But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through His name.

John 20:31

What a wonderful way to end the year: remembering that our Lord Jesus Christ is praying for us. In the beginning of time, He created the world and everything in it. When the time was right, He came into the world to become one with His creation. This is the birth we’ve been celebrating all month. And when the time was right, He gave Himself as our spotless sacrificial Lamb. And when the time was right, He arose from the grave, victorious over sin and death. And when the time is right, He will come again to put that loser Satan in his place of torment, where he will never hurt anyone else again. But until that time, He is in heaven, praying for us in the presence of the Father. He’s praying for me. He’s praying for you. Let that sink in. Jesus—the Son of God, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Messiah, Emmanuel—that’s who knows you and is praying for you right now. Doesn’t that just make you want to come into His presence and adore Him!

O Come, Let Us ADORE Him

Join me again today for another ADORE Bible study. I just love going chapter by chapter, using the questions below to motivate me to dig into God’s Word and discover what He wants to teach me. It’s my prayer that you too will hunger for this most precious of all love letters, considering it more important than the food you eat.

So as you read today’s chapter, look for the answers to the questions below. Further down you’ll see the answers I came up with, but know that there is no right or wrong answer to any of these questions. While God’s Word is not open to private interpretation, there is no denying that it is alive and sufficient for each of our individual needs. I like to think of it as medicine. You swallow it, and somehow it knows exactly where it’s needed. The Bible is just like that. So take it into your heart with the purpose of letting it change you.

A — Application — Are there any principles to apply or promises to claim?

D — Dependence — Are there any steps of faith I should take today?

O — Obedience — Are there any commands to obey or sins to forsake?

R — Relationship — What is God revealing to me about Himself?

E — Example — Are there any examples to follow or warnings to heed?

God’s Words to Me in John 17

1 These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you: 2 As you have given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world was.

6 I have manifested your name unto the men that you gave me out of the world: yours they were, and you gave them to me; and they have kept your word. 7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever you have given me are of you. 8 For I have given unto them the words which you gave me; and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from you, and they have believed that you did send me. 9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them that you have given me; for they are yours. 10 And all mine are yours and yours are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given me, that they may be one, as we are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name: those that you gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 And now come I to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

17 Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth. 18 As you have sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them, as you have loved me.

24 Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which you have given me: for you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world has not known you: but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. 26 And I have declared unto them your name and will declare it: that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

My Words to God in Prayer

If you were going to talk to God about what you learned in this chapter, what would you say? Write your response in a notebook or journal in the form of a prayer.

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What God taught me

Note: As I read and study the chapter, I do not take these questions in order, but fill in my answers as the Lord shows me what He wants me to see.

A — Application — Are there any principles to apply or promises to claim?

• Verse 3. Eternal life is so much more than escaping hell and spending eternity in heaven with Jesus. Eternal life is NOW. It is knowing God. I thank God that He cares about my today as much as my tomorrow.

D — Dependence — Are there any steps of faith I should take today?

• Verses 14-16. Jesus didn’t ask the Father to take us out of the world, but to protect us from the evil. They hated Him, and they will hate us too when we look like Him. But I trust my Father to protect and defend me. I don’t need to defend myself.

O — Obedience — Are there any commands to obey or sins to forsake?

• Verse 18. Not only does Jesus not want God to take me out of the world, but to the contrary, He has sent me into the world, to share His truth with them. I’m wrong if I think it’s okay to minister only to fellow believers. I’ve been left here to share the gospel with unbelievers, to bring them to Jesus, and to disciple them. I can’t reach them if I never touch them. I have to go where they are. I have to step out of my comfort zone.

R — Relationship — What is God revealing to me about Himself?

• Verses 9, 20. Jesus prays for me.

E — Example — Are there any examples to follow or warnings to heed?

• Verse 4. Speaking to the Father, Jesus said, “I have finished the work which You gave me to do.” If I am to take this as an example to follow, then I must be about my Father’s business. I too will be finished at some point, but until then I need to stay busy doing what He called me to do.

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This week’s memory verse

I pray not that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Your truth: Your Word is truth.

John 17:15-17

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Photo taken at Princess Beach in Destin, Florida, 2019