Thursday
October 13, 2021

Review and Re-Center Around God

Take time to read Jesus’ longest recorded prayer in John 17:1-26 (provided below), shared in the Garden of Gethsemane. As we re-center around God let's review our prayer life in relation to calling on God our Father.

John 17:1-3

Jesus Prays to Be Glorified
1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples
6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 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. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus Prays for All Believers
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. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 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.

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”


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Prayerful Review the Week

How do you ordinarily refer to God in your prayers? Do you call upon God in prayer often or rarely? Does it feel too familiar to call the Lord God Almighty “Father”? Did your earthly father tarnish the
image of God as Father?


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Repent (if necessary)

If you find yourself rarely in prayer, that could be something of which you can repent. Men, did you leave a poor image as a dad, making it harder for others to picture God as a father?


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Return (as necessary)

If you have a hard time viewing God as Father, don’t skip this facet of God’s heart. Ask for His help to develop this type of prayer relationship despite a lacking an earthly equivalent.


Micro-Meditation Scripture

Psalm 139:7-12

  1. Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
  2. If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
  3. If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
  4. even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
  5. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
  6. even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

Micro-Meditation
Teaching or Command of God

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Psalm 104:27-28

All creatures look to you to give them their
food at the proper time. When you give it to
them, they gather it up; when you open your
hand, they are satisfied with good things. 

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Proverbs 15:3

The eyes of the LORD are everywhere,
keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

Micro-Meditation Pondering Point

God is not only aware, but also active in a hands-on way in our lives. And, as Isaiah 59:1 notes, surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor ear too dull.