January 13th: Keep Them
Today marks day 13 of our 21 days of prayer. As we continue through John 17, we come across the following words in Jesus prayer: “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” (Jn 17:9-11)
As Jesus continues to pray for his disciples in the hours leading up to his betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion; anticipating not only his death, but his future ascension to Heaven (Acts 1:9), He prays that His disciples would be kept by God the Father.
In verse 15 Jesus goes on to explain what He desired that God keep us from. He says: “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one” (Jn 17:15).
As you spend time in prayer today, spend time thanking God that He has not left us alone to deal the “evil one”, but that Jesus has overcome the world (Jn 16:33), that we have the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Helper (Jn 16:7) to lead & guide us each day to walk in obedience & holiness, and that God the Father protects and preserves us.