beginning of the prayer, “those who will believe in me through their word.” We are part of that story, and we will be part of it as we are those who God uses to share the words of the Gospel in future days.

We pray for you today and always to take the next most faithful steps to which God has called you.

Today’s devotion is brought to you by Campbell University’s Center for Church & Community.