January 20th: God’s Grace
Over the last ten days, as we have spent time exploring John 17, as part of our 21 days of prayer; we have seen Jesus pray for a number of different things. At the outset of the chapter, Jesus spent time praising and glorifying God for who He is and what He has done. We saw Him pray for the disciples and those who would believe in Him, as a result of their testimony. He prayed for God to keep his followers & guard them from the evil one. He prayed that his followers would be unified & sanctified. He prayed that as a result of their ministry, the world would know and believe that the Father had sent Jesus.
One thing that we didn’t expressly focus on as a theme, but was inherent in each aspect of Jesus’ prayer was the kindness and generosity of God, i.e. His grace. Repeatedly throughout the chapter, Jesus prays & praises God for the kindness and generosity shown to Him and to His disciples – seen in the Father glorifying Jesus, the disciples believing in Jesus, the world believing in Jesus, the church being unified, etc. In fact, the kindness and generosity of God is what inspired Jesus to petition the Father to keep his followers, guard them from the evil one, and to sanctify them.
As you spend time in prayer today, spend time praising & thanking God for the grace He has shown to you.