By Timothy W. Burnett
He started by saying, "Father, the hour is come; glorify Your son, that Your son also may glorify you. As you have given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as You have given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work that You gave me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me with Your own self with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (John 17:1-5). Jesus knew God's will, and claimed it in prayer. He knew that his Father would back His word. This is why he prayed with such confidence. Notice he did not beg his Father , but instead came to Him with a bold and humble heart ready to receive the promise. According to verse four, he basically told his Father that he did his part, and he trusts Him to do his part.
"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. Now they have known that whatever You have given me are from You. For I have given unto them the words that 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" (verses 6-8). Once again he boldly tells his Father what he did for Him.
Continuing with verse 9, "I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which You have given me, for they are Yours. And all mine are Yours, and Yours are mine. And I am glorified in them. 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" (verses 9-11). Jesus knew that he would soon go to his Father, and his disciples would still be in the world. He reminded his Father that they were His, and boldly asked Him to guard and protect them so that they might be one just as he and his Father were one. This means to be one in purpose or will. Jesus and his Father were one in that Jesus always did his Father's will.
"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 are lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 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" (verses 12-14). He prayed is if what was going to happen already happened. Again he reminded his Father that he guarded all who were his. He prayed that they would have the same joy that was in him. In the name of Jesus Christ it is still available today to have perfect joy in our lives!
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