{"id":2362,"date":"2021-06-03T18:30:48","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T01:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/?p=2362"},"modified":"2021-06-06T03:19:36","modified_gmt":"2021-06-06T10:19:36","slug":"abiding-in-the-lord-john-ch-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/blog\/abiding-in-the-lord-john-ch-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Abiding in the Lord: John Ch. 17"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)<\/em><\/p>\n

Worship<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By singing praises and hymns, awake your soul, open your heart to the Lord, and prepare yourself to welcome the presence of God and receive the Word of God that will be given to you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thanksgiving<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Petition with thanksgiving to God for a wonderful day and pray sincerely for a focused Scripture reading time! (Do not rush into reading the Bible without starting with prayers!<\/strong>) (e.g., you may start with a simple prayer like this: “Dear Lord, what will you be speaking to me today?)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Scripture Reading<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Get the following items ready in advance: your devotional notebook, paper, pen, and\/or electronic devotional articles so that you can easily write down the Bible verses, questions, and thoughts you have noticed! You are encouraged to open your Bible and vocally read out the scriptures (Try to practice this reading method daily or once a week)!<\/p>\n

Scripture Reading: John Ch. 17 (ESV)<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meditation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Take a moment to quietly reflect on today’s Scriptures. Through such exercises, let God’s Word be gradually written into our hearts and be inscribed to our mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Devotional<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Read the devotional articles prepared by CBCLWA (*Read the Bible first before reading any devotional materials.<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(vv.1-5) John chapter 17 is often referred to as \u201cThe High Priestly Prayer\u201d. Shortly before Jesus was to be crucified and fulfill the mission the Father gave Him, He prayed for himself, for the disciples during that time, and for future disciples. The words of His prayer tell us how much the disciples and the Church weighed on His heart.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus says in verse 3,\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/b>And this is eternal life,\u202fthat they know you,\u202fthe only\u202ftrue God, and\u202fJesus Christ whom you have sent.<\/span><\/b>\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>This statement aptly sums up the definition of \u201ceternal life\u201d. Often times we think of eternal life as something that is only relevant after we die. (John 6:44:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cNo one can come to me unless the\u00a0Father\u00a0who sent me\u202fdraws him. And\u202fI will raise him up on the last day.\u201d<\/span><\/b>) The truth is quite the contrary. The moment we profess faith in Jesus, or to use Paul\u2019s words:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cConfess with your mouth and believe in your heart\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0(Romans 10:9-10), we enter into a personal, intimate relationship with God. That moment marks the beginning of eternal life, not after we die! In other words, if we do not have Jesus, then we remain spiritually dead even as we live.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Jesus prays in regard to Himself, His emphasis\u00a0is to glorify God. Glory is an attribute of God. God is glory (v.5). We can say that God is worthy of glory because that is His attribute. Glory belongs to God. Moreover, when the will of God is accomplished, that is glory. Jesus said,\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/b>I glorified you on earth,\u202fhaving accomplished the work that you gave me to do.<\/span><\/b>\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Therefore, we can glorify God in the same way, by obedience and accomplishing God\u2019s will.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you willing to put \u201cglorify God\u201d in your prayer items? For the entire next month, you can commit to praying every day, \u201cLord, I want to glorify You,\u201d and then see how God answers your prayer and helps you increase your obedience to His will!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(vv.6-19) Next Jesus prays for those closest to Him \u2013 His disciples, who followed and lived with Him for three years. Jesus makes 3 prayer requests in regard to the disciples: (v.11) That the Father would keep them united as one, (v.15) keep them from evil, and (v.17) sanctify them in the truth.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

John 17:11\u00a0\u201c\u2026<\/span><\/b>Holy Father,\u202fkeep them in your name,\u202fwhich you have given me,\u202fthat they may be one,\u202feven as we are one.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

John 17:15\u00a0\u201cI\u202fdo not ask that you\u202ftake them out of the world, but that you\u202fkeep them from\u202fthe evil one.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

John 17:17\u00a0\u201c<\/span><\/b>Sanctify them<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>in the truth;\u202fyour word is truth.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you yearn for a life marked by unity, being delivered from evil, and set apart as holy? That kind of life does\u00a0not come from strict adherence to religious dogma and traditions, nor is it attained by the suppression of all desires and longing as a form of stoicism The key is to walk with Jesus, to have God\u2019s Word stored in our hearts, and to live out God\u2019s Word. Let His Word be the lamp to your feet and a light to your path. A righteous by grace comes from Jesus, who is the Word Incarnate. The work of sanctification is through the Written Word.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(vv.20-26) In the last part, we see that Jesus prays for future disciples. In this part we see an even broader unity, one that encompasses all the believers, the universal Church. This unity surpasses unity based on race, nationality, or language. It is a unity given by God. Through it, people can witness God\u2019s glory.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In chapter 17, Jesus prayed about glorifying God. It would not have been accomplished if not for the cross. Jesus prayed for His disciples to be one and to be set apart as holy. It would not have been accomplished had the disciples not live out the Word in their daily lives. Jesus prayed for the people of the world. It would not have been accomplished had the disciples been too timid to carry out the great commission as commanded by the Lord.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We often worry about how exactly God will answer our prayers. On the other hand, Jesus\u2019 prayers can be viewed as God\u2019s promise. If Jesus\u2019 prayer about us is unanswered, the fault lies not with Jesus, but with us instead. It is us, not Jesus, who often pray for the wrong things. It is not Jesus who asks with the wrong motives, but us. It is not God who needs to change, but us. Therefore, let us reflect: Are there areas in my life where I need to change?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • When we ask for God\u2019s plans for us, is there a cross in that prayer? The Lord commanded his followers to deny themselves and pick up the cross daily, and then follow Him. Only when we are willing to closely follow Jesus will we discover and know God\u2019s wonderful plan! Ask yourself, \u201cAre there things I need to amend in this regard?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • When we pray for our church and for our co-workers in Christ, we ought to remember that unless we make God\u2019s Word our foundation and pillars individually and as a church, we will be unable to unite as one. Beware of the tendency for us to walk toward sin and evil. Beware of the church becoming\u00a0<\/span>of<\/span><\/i>\u00a0this world rather than set apart from it.\u00a0 Ask yourself, \u201cAre there things I need to amend in this regard?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • When we pray for an even greater unity, we cannot neglect the Lord\u2019s \u201cgreat commission\u201d to each of us. The Lord already told us that the harvest is plentiful. May we be willing to serve as the His workers. The Lord commanded us to go. May we all be sent by Him. Ask yourself, \u201cAre there things I need to amend in this regard?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Pray<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Give thanks to God for His enabling us to read the Scriptures and for our response for living out the Word of God today! (e.g., You may start with a simple prayer like this: \u201cDear Lord, what\/where are you going to lead me to today?”)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abiding-in-the-lord","category-pastor-mickey-hsiao"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2362"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2379,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions\/2379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}