John 17:13-19

Spend time in prayer and silence with God, asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.

Bible Reading

“I am coming to You now, but I say these things while I am still in the world. So that they may have the full measure of My joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more that I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

– John 17:13-19

Devotion

In this second section of Jesus’ prayer, He spoke to His Father about His relationship with the men immediately surrounding Him at the time. His prayer for them was not indifferent to the world, although at that moment He did not pray for the world but for these men as the instrument by which He would yet reach the world. For them He asked God to keep them from the evil one that is in the world, that they might be sanctified in the truth. These men no longer belonged to the world. They had been “set apart” by Jesus to carry on His ministry of reconciliation in the world.

The Big Question

What did Jesus mean when He prayed that His disciples would “have the full measure of joy” that He had? How do you define joy? What is the difference between joy and happiness? What does the word “sanctify” mean? According to Jesus, what sanctifies us? If you are a believer, you have been sanctified by God. What does this mean?

Conclude your time in prayer and silence, reflecting on what God revealed to you today.