May 18: John 17:6-19
 
Key Verse: John 17:11
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.
 
Devotion:
These are the words Jesus prayed to His Father when He was faced with the finality of His work and the frailty of His human disciples. How often do we think so deeply for the people who we have come face to face with in this world? Do we aim all our prayers at ourselves, or do we lift up the people around us like Jesus asked us to do?
 
Much of the time we do focus too much on ourselves because we see just how difficult things are about to become – we can’t take the pressure and we lift up our prayers to God, asking for His protection over us as we face our hardships... Not the same with Jesus. When He prayed these prayers, it was not to try and get out of the hardships and pain which He was about to face, it was to make sure God was going to look after His children!
 
Jesus wanted to make sure we were all safe and secure! He wanted to make sure, no matter what happened to Him, we were going to be ok! This was Jesus, the Son of God, lifting up His prayers to God the Father, asking for protection for the disciples and then all believers!
 
Jesus did not want God to simply take us out of the world so we would not face any dangers – but to continue living in this world, but with a protector who would be able to keep us safe no matter what was going on in the world! Jesus knew the horrors which he was about to face, but His prayers were so we would not have to face those horrors for our own!
 
Points to Ponder:
How much do you think of others?
 
Would you beg for your life first, or the lives of others?